3. Recovering Wā Kāinga
Conceptual / 2019
New Zealand
Architectural Design
A multi-disciplinary and multi-sensory research project that proposed an alternate theological origin story for architectural practice; based in the cosmological myths of my land of origin—New Zealand.
Suspending the myth of architectural autonomy, this thesis draws from Māori mythology, as embedded within the landscapes of New Zealand, to prompt an architectural approach that recovers ancestral telluric layers, not to analyze them, but rather, to renew dormant kinships of site, memory and affection. Engaging the work of one’s imagination, the quest for embodied, ancient knowledge proceeds from the deep wells of memory to the “bodying forth” of regenerated relations between peoples and lands.
Whakapapa, the recitation of genealogical lists in Māori tradition, demonstrates this: a cosmology built on allegories of procreation that relate all things eternally as kin. Considering this spatio-temporal consciousness, this project proposes a path and a series of twelve pavilions corresponding to twelve lunar months, within a model for architectural engagement grounded in recursive and reciprocal relationships.
New Zealand
Architectural Design
A multi-disciplinary and multi-sensory research project that proposed an alternate theological origin story for architectural practice; based in the cosmological myths of my land of origin—New Zealand.
Suspending the myth of architectural autonomy, this thesis draws from Māori mythology, as embedded within the landscapes of New Zealand, to prompt an architectural approach that recovers ancestral telluric layers, not to analyze them, but rather, to renew dormant kinships of site, memory and affection. Engaging the work of one’s imagination, the quest for embodied, ancient knowledge proceeds from the deep wells of memory to the “bodying forth” of regenerated relations between peoples and lands.
Whakapapa, the recitation of genealogical lists in Māori tradition, demonstrates this: a cosmology built on allegories of procreation that relate all things eternally as kin. Considering this spatio-temporal consciousness, this project proposes a path and a series of twelve pavilions corresponding to twelve lunar months, within a model for architectural engagement grounded in recursive and reciprocal relationships.
Harvard GSD
MArch I Thesis Project
Advised by Lisa Haber-Thomson
MArch I Thesis Project
Advised by Lisa Haber-Thomson
