May 06, 2024
Māori projects shine in architecture awards
A Māori health and social services centre in Rotorua has won the NZ Institute of Architects’ Waikato Bay of Plenty division award for commercial architecture.
Werner Naude from DCA Architects of Transformation says Manaaki Ora Trust asked his team to create a culturally representative, warm, inclusive, non-clinical facility.
The exterior of Te Rito o Manaaki Ora features eight big sail-like forms representing the journey of Te Arawa waka to Aotearoa and the eight beating hearts of the tribe.
The interior was treated like a vertical marae.
“All three levels are connected and you enter on the ground floor as te waharoa, the middle floor becomes te whare wananga and the second floor is te wahi nga ringawera. To connect those three spaces we introduced the idea of a central poutokomanawa connecting all three levels,” Mr Naude says.
The judges said many of the projects in the region were about creating Māori spaces and features including including Kirikiriroa Airport, the Wai Ariki spa in Rotorua and Te Kura o Manunui at Brookfield Primary School in Tauranga.