The iconic Womad letters were designed by Taranaki's award-winning architect Murali Bhaskar. The letters now adorn Womad festival sites across the world and climbing them has become a right of passage for young festival goers everywhere. Photo / Amanda Senior
The iconic Womad letters were designed by Taranaki's award-winning architect Murali Bhaskar. The letters now adorn Womad festival sites across the world and climbing them has become a right of passage for young festival goers everywhere. Photo / Amanda Senior
One of the rising stars in New Zealand’s architectural world is heading to Womad to share her vision for Aotearoa.
On a mission to revive and revitalise papakāinga and kaupapa Māori design, Jade Kake (Ngāpuhi, Ngāti Whakaue, Te Whakatōhea) is a trailblazing designer, sought-after educator and passionate housing advocate.
“Papakāinga is a long-treasured dream for many whanau. Imagine what you can achieve if you’re in that kind of nourishing environment, and then what that will mean for the next generation. It’s really exciting,” she says.
Jade takes to the Womad stage as a part of the OMV Steam Lab and, as well as her insights into Māori design and the future of papakāinga, she will be sharing her much-lauded book Rewi: Āta haere, kia tere, which was co-authored as a tribute to the esteemed late architect Rewi Thompson.
Built on Māori land, traditional papakāinga were small housing communities that allowed whanau to live together, support each other, care for the environment and build strong intergenerational connections. For Jade, papakāinga are more than stories from the past, or even blueprints for the future, they are a key part of a supportive, successful and connected way of life for Māori.
Connection is a word she uses often. She speaks of the connection tangata whenua have with the land, the connection architecture has to people and place, and her belief that connected communities can do more than live together, they can thrive together. Her passion for co-housing developed in her childhood.
A force for change and a passionate housing advocate, Jade Kake, of Matakohe Architecture and Urbanism, is heading to Womad this weekend and will feature on the OMV Steam Lab stage.
Born in Australia to a Māori mother and a Dutch father, Jade grew up in New South Wales in a shared eco-community. As a child, she visited her whanau in Whangārei and found it strange they did not live together on whenua Māori, where they could support each other more easily and care for their ancestral land.
She says one of the many impacts of colonisation was that the traditional and communal way of living was taken from Māori. Settlements were wiped out and Māori were separated and dispersed.
Now, with the return of some ancestral lands in Treaty settlements, there is an increased desire for a modern take on communal living and Jade believes meaningful architecture can help in that revitalisation. She is working with iwi on papakāinga projects in Whangārei that not only include housing, marae, and shared spaces but also business areas and campsites.
“There’s such a hunger for people to return home, but for many reasons, it’s not practical as a full-time thing. So places like campsites within papakāinga are an opportunity to bridge that separation and bridge that displacement. They allow people to come home, to have that intergenerational transfer of knowledge, to spend time on the land and to build relationships. In our busy lives, we are kind of robbed of that.”
She says despite the strong desire for communal living, and the return of some ancestral lands, there are still barriers to papakāinga.
“Those hurdles largely come in the form of red tape from banks and councils. The system is founded on individual property ownership, and subdividing land rather than keeping it all together. That kind of works against this idea of building and fostering community.”
However, Jade says there have been changes in legislation that are paving the way for more inclusive policies, including the introduction of papakāinga plans at various councils. As well as this, councils and governments are actively engaging with tangata whenua when planning new civic projects, and Māori design elements are being woven into public buildings and community spaces.
“That’s why we’re seeing such incredible changes within the physical environment. It’s not legislation alone, but it was a critical catalyst and a critical component.”
In Taranaki, the esteemed architecture firm BOON has designed some of the region’s most iconic buildings. Among the many are the cherished civic jewel in New Plymouth, Puke Ariki, which was designed in collaboration with manu whenua.
Since making Aotearoa his home, BOON director and award-winning architect Murali Bhaskar has been passionate about engaging with local iwi and hapu, gaining a confident understanding of Taranaki tikanga and learning te reo Māori.
BOON often works in collaboration with local Māori artists and incorporates traditional elements and artwork into builds. Recently Wharehoka Smith created concrete artwork for BOON’s design of the Stratford Bike Park, while Haorooro ki Taihua designed intricate Māori panelling for a home BOON designed in Warea.
Murali says historically Māori designs have been relatively invisible in the built environment, but that is changing.
“There is now an increased awareness of and emphasis on expressing site-specific cultural narratives in the built environment, and making authentic connections with tangata whenua,” he says.
Murali, who designed the large-scale and iconic Womad letters, says the impact of this cultural awareness is important.
“By incorporating Māori cultural narratives and values into designs using patterns, motifs, and symbolism, civic and housing developments honour and celebrate the cultural heritage of Aotearoa. This acknowledgement respects the indigenous identity and fosters a sense of cultural pride and belonging in the community.”
Jade agrees with that and says it’s important to see more Māori identity and stories reflected in the environment.
“Then we can see more than just our colonial history, and our young people can come to understand our stories and have a sense of place, a sense of belonging.”
You can catch Jade Kake as part of the OMV Steam Lab this Saturday at Womad NZ. The OMV Steam Lab is a stage of curiosity and a fusion of Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Mathematics. This year’s OMV Steam Lab lineup includes beer brewers, a marine biologist, an AI expert, a musical mathematician and more.
