March 13, 2024
Architecture tohu for Deidre Brown
University of Auckland head of architecture Deidre Brown has become the first Māori woman and first academic to win a Te Kāhui Whaihanga Institute of Architects’ Gold Medal.
Professor Brown says the institute has always been supportive of Māori architecture and architects, with the first gold medal going posthumously to John Scott of Ngāti Kahungunu back in 1999.
She says because Māori and Pacific architecture responds to the natural environment, it has a lot to contribute to the profession here.
“So around the Pacific you will see the rooves have all different shapes because they are shedding the rain, they are trying keep the sun off, maybe there is not s lot of rain. Our environment here, our ancestors came, it was a lot wetter, the forms had to be dug into the ground to keep them warm, the soil is a form of insultation – different types of plant materials and timber to build out of and post tensioning, having harakeke ropes around the frame and then pulling tight to make it super tight and super strong,” Professor Brown says.
She’s keen to see more Māori in the profession.