Description:

Rewi: Āta haere, kia tere is a tribute to the late architect Rewi Thompson (Ngāti Porou, Ngāti Raukawa), a visionary thinker who believed that great architecture is crafted through careful consideration of people and place. This book brings together a breathtaking range of his projects, from conceptual dreamscapes to one-of-a-kind homes. Rewi is one of our foremost contemporary Māori architects, but he is often overlooked. This book puts his work and thinking into the spotlight, offering a timely addition to the conversation of architecture in Aotearoa. We were tasked with designing the book.

In true Māori fashion, Rewi transcended the boundaries of Western architecture. He was a radical thinker, philosopher, poet, caring educator, and a loving father and husband among many other things. This is seen through the colourful array of interviews, drawings, photos, letters, emails and sketchbooks that were gathered for the book. Additionally his work almost always wrestled with Aotearoa identity. Because of this, our approach was to ignore the often monotone convention of architecture tomes, and instead create a colourful and iconic portrait of Rewi, unleashing his imagination for all of Aotearoa to appreciate.

Colour plays a central role in setting the book's tone. From the outset it creates an unmistakable bookshelf presence that purposefully appeals to a wider audience, beyond the usual architecture market.

Rewi's written name adorns the cover, screenprinted in fluoro pink, referencing his signature use of pink highlighter markers. The bright blue cover vibrates against the pink and references the elating use of colour in his architectural drawings. Pink and blue continue to surprise throughout the book, mixing with the colourful world of Rewi's imagination and brightly blocking out different sections within the books 450+ pages.

Upon release, the book's colour palette became instantly iconic and warmly loved by all who knew Rewi and his practice. Additionally, the colours were strongly embraced as a signature for the exhibition design of KOHA: The speculative worlds of Rewi Thompson at Objectspace.