Aratoi – Wairarapa Museum of Art and History, Masterton
Winner NZIA New Zealand Award 2002Winner NZIA Local and Colour Awards 2001
The 2002 Origin Timber Design Award for Aesthetic Excellence
Aratoi is a purpose-built Museum and Art Gallery complex located in Masterton, in the Wairarapa region. Studio Pacific’s design integrates an existing church and creates a focus around a new exterior courtyard. The building provides galleries, education facilities and performance spaces for the Wairarapa community. Aratoi has strict environmental controls and other specialised services - these are required for the safe storage and exhibition of artifacts.
Architecturally, the complex is defined by three distinct components: a courtyard, two spines, and three vessels. The three vessels are clad in a weathered Eucalypt rain-screen that acts as a distinctive street frontage and as a transition between the storage of culture and the town’s rural surroundings.
Client: Masterton Trust Lands Trust
