Difficulties beset what is considered by some to be the most important new example of modern Māori architecture.
Grant Bulley, one of the architects of Te Taumata o Kupe Nuku, and Christine Panapa, chairwoman of Te Mahurehure Marae, described how much they had to overcome and their successes and achievements.
Bulley was one of the architects for TOA Architects and is now Te Kāhui Whaihanga NZ Institute of Architects’ (NZIA) professional services director.
The lead architect was TOA’s Nicholas Dalton, working with his colleagues on the design, which was nominated for a World Architecture Festival award in Singapore and scooped other awards.
The building was developed to revitalise mātauranga Māori, particularly legendary Polynesian navigator Kupe and shortlisted in the best use of colour and civic and community categories in Singapore.
Bulley and Dalton led a March 26 tour at an NZIA event, beginning with a pōwhiri.
With manuhere seated in the ground-floor lecture theatre and a nine-screen digital display on the back wall, Bulley and Panapa told the architects how the project was beset with problems, including construction hit by Covid lockdowns and that all-important glass from China being stuck at the port on arrival in New Zealand.
“The glass was to sit on the wharf for 12 weeks,” Panapa recalled. Only after negotiations was it released."
The Gib wallboard crisis, the builder’s business failure, the need for stormwater pipes to be diverted, finding kauri and resolving regulatory issues were other challenges.
Bulley described a cultural clash between council regulations and tikanga Māori, citing exit and entry signage, inappropriate on a waharoa (entrance) but required to meet fire evacuation and building regulations.
The balustrade around the mezzanine floor looks like palisades or Māori fortifications. Bulley said structural strength was gained by inserting an aluminium strip on the inside so the appearance was not compromised.
Panapa told how glass panels were designed by TOA Architects’ Matekitātahi Rāwiri, inspired by mātauranga shared with him by the marae’s tohunga, Rereata Makiha.
The patterns reflect Kupe’s journey and pay homage to Māori modernist artist Cliff Whiting, showing ocean currents, wind patterns and atua, Rā and the moon Marama.
Panapa told of working with her husband John and her nephew Julian Wilcox.
She said it was no coincidence that as a child, Rāwiri was at the marae’s Hinehou Kōhanga Reo, in a building designed by his mother Tere Insley, the first Māori woman to be a registered architect.
Bulley told how the first builder, ZCap owned by the Kanons, had failed part-way through the project.
Companies Office records show it went into voluntary administration then receivership, then liquidation in 2021, owing $2.2 million.
That failure caused delays and other problems, including the mezzanine floor being left exposed to the weather for months, Bulley said. Replacement builder Stryde wanted that floor removed.
“We don’t have the money, so I got 30 Seconds,” Bulley told the architects of success in cleaning the floor.
Asked about the cost of the entire new building, Bulley said: “$6.5m, but that doesn’t include all the water changes so the full costs would be closer to $8m to $10m.”
A plaque at the waharoa is dedicated to the late Tā Patu Hohepa KNZM, who opened the building on November 12, 2022.
The Department of Internal Affairs, the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment and Foundation North are acknowledged on that plaque.
Professor Deidre Brown of the University of Auckland wrote of the building’s external appearance.
“The diagonal black wind brace on the front facade follows the form of stays used on Māori sails, and the glass’ inward tilt and angles on the red barge suggest the movement of sails and rudders. Elevating the structure on a platform makes the building appear to hover.”
Brown is the NZIA gold medal winner for 2023 and Bulley is her husband.
The Charities Register shows Te Mahurehure Cultural Marae Society Inc had $7.09m revenue in the year to March 31, 2024 and total expenses of $3.1m, yielding a $3.9m surplus. It has 11 employees, three part-timers and 10 volunteers who completed 4160 hours in that year.
The marae conference centre beside the new Kupe building was developed for hui, weddings, meetings, private functions, community events, trade shows and retreats. About 15 rugby league teams come from the marae, including some Warriors players, Panapa said.
The NZIA said in 2023 the marae building was heroic in ambition, reach and execution, a remarkable result following decades of work and commitment from numerous people and speaks to the determination and perseverance of the Te Mahurehure community.
It embodies the spirit of Kupe and represents his journey to Aotearoa.
The unique external form frames stories and histories embedded in the glass window wall, which in turn projects shadows deep into the building interior, where a range of dynamic spaces and volumes provide for a variety of uses and functions. This exceptional project establishes a new home and a new way of informing and defining the future, the NZIA said.
The Guardian’s Oliver Wainwright wrote about it last March in an article headlined “stunning new buildings expressing Māori pride”, Dalton said.
Bulley said the building is one of the most important in terms of modern Māori architecture in this country.
“It’s a ground-breaking building,” he said.
Dalton said it had won an Auckland area regional award from the NZIA and a national award. It won a Best award from the Designers Institute of New Zealand and had featured on a number of documentaries, including The Drawing Board on March 23.
“I probably missed a few,” he said of the awards list.
Te Taumata o Kupe Nuku
Anne Gibson has been the Herald’s property editor for 25 years, written books and covered property extensively here and overseas.
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