AUT City Campus

The City Campus Framework Plan is principle-based and consistently updated to align with AUT’s strategic direction. It has guided a transformational programme of works that has reshaped the campus and supported AUT’s evolution from a technical institute to a globally ranked university in the top 1% worldwide. Since gaining university status in 2000, AUT has been at the forefront of delivering technology-enabled, flexible and multi-purpose spaces that support student success. 

Each major development is preceded by comprehensive analysis to identify key challenges, including campus utilisation, connectivity, pedestrian and vehicle circulation, environmental impact, landscaping, and zoning. This ensures each phase of work addresses key issues while contributing to a cohesive campus. 

City Campus Framework Plan aspirations:

1. Academic Excellence: Support Equivalent Full-Time Student (EFTS) growth to 2030 (75% undergraduate/​25% postgraduate) and foster interdisciplinary collaboration.
2. Enhance Campus Experience: Create a welcoming, student-centric environment with a strong identity and variety of spaces that enhance student life.
3. Community Engagement: Strengthen AUT’s presence in the CBD through improved visibility, public interface and civic integration.

Realising the Framework Plan’s ambitions, the campus places student wellbeing at its centre and strengthens AUT’s engagement with the wider city. The most significant developments include:

The award-winning Sir Paul Reeves building set a new standard for academic facilities at AUT in terms of design, technology capability and sustainability. It delivered AUT’s goals of enhanced campus experience and community engagement, creating a central campus heart by linking four existing buildings through a large, multi-storey atrium. Designed to encourage students to remain on campus outside of lectures, the building supports improved academic outcomes through a 67.5% increase in collaborative social learning space on campus. Its transparent façades act as a storefront for AUT, revealing student life within, while activating the adjacent streets. The project included Hikuwai Plaza to the north and Governor Fitzroy Plaza to the south, which connect the campus to Albert Park and Auckland’s cultural quarter. Governor Fitzroy Plaza transformed a once-steep, uninviting route into a sunny, terraced destination for students and the public alike.

Among the first tertiary education buildings in New Zealand to address the rise of mobile technology in learning and now regarded as one of the most advanced media teaching and learning spaces in the Southern Hemisphere, the Sir Paul Reeves building reflects AUT’s ​‘University for the Changing World’ ethos. Following its completion, commercial use of AUT spaces surged from $600K to $1.6M in one year, highlighting Sir Paul Reeves’ appeal as a top-tier events venue.

Building on the success of the Sir Paul Reeves building, the Framework Plan was revisited to identify opportunities for future growth, specifically to expand the campus to 30,000sqm GFA and establish an Engineering, Technology and Design (ETD) cluster. This strategic move consolidates the Faculties of Design and Creative Technologies, Engineering, and Computing and Mathematical Sciences around St Paul Street. This exercise resulted in the creation of the Ngā Wāi Hono gateway building, positioned as the intersection of Symonds and St Paul Streets. The development comprises a 12-storey tower, five-storey podium, and two basement floors housing double-height workshops, teaching and research laboratories. The project also unites existing buildings, including refurbished science laboratories, creating a cohesive academic zone that promotes cross-disciplinary collaboration and world-class research. A new laneway café off Symonds Street invites the public into the precinct, with an internal shortcut to St Paul Street that showcases AUT’s teaching and research laboratories.