Between Tai Timu and Tai Pari: Connections to water through an aptitude of craft.

Abstract

This thesis is primarily motivated by the author’s unfamiliarity with the spatial relationships of Oceania, explored through investigations into what is referred to as ‘the space in between’. Water is central to the thesis topic, and the waka is studied as an architecture which connects communities to the water. The relationship of Oceania, involves a physical interaction and a spatial connection to the water, the element which binds everything together. This holistic understanding and consciousness, practiced by Māori, differs from the European ideals of marking space; a practice of defining and recording observations to retain knowledge. Resisting a European interpretation of delineation, this thesis involves participation in the site, carving and handmaking: physical acts to create a responsive awareness. Between the tides, the shoreline threshold of Ōhope spit partially separates the Pacific Ocean from the waters of Ōhiwa Harbour. Regarded as ‘the foodbasket of many hands’, Ōhiwa Harbour has been a vital food source for the local iwi since the onset of ancestral waka landings. With the spit’s shifting littoral and the denial of marine development supported by the local iwi in the neighbouring harbour, the presence of this space in-between is diminishing. The contact amidst oceanic and inland waters was by the way of the waka. The waka contributed to the daily lives of the community and is recognised for the ancestral voyages to Aotearoa. Ancestral narratives of the waka taua have dominated the understanding of the waka, determined by an interest in grand expressions rather than the daily activities. Consequently, the current architectural response is one of representation and antiquity; identifying the cultural detachment influenced by western perceptions. Since the landings of the waka, a transition from water to land has required an adaptation of its architecture; for which its hull form was literally inverted to provide shelter. From the waka, traditional Māori structures have adapted their tectonic and connectivity to open space. Through settler influence, the Māori architectural tectonic has been pushed to the exterior, rendering an architecture of fixed and divided space.This thesis attends to the local community’s interaction with water: an architectural proposition traversing Ōhope spit, to support the relationship between water and its local hands. Identifying that tangible propositions strengthen the connection to Oceania and mauri; an aptitude of craft was applied. Thus, this thesis inquires, how can the architectural approach of the waka transition to a landscape moved by the space in between?