8 | DEVELOPMENT Avail Pacific - Te Hononga Te Hononga - community at its heart Richard Loader Shaped in the form of two interlocking hearts, Te Hononga floats over an old riverbed in the centre of the Northland town of Kawakawa. Te Hononga pays homage to Frederick Hundertwasser, an Austrian visual artist and architect who also worked in the field of environmental advocacy. The journey of the project exemplifies the quote often used by Hundertwasser, ‘when we dream alone it is only a dream, but when many dream together it is the beginning of a new reality’. A combined vision of the Kawakawa Hundertwasser Memorial Park Charitable Trust (KHMPCT) and Ngāti Hine artists and crafts people, Te Hononga provides spaces for a public library, community workshop, interpretive centre with video and audio displays of local relationships with Hundertwasser and his philosophies for art and architecture, ecology and conservation. Built on land gifted by Maihi Parone Kawiti for the settlement of Kawakawa, the building belongs to the wider Kawakawa community, and reflects their kaupapa. With a seamless blend of cultural narratives, local artists and crafts people coming together in harmonious collaboration, the building’s shape, form and functionalty has been beautifully designed by award winning Kerikeri architectural and project management practice Avail Pacific. Emphasising the symbiotic nature of the project, Avail Pacific Director Pip Bolton says the design honours Fredrick Hundertwasser and his close friendship with wider Kawakawa community. “Our project scope was to capture the vision of the Hundertwasser Memorial Park Charitable Trust, Ngāti Hine and Hundertwasser’s kaupapa.” Lovingly crafted by a community with passion and determination, the building takes the form of two interlocking hearts. One heart is created from rammed earth, the other Abodo timber, together they symbolise ‘the joining of people’ —‘Te Hononga’. Pip says KHMPCT’s partnership with tangata whenua fostered a collaborative design process resulting in a building that is both beautiful and of cultural significance. Absolute Stainless12 Loygard Road. Port Nikau, Whangarei e: info@absolutestainless.co.nz p: 09 430 8608 www.absolutestainless.co.nz ABSOLUTE STAINLESS FOR QUALITY YOU’LL LOVE STAINLESS & ALUMINIUM SPECIALISTS A B S O L U T E Benches / Range / Hoods / Brackets / Flashings / Hand Rails / Ladders / Bollards WALL & FLOOR TILING · KITCHEN SPLASH BACK SPECIALISTS · MOSAICS NEW HOMES & RENOVATIONS · CERTIFIED WATER-PROOFERS TILING 4U EXPERIENCED TILERS Keith Wright - 021 404 344 | tilingforu@yahoo.co.nz • Drainage • Site/Earthworks • GPS Machine Control • Kerbing • Driveways/Carparks • Demolition • Drilled & Driven Pile Foundations • Retaining Walls info@webbcontracting.co.nz www.webbcontracting.co.nz (09) 435 0239 “Ngāti Hine provided the cultural narrative, based on the tokotoko (walking stick) named Te Hononga, presented by Ngāti Hine elder Kevin Prime to Hundertwasser at the dawn blessing of the world-famous Hundertwasser toilets in 1999. “The artistic team, led by Maude CookDavies, designed the expressive elements and enlivened the kaupapa, creating the very essence of the building and how it functions at the heart of the community.” Taking pride of place in the heart of the interpretive centre is the Poutokomanawa, the heart post of the whare. Created by Korotangi Kapa-Kingi, Shane Hakaraia and the crew from Hihiaua Cultural Centre, the Pou extends up through two levels of the building to a glass skylight where the Mātui ‘White Tui’, a large sculpture by Te Warihi Hetaraka sits. On the one hand the Pou symbolizes strength and unity of culture, while on the other hand the unravelling or the loss of culture and identity. The Mātui, a mythological bird, is in the act of re-sewing the threads of humanity. Designed by Theresa Reihana, the entrance to the library represents enlightenment in terms of knowledge and life. The Corten steel representation of Te Rākau Oka or The Oak Tree is a symbol of ‘hononga’ between Pākehā and Ngāti Hine. Laser cut in the steel roof are the words whakatauki ‘Ma te mōhio ka marama’, ‘Through knowledge comes light’.” The SIREWALL rammed earth walls depict the length and breadth of Pukepuke Rau (many hills) for all to see, to admire and feel her strength and energy. “One can’t restrain from wanting to embrace and feel her beauty,” says artist Maude Cooke-Davies. “The beautiful colour palette represented in the walls and throughout Te Hononga takes the form of two interlocking hearts.
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