September 15, 2023
Māori architech memorialised in new book.
A new book is looking at the contribution Māori architect Rewi Thompson made to New Zealand architecture.
Thompson’s work included the arch shade in the Ōtara Town Center, Ngāti Ōtara marae and his own triangular block-shaped concrete house.
Co-author, Jade Kake says the humble and genuine way Rewi practised architecture left a profound impact on Māori in the field.
“I think, even without overtly attempting to do it, he bought his whole self to his work. And so a lot of mātauranga Māori, whakaaro Māori, are embedded in the processes and the outputs of his mahi, and he really laid a foundation for those of us who followed,” she says.
An exhibition of Rewi Thompson’s designs will open at Objectspace Gallery in Ponsonby on September 29.