The craft of layering narrative

The oldest stone church in Aotearoa, the cathedral is a Class 1 historic place and, 170 years after its first service in 1846, needed to be closed due to the necessity for earthquake strengthening and restoration. The three buildings are a part of a complete growth of the cathedral website as an entire, collectively offering instructional sources and studying experiences for the group.

The historical past of the positioning is advanced. The cathedral, cemetery and vicarage are all situated beneath Pūkākā, Marsland Hill: land that was occupied by Te Atiawa from the 1430s and the place Ngā Pōtiki-tauā constructed Pūkākā Pā round 1730. British colonists began to reach in Ngāmotu in 1841 and, the next 12 months, the Anglican Church presence was established, to serve each European and Māori all through the parish. When conflicts over land escalated between the Crown and Māori in Taranaki, the highest of the hill was levelled, and barracks had been constructed for the stationing of British troops. The church withdrew its service to Māori. In 1860, rangatira of Ngāti Haua, Ngāti Apakura and Ngāti Koura, killed through the land wars, had been buried in unmarked graves within the church grounds, away from the cemetery.

A few years in the past, it was recognized that there was no Māori illustration on the positioning and, looking out to resolve this, Ngāti Te Whiti, mana whenua of Ngāmotu, labored in partnership with the church to create Te Whare Hononga. The venture temporary was to design a reconciliation area that might deal with and acknowledge the troublesome historical past of the positioning, the church and the time of Ngā Pakanga Whenua (the land wars), and to create a spot that might develop into a vessel for telling tales. On the coronary heart of the venture is the connection between the church and Ngāti Te Whiti.

The chosen proposal by Tennent Brown Architects positioned Te Whare Hononga on the entrance of the positioning, giving the constructing a powerful presence and sustaining a visible connection between the cathedral and the vicarage with out overpowering the prevailing buildings when it comes to scale. Grasp-planning for the positioning noticed the profitable relocation of the vicarage, making a deliberate constructing alignment and a necklace of exterior areas, provision of a courtyard, pathways and varied factors of entry.

In plan, a parallelogram, somewhat than a sq., was created as a approach of acknowledging each the axis between the cathedral and the vicarage and, importantly, the axis between Pūkākā, the Pā website, Paritutu and the coast.

Realising Te Whare Hononga required a collaborative strategy on a degree past the business customary, and session from cultural, historic and archaeological views was pivotal to attaining a profitable consequence. Damon Ritai, knowledge-holder and educator, contributed to the event of the idea and design as a cultural advisor. Taranaki sculptor Rangi Kipa had a big degree of artistic enter and affect, and oversaw many facets of the design. He developed a design for a sculpture to be positioned over a memorial to the fallen chiefs who had been buried on the positioning, based mostly on the idea of a toki coming free from its bindings.

Taranaki artist Richard Landers created the artwork inside three leadlight home windows, every one with a singular kōrero and an intrinsic a part of the storytelling throughout the constructing. The home windows every face a special cardinal level; to the east, the ocean is depicted, the south references Pūkākā and Taranaki Mounga, the west faces and acknowledges the rangatira graves.

The thought of the area getting used for reconciliation and storytelling is a story represented in lots of parts of the design. The weaving sample, tāniko, of the outside panels shows a collection of diamonds on prime of diamonds, representing the change that happens when folks meet. This was a creative approach of acknowledging the numerous change that occurred for Ngāti Te Whiti when the British settlers arrived and the change that has been prompted by the aspiration to have a spot of reconciliation and for storytelling that’s balanced.

References to the kete, or meals basket, on the inside and exterior, create a component of intrigue, encouraging folks to analyze, to assemble, to be taught and to know the story behind the venture. The cladding tone and texture had been intentionally chosen each to attach and to distinction with the stone of the cathedral and the materiality of the vicarage. The gray of the whetū panels references the color of the stone partitions of the cathedral, whereas the sleek floor of the fabric offers Te Whare Hononga its personal id, distinct in kind and function.

Exhibited throughout the area are 4 pou, every of which shows a visible description of whakapapa, family tree, the inspiration of Māori information, mana motuhake, independence, self-determination, taonga tuku iho, caring for historic treasures, connecting with the previous, current and future, and whakapono, views of religion, hope and love.