Aotea Centre, Convention center and theatre in Auckland, New Zealand

The Aotea Centre is a convention center and theatre in Auckland featuring multiple levels of flexible spaces. It includes the Kiri Te Kanawa Theatre with 2,139 seats and numerous meeting rooms designed for different types of events.

City architect Ewen Wainscott designed the centre in 1974, but construction only began more than a decade later. The main build was finished in 1989 at a cost of NZ$128.5 million, with several features omitted as costs escalated, and the centre officially opened in 1990. Poor acoustics forced a refit of the main auditorium in the mid-1990s, and it was refurbished again in 2012.

The foyers display important New Zealand artworks, including digital installations by Lisa Reihana and a seven-meter-high Waharoa gateway entrance. These pieces introduce visitors to how local artists and Māori artistic expression shape the spaces where people gather.

The main entrance faces Aotea Square, with the public stairs in front of the building upgraded in 2011 to include The Terrace Café under a large veranda. The centre is managed by Auckland Unlimited, which also runs the nearby Auckland Town Hall and The Civic. The Kiri Te Kanawa Theatre seats 2,139, while the Herald Theatre holds 186.

The name comes from Motu Aotea, the Māori name for Great Barrier Island, about 90 km from downtown Auckland. Inside, the Taula anchor stone, donated by Pacific peoples at the 1998 Pacific Vision Conference, sits by the level 2 stalls; its arrow points north-east toward central Polynesia.