The atea includes the use of:
Forum 400x400mm in Glacier - Honed
Forum 400x400mm Black Sands - Honed
Piazza 400x200mm Black Sands - Classic
Customer: Massey University Marae
Landscape Architect: McKinney-Pool Construction
Main Contractor: Arrow International
Paving Contractor: Sunshine Paving
Project: Massey University Marae
Products: Piazza, Forum and Holland Pavers
More than 500 people gathered before dawn on a Saturday in March 2021 for the tā i te kawa (dedication) ceremony held to bless Massey University’s new Wellington marae, Te Rau Karamu, which is at the heart of the Pukeahu Campus. As both a new build (wharenui - meeting house), a renovation (wharekai - dining hall) and re-design of the exterior spaces, Te Rau Karamu has been hailed as a significant step forward for the city central campus and for Massey’s commitment to a tiriti-led University. The new marae features a stunning use of materials to communicate Māori knowledge and principles, including magnificent patterned, paved areas using Firth’s Piazza and Forum pavers in various colours and finishes.
Te Rau Karamu is a space for Māori students to practice their reo and tikanga and for all students to learn and experience Māori knowledge in a safe Māori-led learning environment. The marae also functions as a place for meetings, teaching/learning and as a place for discussion, or in Māori-led wānanga.
Central to Māori culture, every part of the new marae has a message or story to tell. “The creativity of the artists’ work is phenomenal and has a real wow factor,” says Professor Meihana Durie of Massey University. “This is a beautiful house enriched not only with arts and Māori motifs and designs, but the use of technology. It is rich with an abundance of mātauranga (Māori knowledge).”
“A visitor or guest to the marae takes their first steps into Te Rau Karamu under tomokanga (the gateway),” explains Kura Puke, Associate Dean, Māori for Massey University. “On this gateway the Raukura, the three feathers, symbolise the philosophies of Parihaka of ‘peace and goodwill to all people’ which immediately sets the protocol of this marae - to come in peace.”
Kura says that once you step under tomokanga and onto the marae atea (front entrance space to the marae), a space that is zoned as sacred during the powhiri welcoming process, you step onto patterned paving, that of taniko (a pattern within cloak borders that has a direct connection to Papatuanuku, the Earth Mother). “It is a space of the unknown, a place where one needs to prepare, to be conscious and be aware during ceremony. These key areas required specialist consultation from tohunga (learned elders) right through to technical specification.”
“We were approached a few years back to see if we could supply paving in the colours and sizes required to create these amazing spaces,” says Bob Reihana, Sales Representative for Firth. “The Sunshine Paving team that laid the paving did an amazing job bringing the design to life.”
Following the powhiri process, once a visitor has moved across the atea, they pass under another amazing feature of Te Rau Karamu, the maihi (bargeboards), which represent and denote key constellations within the Milky Way, expressed with carving and inlaid circles of sculpted and fired clay, telling the story of the cosmos and people.
“Firth’s paving products are also a feature of the second atea or courtyard within the marae called Ngā Kurantinitini, a name that acknowledges the marae that have stood before on the Pukeahu campus,” says Kura. “This atea highlights another zone, that of the moana (sea). This pattern is called Te Ara Moana, or pathways to the sea, and connects strongly to the wharekai (dining hall). It focuses to the kai (food) and health-giving properties of the sea water to earth. The pattern used here is ‘aramoana’ representing the zone of Tangaroa and Hinemona (the sea) on which the Wharekai-dining hall also sits. A place of manaaki (taking care of) and caring for guests.”
“The building’s contemporary design is reflective of what the marae stands for,” adds Professor Durie. “It’s a marae for the future. We want our Māori students, staff and all students to be able to experience and understand matauranga Māori, not just as a knowledge based subject and philosophies but as Māori-led ways to learn and relate to each other in more integrated cultural environments.”