Mäori pä inspire home designs

massey-university

Sat Feb 21 2009 13:00:00 GMT+1300 (New Zealand Daylight Time)

Mäori pä inspire home designs

Saturday, 21 February 2009, 2:42 pm
Press Release: Massey University

l.t.p.simmons-donaldson@massey.ac.nz
http://news.massey.ac.nz

Friday, February 20, 2009

Mäori pä inspire home designs featured in new Wellington exhibition

Traditional Polynesian and Mäori-built environments, with a focus on Mäori pä, are behind the architecture of three houses designed by Massey Master of Design student Amanda Yates.

The design work of the Coromandel, Whitby and the Marlborough Sounds homes will feature in an exhibition by 10 graduates of the College of Creative Arts in Wellington from tomorrow until March 6.

Ms Yates (Ngäti Whakaue, Rongowhakaata) says the design techniques include digging into the ground to form recessed spaces found in Mäori pä sites.

“Polynesian and Mäori building traditions also featured light-weight materials leading to an emphasis on temporary and transient buildings. The design addresses the needs of the people who will live there with a concern for linking the interior and exterior via moveable sliding doors and louvre walls that open to the environment.”

Ms Yates has been a staff member at Massey since 2004. She handed in a 16,000-word thesis about her design research last month and the exhibition completes her requirements for the degree.

The exhibition is itself designed by Massey researchers teaching in the design programmes – Annette O’Sullivan, who lectures in graphic design with the Institute of Communication Design, and Stuart Foster, who lectures in spatial design in the Institute of Design for Industry and Environment.

The Masters of Design exhibition is being held at the Tea Gardens, level 3 of the Museum Building on Buckle St, from February 21 to Friday March 6.

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