CLIENT
Cedar Pacific
McConnell Property
LOCATION
Auckland CBD, Auckland
COMPLETED
2025
CATEGORY
Student Accommodation
Multi-Residential
AWARDS
- NZGBC 5-Star Green Star Design
- As-Built NZ v1.0 Certified Design Rating
SIZE
758 studio rooms
18-storeys
The 18-storey building delivers a highly efficient student accommodation model, balancing 758 private student rooms with a range of shared amenities that foster community and wellbeing.
UniLodge Auckland Central occupies a prominent and complex site at the intersection of Auckland’s Civic, and Education precincts, bounded by Mayoral Drive, Lorne Street and Rutland Street.
UniLodge Auckland Central overlays a new student accommodation tower onto the retained fabric of Campbell House, an ornate 1929 brick building that had been largely disused for many years. Rather than treating the heritage structure as backdrop, the design positions it as the foundation for the project’s architectural and urban logic.
Internally, UniLodge Auckland Central accommodates 758 studio apartments, organised around efficient central corridors that maximise daylight and outlook to every room. Each apartment includes its own kitchenette and bathroom, supporting independent living within a managed environment.
Extensive shared amenities are concentrated on the lower levels and distributed strategically throughout the building, including study spaces, communal kitchens, library and music rooms, gym, cinema, hobby areas, laundry facilities, and landscaped outdoor terraces. The planning intentionally prioritises opportunities for social connection and pastoral care, encouraging students to engage with shared spaces rather than retreat solely to private rooms.
The 1,939m² site slopes approximately ten metres from south to north, informing a layered ground plane with multiple access points and activated street edges. Commercial tenancies are distributed across all three frontages, contributing to pedestrian activity and public engagement. A double‑height foyer at the Mayoral Drive and Lorne Street corner establishes a civic‑scaled entry and clearly legible address. The new 18‑level tower is set back behind the retained façades, ensuring Campbell House remains visually dominant and clearly read as a distinct heritage element.
Material and proportional references to the heritage building inform the new elevations. Terracotta rain‑screen cladding echoes the tone and rhythm of the historic brickwork, while framed window elements introduce depth, shadow and variation across the repetitive student room modules. The tower is articulated into four vertical forms to reduce apparent bulk and address the varied scales of its urban context.
Construction strategies were developed to support both sustainability and efficiency. The adaptive reuse and seismic strengthening of the heritage façades significantly reduced embodied carbon, while a post‑tensioned concrete slab system, prefabricated bathroom pods, and a unitised high‑performance façade improved material efficiency, construction quality and programme certainty. These measures contributed to the UniLodge Auckland Central achieving 5 Star Green Star Design and As‑Built NZ v1.0 certification.
Unilodge Auckland Central contributes a substantial residential population to Auckland’s midtown precinct, restoring a significant heritage building to active use while activating three street frontages. The project strengthens pedestrian connectivity, supports the surrounding education and civic institutions, and plays a strategic role in the ongoing revitalisation of this part of the city centre.
PROJECT TEAM
- Clifford Paul
- Tony Rowell
- Craig Ellis
- Matt Simpson
- Damon Aspden
- Vincent Woon
- Emma He
- Tessa Song
