State Insurance Building, High-tech skyscraper in Wellington, New Zealand

The State Insurance Building is a high-tech office tower in Wellington's business district, rising with a distinctive dark glass exterior and Brazilian granite cladding. The structure features a steel tube frame around its perimeter and incorporates multiple levels of retail spaces including underground commercial areas.

Designed by Stephenson & Turner in the late 1960s, the tower was approved on 14 June 1972 after building codes were rewritten. Construction began in 1973 but a boilermakers' welding demarcation dispute halted work for six years; the original contract was terminated in 1979 and a new one signed in 1981. Completed in 1984 at a cost of $93 million, four times the budget, it was renamed State Insurance Tower in 1998 and Aon Centre in 2018.

The tower's nickname, "Darth Vader's pencil box", was coined by architect Sir Ian Athfield, a comment on its black granite cladding and unvarying square profile. The ground level now holds Willis Lane, an entertainment venue opened in 2023 with a mini-golf course, bowling alley, bars and eating places.

The tower is entered through a two-storey-high glazed lobby at 1 Willis Street. The underground passages that once ran beneath the street to the Old Bank and Grand Arcades are blocked up, so reach those arcades at street level. The base plaza was covered in 2002 for retail space, and the lower food court reopened in 2023 as Willis Lane, with mini-golf, bowling and bars.

The underground passages that once ran beneath Willis Street to the Old Bank and Grand Arcades have been blocked up. The basement food court was remodelled and reopened in 2023 as Willis Lane, an entertainment venue with a mini-golf course, a bowling alley and bars.