Healthcare & Aged Care
Rawhiti Estate
A retirement village that refuses to look like one. In the heart of Remuera, Rawhiti Estate folds a full continuum of care behind a face that belongs to its street.
Brief
The site — the former Rawhiti Bowling Club on Rangitoto Avenue — sits in one of Auckland's most established residential suburbs. The task: fit a full-scale care village onto a sensitive site without overpowering its neighbours, and shed the institutional feel that defines most aged-care buildings.
Response
We broke the bulk down. Rather than one monolithic block, the building reads as seven distinct villas, each with its own detail and colour, stepping the scale down to suit the street. Layered façades — clear glazing, frosted panels and decorative screens — add texture while quietly managing privacy between residents and neighbours. Crafted pergolas tie the architecture into a landscape that flows inward to a 2½-storey atrium, the village's central square and social heart. Long institutional corridors were designed out in favour of smaller, neighbourhood-style clusters.
Outcome
A care environment that reads as a home, not a hospital — and one that drew international recognition across architecture, urban design and landscape.
Awards
Architecture MasterPrize
Honorable Mention, Multi-Unit Residential Architecture
Senior Housing News Architecture & Design Awards
First Place (International) and Second Place (Continuing Care Retirement Community)
Property Council NZ Property Industry Awards
Merit, Multi-Unit Residential
“It is difficult to tell this is a health facility. We set out to create somewhere that feels like home first and a care facility second, a place that sits comfortably in Remuera, where residents stay connected to the community and genuinely enjoy life. Ministry understood that from day one, and it shows in every part of the village.”
Guy Eady, BeGroup
