Whakarewarewa + Te Puia Māori Arts & Crafts Institute, Rotorua
Traditional & Contemporary Architecture
I saw some extraordinary traditional and contemporary Māori architecture during a limited visit via the basic tours to Whakarewarewa, the living village, and its neighbor, Te Puia Māori Arts & Crafts Institute. The two sites could not be more different. Te Puia is in the West, while Whakarewarewa is in the East. The two share views of the Geysers in the middle; I learned on the tour that it is the ancestral burial ground of the Whakarewarewa people. Whakarewarewa is very much a Māori village where people live. They run a relatively small tour a few times a day by guides who live in the village. Te Puia is a major commercial tourist attraction with arts and crafts at its heart and performances and lectures to educate visitors about Māori culture. The tours are hourly, and there are many things to learn and do there. They also sell all-day passes, so you can visit as many events as possible. The two couldn’t be more different.
Whakarewarewa, The Living Māori Village.
The entry to Whakarewarewa starts at the visitor center, which I highly recommend visiting because it's the only contemporary building on the site. You can also get an affordable Hāngī meal (more on this later). The center has a history of the village, its guilds, and how the town was saved through tourism through the guides. When tourism to Rotorua was low in the early 20th century, the guides brought Māori culture worldwide.
After crossing the bridge, you’re effectively in the village. This is also the bridge where British tourists used to toss coins at Māori Children. The landscape continuously changes because the village sits on an active thermal site. Houses may not be permanently in one location forever. Homes are built around the vents, which, in a way, are the residences' access to heating and cooking.
In the center of the village is the Wharenui, which means a large house. It is a community space. In front is a public plaza where visitors are usually greeted. The Wharenui are usually the most ornate buildings in the village. Each carving tells a story about a person from the village.
Red is a color that holds a lot of meaning in Māori culture. It represents the earth and is often associated with the life-giving properties of the land. Red is also associated with the element of fire and symbolizes passion, strength, and determination.
During the tour, we tasted Hāngī sweet corn cooked using the springs. Hāngī is a meal prepared via a cooking method that uses the areas' abundant thermal activities to prepare meals. Meat and fish are usually steam-cooked in a pit dug in the ground, while vegetables are placed in a bag and dropped into a thermal hot spring. This method of cooking is highly sustainable and requires no electricity. As most Māori no longer live next to a thermal vent, this is like comfort food for them in this region.
Another common space within the village is the baths. Until early Māori who bathed in the springs, the water was expertly channeled to communal baths. The baths are co-ed, where villagers would share stories and gossip.
At the edge of the town is the geyser area where the Whakarewarewa ancestors are buried. Four different geysers go off at different rates. The view was good, but since there’s no real access to get close to the geysers, I argued that Whakarewarew got the less ideal part of the thermal park. In the background, you can see Te Puia.
Te Puia Māori Arts & Crafts Institute
Te Puia is a very different experience altogether. Most of the buildings are contemporary and have modern and some postmodern motifs. Buildings use steel and concrete and have wood ornamentation. See the design drawings here.
The tour has two parts, though they also threw in a Kiwi bird conservation into the mix, which photography was not allowed (they are nocturnal, and flash will damage their eyes).
Part One: Māori Arts & Crafts Institute by DesignTribe
As an architect, I found this to be an interesting building. It reminds me of the Dutch Embassy in Berlin by OMA. After going up the ramp to enter the building, you are greeted by a gallery space. Then, you continue the journey on an elevated ramp with artifacts flanking you on both sides and windows letting light in from the courtyard side. The elevated walkway separates the visitors from the students working in the woodshop space below. This created a separation and allowed the students to continue to work while tours were given.
The wood shop ramp is connected to a tunnel that takes you to the stairs. These stairs transition from a single-height space to a double-height space where woven art is displayed. The large windows on the stairs encourage users to look toward the space where artists are working. While this transition is phenomenal for able-bodied people, wheelchair users would find the stairs a bit disjointing.
Finally, this leads to the courtyard, where the building wraps most of its glazing facing it. I suspect if there were schoolwide functions, it would happen here. The tour of the building ends with a visit to the āhua Gallery/gift shop, where students' work is sold.
Part Two: Thermal Park
There isn’t much to say about the Thermal park other than it’s a landscape experience on its own. Pathways nest in areas to give proper distances to the geysers and areas of significant geothermal activities. Because it was a particularly wet day, we were always in the mist. It added a lot of mystique to the visit.
After only 15 minutes in the park, we took a shuttle back to the entrance area. We passed by a few traditional Māori structures, but they seemed very similar to those in the Whakarewarewa Village.
In conclusion, I felt like they were two very different experiences. Te Puia ran like a well-oiled commercial machine, whereas the Whakarewarewa Village was still rough but felt genuine in the history and culture the guides wanted to teach you. The Hāngī meal from the cafeteria of the Whakarewarewa kitchen is the cheapest you’ll find. It was about 30% of the cost of the buffet meal at Te Puia. While I didn’t learn much from the Te Puia tour, I felt I saw some interesting contemporary architecture and designs, and the short walk within the geothermal park made it well worth the visit. Both are unique experiences and should not be missed.
This article is part of a series during my year-long sabbatical. If you enjoyed this article or the images, make sure to give it a like. If you loved it, follow me on Instagram and find more of my work at www.georgexlin.com.
