Finding our Feet

'The phrase tangata whenua is well known to almost every New Zealander, and means “local people” or more literally “people of the land”. As a system that mediates between people and land, the practice and theory of architecture in Aotearoa, New Zealand is directly implicated in the term tangata whenua. Considering the importance of this term, it would seem that architecture in Aotearoa has a primary responsibility to explore and reinforce relationships between people and the land.'

The first strand is a response to Rewi's provocation above. His provocation is concerned with pedagogy, where this inquiry into methodologies began. The second strand is a response to a personal body of work characterised by drawing and writing, not making; a grasping of a final chance to fabricate. The latter introduced limitations - the selected methodologies serving the former needed to be scalable. In weaving the two together: how could a highly esoteric theoretical grounding be distilled into a digestible format for public interaction?

Tapestries of Tāmaki, an installation on the City Centre's O'Connell Street in the Urban Art Village (part of Heart of the City's annual ArtWeek), is the culmination of these strands of research. Modelling and weaving (as distinct [non]architectural modes of mapping) form the interactive elements. The house intentionally echoes the whare/woolshed, itself calling to Aotearoa's historical context.

Viewers were first invited to plant a flag corresponding with a memory and emotion on a 1:10,000 map of the Tāmaki isthmus (aided by the city's maunga as wayfinding points). 

Then, using a loom as a viewing device, they wove a length of coloured ribbon into a collective tapestry, lined up with their flag - positioning themselves within a personal and geographical context, imbricating themselves amongst fellow Aucklanders.

Here, the term "[non]architectural" describes methodologies used in built-environment pedagogies that are also disciplines in their own right. Tracing to traditional western, indigenous, and global canons, these were the tools through which this inquiry was carried out, but also those with which it was concerned.

Processes explored in this inquiry include; collage, charting, pastels, sewing, pottery, flag-making, modelling, weaving, drawing, and writing. Many of these, for the purpose of this thesis, can be considered as acts of mapping, as acts of positioning, as acts of Finding one's Feet.

Tapestries of Tāmaki is supported by a body of work derived from these quasi-architectural makings. This media provokes (the concept of), positions (contextually), and percolates (on the outcomes of) the installation. Early work explored the thesis' critiques of the status quo before shifting to exploration and understanding of history and the self in context (as diaspora and Tangata Tiriti [o Waitangi]). These explorations served as testbeds for different [non]architectural processes, exploring their scalability and practicality for an interactive activation. Later work returned to many of these methodologies to ruminate further on the installation, reckoning with its outcomes and considering their implications, thereby closing the loop on this thesis.