ĀKAU have been engaged by the trustees of Miria Marae to design a marae that is vibrant and helps bring together whanau. Miria Marae is located on State Highway 1 in Waiomio, just south of Kawakawa and is a significant Marae for Ngati Hine. The project involves the construction of a new Wharekai (kitchen/ dining room), new Wharepaku (toilet block) and renovation of the existing Wharehui. The Masterplan will also make room for a wānanga (school) and a taonga museum as possible future developments.
I have spent the last few months developing concept ideas with my youth peers on the ĀKAU Workshops programme. Us youths driven concepts have been derived from listening to the Kuia and Kaumatua from the Marae, researching the area's connection to water, the local caves and the history of the land and people, such as Hineamaru and Kawiti and using their own experience's. In the process we have developed a sense of ownership over the ideas being generated and they were proud to present the concept plans for the Marae to our client in September.
My team and I are so proud of the work we have done on our course combining our creative ideas with a real life project. Keeping an eye out as this project moves from paper to reality!
I have spent the last few months developing concept ideas with my youth peers on the ĀKAU Workshops programme. Us youths driven concepts have been derived from listening to the Kuia and Kaumatua from the Marae, researching the area's connection to water, the local caves and the history of the land and people, such as Hineamaru and Kawiti and using their own experience's. In the process we have developed a sense of ownership over the ideas being generated and they were proud to present the concept plans for the Marae to our client in September.
My team and I are so proud of the work we have done on our course combining our creative ideas with a real life project. Keeping an eye out as this project moves from paper to reality!
I am part of a group where we are designing a marae in Waiomio, Kawakawa. The marae is called Miria Marae.
This activity is to show the client what ideas we had for their marae. One of our ideas was to show them that we want the building to connect with its whakapapa and be of the land using rammed earth . We want to hear their opinion on the design, what the client likes and what they don't like. We gave them an visual on where we will be shifting the marae to higher ground. This is because of freak floods that go into the kitchen leaving soot and mud behind to be cleaned up. |
One of my roles in the activity was experimenting with the idea of flow.
The concept of water is really important to the Marae, especially these key pointers: -Waiora Total wellbeing -Wairua Spirit of a person -Ka omio omio nga wai o waiomio The swirling waters of waiomio |
The connection with water and flow is the continuous and steady flow of whanau(Family) and guests coming into the marae.
I experimented with the idea of flow and water using dye.
These are some of the examples :
I experimented with the idea of flow and water using dye.
These are some of the examples :
Inside these examples there are swirls and curves forming giving us inspiration for the walls while keeping the concept of flow throughout the building.
Materials.
One of the main materials we will be using is rammed earth. We chose this material because it is natural and of the land.
There are 13 marae connecting back to Miria Marae. We had an idea to unite these other marae with Miria by taking the earth from where each marae are from and combining them into the rammed earth walls. This connects all the marae to the one place, Miria.
Matua Percy, one of the trustees of the marae came into our studio and explained to me that colors were important to represent feelings. We wanted someway to incorporate that concept into the walls using layers. I made my own earth brick that showed this concept.
There are 13 marae connecting back to Miria Marae. We had an idea to unite these other marae with Miria by taking the earth from where each marae are from and combining them into the rammed earth walls. This connects all the marae to the one place, Miria.
Matua Percy, one of the trustees of the marae came into our studio and explained to me that colors were important to represent feelings. We wanted someway to incorporate that concept into the walls using layers. I made my own earth brick that showed this concept.