Waikato Regional Theatre

The city of Hamilton in the Waikato region is the country’s fourth most populous and third fastest-growing urban area. The Founders Theatre, built in 1962, was until recently the city’s largest and best-known theatrical venue with a 1,250-seat capacity, but it closed abruptly in 2016 due to health and safety concerns.

Momentum Waikato Community Foundation, with support from Hamilton City Council, engaged us to lead the development of a new venue. Following extensive consultation, we created the concept for a new 1,300-seat flexible lyric theatre. The venue hosts community productions, touring musicals and drama, locally produced theatre and dance, the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra, and the Royal New Zealand Ballet.

The city centre site offers a rich cultural heritage and renewed city centre engagement with the Waikato River, connecting to parkland and providing excellent views. It builds on other performance, museum and gallery spaces to solidify the area as an arts precinct within Hamilton. The new venue also links to the refurbishment of the historic Hamilton Hotel to provide a lifestyle art hotel and visual art gallery.