New rainforest atrium opens at Starship

Mosimane Tuitupou hangs out in the peace and quiet of the new atrium after its opening. Picture / Richard Robinson

For the past couple of months, each time she visited Starship Children's Hospital for chemotherapy treatment Mosimane Tuitupou tried to get a peek at what was going on in the atrium below.

Yesterday after weeks of peering over the banisters she got to have a proper look at the opening of the new rainforest atrium.

"It's pretty cool. I can't stop looking at it," said the Takapuna Primary pupil, who has just finished chemotherapy for Ewings sarcoma, a type of bone cancer.

"It's somewhere to hang out and relax yourself when you want peace and quiet. Some kids don't get a chance to go out and this is kind of like a home to them," said the 10-year-old, a first cousin of former All Black Sam Tuitupou.

"I like how they have put the clouds in the background and I love the rainforest. It's so beautiful. Even if you are inside you can still come out and have some fun."

The rainforest, which was created with a $100,000 grant from Sky City, features vinyl floor tiles covered in river stones and leaves with a stream curving through the middle. A forest mural wallpaper using photos by Craig Potton provides the backdrop to 7m-high recycled timber power poles used to represent trees. Clouds and canopies hang from the ceiling and children can clamber over macrocarpa long benches.

It wasn't only the children who liked it.

"It's neat," said Irene Tea, whose 10-month-old son Alex was being discharged after a short illness. "It's just natural and I think it's quite calming and soothing."

Mosimane's mother, Tina, said that with regular visits to the hospital and two other children to keep entertained, the atrium was a welcome relief.

"The ward is too small for them and when they come down to play here they stay three or four hours. When they come back to the ward they have to be quiet."

Auckland Mayor Dick Hubbard, who cut the official purple ribbon, thought it looked so good he was tempted to put on a pair of tramping boots and head off into the forest.

The rainforest replaces fibreglass objects, including an aeroplane, elephant and dinosaur.

Starship Foundation chairman Bryan Mogridge said it was a place to sit quietly and relax for the 150,000 patients who were admitted to the hospital each year, and their families.