February 15, 2018
New window into Maori Auckland
Aucklanders will now be able to learn more about the Maori side of the city at a new facility just off the northwest edge of Aotea Square.
Pa Rongorongo, a pair of linked containers, is adjacent to the site of an ancestral kainga and repo or wetland where Maori life flourished alongside Te Wai Horotiu, the river that flowed down the contemporary Queen Street valley.
Phil Wihongi, a Maori design leader at the Auckland Design Office, says the minimalist design highlights the primacy of te reo Maori in its signage, and visitors can speak Maori to its kaimahi.
It will be the centre for a changing range of activities.
"There will be the site for visitors to come in, who are able to see a three dimensional model of the city, they will be able to download information that leads them to Maori artwork, to Maori sites of significance, events that at happening for Maori throughout the city, as well as all the other components of our city," Mr Wihongi says.
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