Description:

Awa and whenua shape a sense of us in place – an identity to this land. Even if this is not the awa that speaks my name, it is still the awa by which I reside and so, a sense of responsibility as kaitiaki of place is paramount.
Tangata whenua identity is intrinsically linked to location in space, an embodied sense of the whenua beneath our feet and the awa that flow, kātao o te maunga, hōkio ki te tai. These locations link us to our tīpuna, a more than human understanding of whakapapa.

Kātao o te maunga, Hōkio ki te tai is a spatial design offering, drawing upon the site it sits; the banks of Te Awa Kairangi, ebbing and flowing to Te Whanganui-a-Tara. "Ngā maunga tū tono, ngā puna e rere, wai puna mātao" (Pekaira Rei, Te Āti Awa). The surrounding whenua and living awa inform this project's own kaupapa.

The physical structure of Kātao o te maunga, Hōkio ki te tai will inevitably spend moments of its life underwater, a result of Te Awa Kairangi calling for the return of her desired course, and the removal of her humanly determined one. In response, this proposed design is built to be flooded, to be of no hindrance to the awa once she takes her course. Some may consider this a speculative future; this is our reality. What if we upheld the mauri of Te Awa Kairangi, embracing her chosen course? Aro mai tātou te whakapapa o te awa...? 'whakahuahua i ngā hikuawa o Te Awa Kairangi'

Kātao o te maunga, Hōkio ki te tai aims to kōrero tangata whenua identity serving as an interface for tikanga and a space for māoritanga to be woven through spatial sensibilities, creating experiential moments of identity within te ao – empowering us as kaitiaki of place.

Three folded planes, each resembling a single hēra of the great voyaging waka forms the layout of Kātao o te maunga, Hōkio ki te tai. These hēra stand proud amongst the chiselled chasm that is now the destined flow of Te Awa Kairangi. The three planes taitapa (frame) the differing identities of the spaces, connected on the papa whenua (ground floor) to tautoko (support) the core kaupapa (approach) that is to echo values of kaitiakitanga through our spaces. The three planes, named Ūranga, Tauranga and Te Rau Kaitiaki form pavilions, tied together through their kindred design detailing and shaped papa whenua, harmonising with the whenua below. The grounding plane continually calls out to the whakapapa of the space via outfacing apertures, taitapa e karanga whakakpapa ō te awa – the framings call out to the whakapapa of the river.