Celebrating One Year of Te Puawānanga
Awards and Accolades
From glowing reviews to incredible visitation numbers to awards and accolades, Te Puawānanga Science and Technology Centre is a proving a hit on every front.
We will celebrate one year since the doors opened to our multi-award-winning science and technology centre at the end of May – and what a year it has been!
Te Puawānanga is in the running to win the equivalent of a museum-world Oscar, shortlisted for the Museums + Heritage International Exhibition of the Year to be announced on 15 May. This nomination comes on the back of two gold awards and one silver at the Designers’ Institute of New Zealand Best Design Awards 2024 and the 2024/2025 Resene Total Colour Installation – Experiential – Product Award.
With a footprint of more than 2000 square metres, and as MOTAT’s biggest investment in exhibition space in more than a decade, Te Puawānanga was designed and built over two years to become a national science and technology hub of learning and fun for families and school groups from all walks of life. Feedback to date says we are meeting our objective.
As of 1 May, more than 248,000 visitors had entered Te Puawānanga. Independent evaluation of visitor survey data from the first five months of opening shows the centre has become a key reason to visit MOTAT. Drawing on MOTAT collections and regularly featuring industry experts, it is delivering engaging experiences and beneficial outcomes for visitors of all ages.
Visitors are leaving not just satisfied with what they have experienced, but as enthusiastic advocates. “MOTAT has done a fantastic job making a safe and stimulating area for kids. We will return again and again,” said one early visitor in a Google review.
Our Visitor Hosts observe first-hand how whānau-friendly the centre is and the opportunities it offers: “We see how parents and their children can explore science and technology together. Sometimes the parents seem to be enjoying themselves more than the kids!”
Director, Museum Experience, Sally Manuireva says, “We are thrilled Te Puawānanga is resonating with visitors and is providing an engaging and inviting space for diverse whānau to immerse themselves in a world of science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM). Visitors are also telling us how much they enjoy the acknowledgement and inclusion of Mātauranga Māori alongside Western science concepts.”
Deeper learning opportunities for Education groups
More than 25,000 early childhood, primary and secondary students have participated in formal education programmes at the new centre. The Education team has leveraged Te Puawānanga and the interactive experiences it offers to create learning programmes that dig deeper into topics such as Forces and Motion, Light and Colour and Simple Machines. The centre’s tool room has also sparked an Innovation Forge pilot programme.
Students and teachers alike are responding positively to the new Education environment. As one student said: “I liked how interactive it was and how it makes learning things about science fun.”
Head of Education Julie Baker says, “These programmes are changing the traditional school/museum engagement model from a single visit to multiple visits due to the richer opportunity for learning now available. It really leans into our vision of inspiring the innovators of tomorrow.”
Partnerships and collaboration
Te Puawānanga as a space is providing opportunities to work with myriad partners and organisations in promoting STEM learning and potential career paths for future innovators.
Significant new partnerships, such as with Science Alive, who generously partnered to bring the Te Manawa Magic Box to life and workshop design challenges for visitors, have been integral to the Centre’s success.
Te Whai Ao Dodd-Walls Centre, long-running supporters of MOTAT’s education programme, also generously extended their support by sponsoring the centre’s Light and Colour gallery and collaborating on science programming.
Chief Executive / Museum Director Craig Hickman-Goodall says, “Two years of effort across the whole MOTAT team, and many external collaborators, launched this incredible science and technology centre in May last year and the past 12 months saw that mahi continue with developing new programming and providing manaakitanga to our thousands of visitors. I couldn’t be prouder of the many positive outcomes achieved to date.”
We will celebrate this one-year milestone with Sports Tech, a special two-day event that heroes the role of technology in sport and leisure.
