Faculty of Dentistry

The University of Otago wanted to widen where its dental students could get clinical experience and lift the national profile of its Faculty of Dentistry, in a place where the care would also meet real need. Final-year students would train by treating members of the public, in a working clinic instead of only a lecture room, and South Auckland's high unmet oral-health demand made the Manukau SuperClinic site a place where the care would be reached and used.

The facility had to work as a patient clinic and a teaching space at once, 32 dental chairs alongside a simulation suite of phantom heads, and the specialist services a dental school depends on, from medical gases and vacuum systems to sterilisation and radiography built to international medical standards. It also had to feel welcoming to the diverse South Auckland community walking in as patients.