A vision for downtown Tauranga, similar to one he’d spent his last year of university losing sleep over, was the last thing Jordan Hansen expected to find on his way to buy a pair of shoes earlier this month. Passing a Tauranga City Council stand at Tauranga Crossing Mall, the budding architect did a double take when he walked past the designs on display.
“When I saw those designs, I was drawn to them because they had aspects of my thesis in them,” he says,
“The social thoroughfare that links the waterfront to the library, the social and cultural spaces. I saw lots of similarities between my thesis design and the council’s proposed design for the city centre.”
Growing up in Tauranga, Jordan was always fascinated with buildings, so it came as no surprise to those who knew him when he moved to Auckland in 2016 to complete a Masters of Architecture degree at Unitec Institute of Technology. In his final year of living on 2 minute noodles and instant coffee, he chose a thesis topic that was close to his heart.
“Living in Auckland made me realise what was lacking in the Tauranga City centre in terms of community, social and cultural spaces,” he says.
“I love Tauranga, but I could see how it was struggling with the growing pains of becoming a city without enough investment to create a central city identity.”
Completed in 2020, Jordan’s final design, and 140-page doorstop of a thesis, has many similarities to the refreshed Tauranga Civic Precinct Masterplan: Te Manawataki o Te Papa – the heartbeat of Te Papa – which was developed by Willis Bond in collaboration with Council and mana whenua representatives, and adopted by the Commission late last year. At its core is a library and community hub designed to re-energise the city centre and bring the community back together.
“I was really excited when I saw the council’s plans. They are so much bigger than what I had done, and they look amazing, but the central idea is the same, which is to develop a space that encourages people and private investment back into the city,” Jordan says.
Topping his class with an A with second class honours and distinction, Jordan is now back in Tauranga working as a graduate architect for local firm Architectural Design Group (ADG). He couldn’t be more excited to see the Council proposing to invest more in the future of his home city.
“I had to move to Auckland because at the time I couldn’t study architecture here, but I always wanted to come back to Tauranga and I look forward to seeing this all get underway.”
Tauranga Crossing Mall is one of many places Tauranga City Council Commissioners have visited over the past few weeks to chat with the community about Council’s plans for the city centre and other proposed changes to the 2021-31 Long-term Plan, together with the draft 2022/23 Annual plan. These include looking at new ways of funding much-needed infrastructure for growth, and making rates fairer for everyone.
Commission Chair Anne Tolley says as well as attending markets and organised events, the commissioners held two online sessions to make it as easy as possible for everyone to participate in the dicussion.
“We’ve had some amazing feedback for and against our proposals and some really robust conversations, which is what this is all about,” she says,
“It’s been a fantastic few weeks and meeting Jordan and reading his thesis, which is really impressive, has been the icing on the cake for me. Tauranga is full of talented and creative people and it’s a huge privilege to be able to work alongside the community to help this great city realise its true potential.”
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Tauranga graduate architect Jordan Hansen.