Internationally-acclaimed architect and researcher Professor Anthony Hoete has returned from a successful career in London to work with communities to revive ancient Maori construction techniques.
Professor Anthony Hoete and his team are aiming to rebuild a historic Bay of Plenty wharenui that was destroyed in the Napier earthquake using ancient Maori construction techniques.
Funding has been secured from Toka Tu Ake EQC Earthquake Commission to enhance the seismic resilience of the new wharenui and its community.
“Toka Tu Ake EQC wants to create more resilient communities through design and construction of stronger buildings,” Toka Tu Ake manager research Dr Natalie Balfour says.
“So Professor Hoete’s work aligns well with our goal to improve Aotearoa New Zealand’s resilience to natural hazards.
“Investing in Maori researchers and matauranga Maori has been a key focus of this year’s biennial grants, so we are proud to be able to support this amazing project,” Balfour says.
Aside from the funding, the research is also supported by QuakeCoRE, the Centre of Research Excellence for seismic resilience, and the Endangered Wooden Architecture Programme at Oxford Brookes University.
Professor Hoete and his team will incorporate traditional Maori construction methods, endangered knowledge called mimiro, to build a prototype timber structure and test its seismic resilience on the full-scale structure.
“The origins of mimiro can be traced back to the ships and strong sail lashing our ancestors used to travel across the Pacific,” Hoete says.
“They had a deep knowledge of building and creating strength and tension in structures, so we want to recreate those techniques that have been lost, and use them to give our wharenui greater seismic resilience.”
There is only one known whare remaining in New Zealand built with mimiro techniques — a Whakata in the Okains Bay Museum on Banks Peninsula.
The team is working closely with Ngati lra o Waioweka who built the original Tanewhirinaki wharenui near Opotiki during the 1860 New Zealand Wars, only to witness its destruction in the 7.8 magnitude earthquake in 1931.
The most important carvings representing the iwi’s ancestors were saved from the wreckage and, remarkably, stored in a shed at the marae for nine decades.
In January this year, Hoete recognised that a wananga held at Waioweka Marae would be a perfect moment to bring out the carvings and suspend them from scaffolding.
“For all but two members of the hapu, it was the first time they had seen the carvings of their ancestors standing, albeit temporarily, so it was pretty special,” Hoete says.
His team lashed the carvings to a scaffolded framework, before scanning the framework with lasers to create an accurate record of the physical dimensions of each carving. This information could then inform the reconstruction of Tanewhirinaki.
Hoete explains that the original timber had deteriorated over 90 years and would not be able to carry the loading of a new wharenui.
“So instead, we will design a new structure that will act like an outer whare to which we will sensitively attach the original carvings to the inside of this new structure.”
In the United Kingdom, Hoete had been working with engineered timber to create affordable housing, and wants to do the same for Maori communities, using the indigenous construction research at the Tanewhirinaki wharenui.
Hoete says his team is currently designing the timber structure by using interlocking compression joints instead of bolting parts together, while the tensile elements will pull the structure to the ground, like a tent.
Once the core structure has been completed, the team will pull the vertical portals sideways using a winch off a jeep to test the horizontal strength required for seismic resilience. Vertical strength will be tested by water weights.
It is clear that Hoete is passionate about the project and getting the local community involved.
“We do a lot of outreach work with the local community and schools, and some of the local youngsters have already shown an interest in a career in architecture, which is pretty amazing.
“This project is about research and design, but it is also so much more. I believe this project has the power to transform our communities.”
