The Drawing Board: Taking in some of the awesome architecture at the Remarkables

There are few more picture-postcard-pretty places in Aotearoa than The Remarkables, where this week architecture Professor Derek Kawiti is in awe of the sights and sounds of the Ngāi Tahu rohe.

He travels to Rāpaki marae, where the whare rebuild over time is new but old.

Kawiti says there is now a deeper understanding of local traditions, materials and technologies.

“The circling back towards redefinition of old materials in new ways, we tend to get stuck in the mindset that the contemporary is necessarily processed machine based building,” he says.

“Māori architecture evolved celebrates the relationship between people, their places, land and materials

Kawiti is almost lost for words when standing by the mountain range.

Derek Kawiti hosts The Drawing Board. Photo / Tawera Productions

Rāpaki marae sits at the centre of the Ngāti wheke community at whakaraupō in Ōtautahi.

He said during Ōtautahi’s 2011 earthquake rocks were dislodged from a peak above including a car sized boulder which smashed through a Ngāpaki house.

“Eleven properties in the Marae based communities were red zoned due to rockfall risk,” Kawati says.

“After redesigning the wharenui, dining room and kauta and designing the layout of the marae and it’s atea.

“My closest friend, colleague and whanaunga Perry Royal is working on adjoining papakainga housing project.”

The eight-part series The Drawing Board examines the past, present and what future architectural designs in Aotearoa might look like.

Hosted by a professor of architecture at Victoria University of Wellington, Derek Kawiti (Ngāti Hine, Ngāpuhi, Tūhoe, Ngāti Porou), the series leads viewers on a eight episode journey of exploration, visiting construction sites and completed buildings.

To watch the full episode, tune into Whakaata Māori, Monday, 7.30pm, or head to Māori+ or watch on demand.