Te Rau Karamu Marae creates a new cultural heart to the centre of Massey University's Wellington campus. The marae can host guests overnight and facilitate different types of teaching and learning, whilst also providing a place for retreat and rejuvenation. The marae acknowledges multiple connections and interfaces with surrounding campus buildings and the wider precinct. The atea opens out to the surrounding university courtyards and streets, holding its own mana without physical barriers through the use of patterned paving, planting and the carved waharoa.