Fostering innovation through exposure to new people, ideas, disciplines, and processes was a driving force for the design. To emphasise this, visible engineering, laboratory, and circulation spaces have been designed for interaction and transparency, enabling students to learn from their surrounding environment.

In recent years, the Faculty of Engineering has been consistently over-subscribed and unable to accept many high-quality applications due to capacity restrictions. Through enhanced research capability, collaboration, and a capacity increase of 150%, the new facility will foster long-term growth in enrolments, educating the majority of the country’s professional engineers.

In its first two years, B405 will be subject to rigorous tuning to optimise the performance of building services, energy efficiency and user safety and comfort.

Real-time structural monitoring equipment measures and records the building’s behaviour, to support the education of the next generation of building designers and geotechnical engineers.

Aluminium sunshades on the eastern elevation form a kinetic beacon from afar, protecting the building’s interior while maintaining panoramic views.

At the front of the building, a landscaped forecourt and five-metre high Pou Whenua carved by master craftsman Delani Brown welcomes students, staff and the general public, signalling the faculty’s unique place in Aotearoa and the Pacific.