The gallery stands on a sand dune, so the 1,500 square metre basement dug beside it, to give the collection the climate-controlled storage it had never had, meant excavating into unstable ground hard against the old walls. Above, the gallery's celebrated top-side daylight, the soft light from above that artists prize, was saved by fitting Kalwall panels to the century-old roof, and the original matai floor was lifted, stored and relaid over a new slab.
The rebuild also brought Whanganui iwi back to Pukenamu. RCP facilitated the co-design between Te Rūnanga o Tūpoho, the Council and the artists of Te Kāhui Toi o Tūpoho, whose carved tōtara waka bridge now links the 1919 gallery to the black granite Te Pātaka wing, tying the Māori and Pākehā worlds across the two buildings.
Reopened, the gallery has double the exhibition space, proper storage for the collection and new rooms for learning and events. In its first year it drew more than 108,000 people, close to three times its old numbers, and is reckoned to add $22.5 million a year to Whanganui.
Awards
- 2025 Property Council New Zealand Property Industry Awards, Excellence Award, Civic, Health and Arts
- 2025 Property Council New Zealand Property Industry Awards, Excellence Award, Heritage and Adaptive Reuse
- 2025 Concrete NZ Awards, Premier Award
