It was constructed on reclaimed land next to Civic Square, and is the pre-eminent concert site in central Wellington.

Commissioned in 1975, building began in 1980; the centre officially opened on 16 September 1983.

It was designed by Miles Warren and Maurice Mahoney of Warren and Mahoney,[1] with acoustic assistance from Professor A. Harold Marshall,[2] formerly the Head of Auckland University's Acoustics Research Centre.

It is named after the primary promoter of its construction, Sir Michael Fowler, at the time the mayor of Wellington.

These lights have been used to mark significant occasions such as local LGBT Pride events, one hundred and twenty five years of women's suffrage in New Zealand,[4] the birth of Prince George of Cambridge,[5] or in memory of the victims of the November 2015 Paris attacks.