Māori and Pacific buildings have united diasporic communities in Aotearoa-New Zealand since the 1970s, bringing about relational connections through vā (spatial relationships and practices) and generating wellbeing.
The latter characteristics developed over 2000 years of Pacific migrations, during which cosmologies, climatic and geopolitical environments, and ceremonies engendered ancestral house forms. Despite growing interest in Pacific architecture and culture, no substantial literature on this history exists.
We will gather historical data and living testimony about the relationships of these buildings with their communities, in their homelands and the diaspora, producing future-directed narratives to inform resilient community-building and architectural practices in Aotearoa.
Principal investigators: Dr. Albert Refiti & Rau Hoskins.
Associate investigators: Professor Tina Engels-Schwarzpaul, Dr. Billie Lythberg, Professor Lilikala Kame'eleihiwa, Professor Jean-Daniel Devatine.