Te Mako - Naenae Community Centre

The Naenae Community Centre, Te Mako, inhabits a beloved landmark that holds deep historical significance for Naenae - the historic 1959 Post Office.

The vision for this project, developed collaboratively with Hutt City Council and the local community,  was clear: reinvigorate this architectural taonga as a Community Hub, providing an anchor project to restore commercial, social, and cultural activity to Hillary Court and the wider community.

The new Te Mako facility features a large bookable collaborative workspace, multi-purpose and flexible activity halls, small meeting rooms, and a commercial-size community kitchen. The building has been upgraded with level entries, accessible toilets, wide doorways and surfaces for working and food preparation configured for universal accessibility.

Recognising the cultural value of the heritage building, the project is both a modernisation and restoration project. Original features are largely retained, restored, and in some cases rediscovered, with remnants of the previous life of the building as a post office still expressed. Significantly, this project reinstates the Guy Ngan mural in the new Co-Working space. This required HDT to undertake a forensic survey of adhesive residue left behind by the original installation and to reinterpret the mural through the new medium of acoustic wall panelling. The result is a modern take on the work of a significant artist that is rich in meaning for the local community.