Urban Hut Club
Ready to discover where art and nature play together?
Huts open for Summer 2020/21
Lose yourself in the adventure of discovering hidden wild spaces and creations right on your doorstep with Urban Hut Club.
Journey up the Kāpiti Coast, from Paekākāriki to Ōtaki, to find five mini huts designed and made by Kemi Niko & Co. with local communities. Each creation tells a different story through the salvaged materials they are built from and the new commissioned fiction by local writers found inside.
Each hut has been paired with a local writer who has been tasked with crafting a short story to furnish the hut with character. Enjoy this story in written or audio form, either in the hut or at home by visiting the hut, capturing the code and entering it on the hut page.
Commissioned by New Zealand Festival of Arts. Curated by Bret McKenzie. More info.
Turn your hut journey into a learning opportunity with the Urban Hut Club teacher resources
You’ve come to the right place! Here you’ll find written and visual clues to lead you to all of the huts.
Click on a hut icon from to visit the hut page. Read the directions and safety notes before you set out (this is a good time to hit ‘Download for Offline Use’ if you need to). When you are ready, take the train, bike or car to the huts ‘Start Location’.
Once there, you’ll see the Urban Hut Club sign (see example above). From here follow the app directions, or refer to your downloaded PDF version, until you see the hut.
Once you’ve found the hut, look for its unique code
Hidden inside all huts is a code that you can enter into the ‘Found it’ box on the hut page. This will unlock the hut fiction, in written and audio formats.
You have now ‘digitally unlocked’ this hut! Return anytime to the unlocked hut page to read the story at your leisure.
Save your progress > save the app to your homescreen
Android: Click your browser menu button, select ‘add page to’ and then choose ‘homescreen’
Apple: Click the menu button and select ‘add to homescreen’
Take the train
We think trains are great! There are regular train journeys along the Kāpiti line that will get you to all the Urban Huts, except Ōtaki. If you are taking it easy and just visiting one of the huts a train journey is perfect, it will just increase your walking distance, see a hut page to find out by how much. Otherwise why not. . .
Bring your bike
Trains and bikes go great together! With their powers combined you can visit 2 – 3 of the Urban Huts in one day. Metlink have some info on how to take your bike on public transport.
Here are some day trip ideas you might try:
Paekākāriki & Whareroa Huts
Take the train to Paekākāriki station. From here you can bike to Paekākāriki Hut (through the village streets) or Whareroa Hut (via the Te Ara o Whareroa bike track through Queen Elizabeth park). Pack a picnic, clear your schedule and do both in one day! Or take it easy and choose one.
Paekākāriki, Kaitawa & Waikanae Huts
All of these huts are within 5-10 mins bike ride from train stations. Get a Metlink Explorer day ticket (zones 1-10 $20) and hop on and off, biking up to each hut as you go.
Mountain Biking Day
Whareroa Farm has heaps of great mountain biking tracks as well as the biggest of the Urban Huts. Check out this map and the Whareroa Hut page to plan your route whether you get there by train (via Paekākāriki station) or by car.
Urban Hut Club Supporters
Commissioned by
Created by
Partnered by
Thanks to
Hut Fiction Curated by
Project Curated by
Bret McKenzie
Community Support by
- Whareroa Guardians Trust
- Paekakariki Community Orchards Group
- Ngāti Haumia
- Friends of Wainui Stream
- Waitohu Stream and Dune Care Group
- Friends of Kaitawa Reserve
- Department Of Conservation
- KCDC Parks and Recreation
- Nga Manu Bird Reserve
- Helen Forrest
- Paekakariki.NZ
- Libby & Tainui Hakaraia
- Elevate Ōtaki
- CCS Disability Action Wellington
Materials Donated by
- Steve Cosgrove
- Andzrej Suchanski
- Kirk Neilson
- Weka Stitch
- Carolyn Smith
- Mandy and Robin Reid
- Renown Builders
- Mark Amery
- Peter McKenzie
- Lily Carter and family
- Te Horo Beach
- Sally Frater
- Sarah Grandison
- Linda Hill
- Penny and Ian Redwood
- Dulux
- Nicole and Jana Patana
- Joshua Harris
- Nico Borron
- Linda Hill
- Penny and Ian Redwood
- Human Dynamo Workshop
- New Zealand Festival Workshop
Special thanks to
- Jordan / Leyden family
- Rob Uivel & Sue Dorrington
- Fox River Community
- Anna Dean
- Brendon and Lotti
- Val and Susana
- Wrigley Family
- Davies family
- Emma Deakin
- Claire Mabey
- Eva Prowse
- And the NZ Festival team
- Naomi Smith
- Hayley Jefferies