The Kupe Waka Centre was designed to be the national waka centre for Aotearoa~New Zealand, a celebration of the waka building of Hekenukumai Ngaiwi Puhipi Busby, and an icon of the country’s visitor industry.  Its mission was to share the knowledge and experience of ocean-going waka sailing and celestial navigation which forms an integral part of this country’s cultural heritage.  It was also intended to celebrate the waka hourua that played a central role in the peopling of this country, like much of the Polynesia, Micronesia, and Melanesia.

Key features of the project design were to :

1. be an active site of waka building, carving, and learning open to the public seven days a week 
   

2. give visitors an interactive experience with opportunities to experience wayfinding, sailing, and paddling at various levels from a simple introduction to short voyages
   

3. sustain both the construction and maintenance of waka and on-going training and development in blue water sailing of waka hourua and celestial navigation
   

4. generate employment and economic activity as a major tourism facility in an area of significant economic and social deprivation
   

5. represent a point of reference for the waka of the Pacific, symbolised in an ahu matched by identical structures on Rapanui and Hawai’i and the construction of a base for the Polynesian Voyaging Society of Hawai’i on the site
   

6. both respect the traditions of waka building and yet meet the visitors’ expectations to get as close possible to the waka and the carvers through the design of the buildings.