HAKANINI SURF SCHOOL HQ — Papamoa Domain, New Zealand — 2025

Service: Commercial Exterior Concept Design

Design Type: Commercial Concept 

Budget: Commercially Sensitive

Website: Hakanini 

Designer: Shelly Simmons, Visual Honey

The Project

After 11 years holding the license to operate at Papamoa Domain, Tom Botting had grown Hakanini Surf School into a summer institution. More than a business, it had become a genuine community hub. Locals gather, coffee in hand, conversation follows. What started as a gazebo and a few boards had evolved into a trailer setup that no longer reflected what the surf school had become.

Tom needed something more. A semi-permanent structure that could house the operation properly, secure his equipment, and hold its own as the social anchor the school had always been.

The Approach

The creative direction was shaped by Tom’s existing brand language, his connection to the natural environment, and a genuine commitment to being sympathetic to the public space the structure would occupy.

The project started with a donated shipping container, a salvaged door opening, and a can-do attitude. The design responded to that spirit. The brief called for an adaptive re-use of existing and reclaimed materials while meeting the aesthetic standard required for council approval in a public coastal reserve. Budget, site constraints, and council expectations all had to be held in balance without losing the warmth and character that defines the Hakanini brand.

The Result

A vertical timber batten facade wraps the container form, softening its industrial edges and grounding it in its coastal setting. The rhythm of the battens draws on the verticality of wild dune grasses and the easy, weathered quality of a classic kiwi bach. Closed, it reads as a considered piece of coastal architecture. Open, it activates the space, inviting the community in.

The concept package developed by Visual Honey communicated the design intent, the semi-permanent nature of the structure, and its relationship to the surrounding landscape clearly enough that council signed off with confidence. Build is now complete.

For Tom and the Hakanini team, the HQ is exactly what it needed to be: functional, secure, and unmistakably theirs.