KOHA lands in Christchurch: Rewi Thompson exhibition opens at Sir Miles Warren Gallery

The exhibiton at Objectspace in Ōtautahi Christchurch, brings to mild speculative drawings from influential New Zealand architect Rewi Thompson, who “noticed structure as an act of creativeness generated by the land, a possibility to create post-colonial prospects that have been essentially linked to place.”

Coaching as a structural engineer earlier than he went to structure faculty, Thompson was as comfy with the pragmatics of construction as he was with the chances of the architectural creativeness. His commencement undertaking, the Ngāti Pōneke Marae, takes the standard capabilities of a marae and stacks them vertically in a construction that rises from the waters of Wellington Harbour and rests on the facet of Tangi-te-keo Mount Victoria.

In 1983 Thompson began his apply, producing such notable works as Wiri State Housing precinct (village; 1986-1989), the abstracted fish canopies in Otara City Centre (1987), Capital Discovery Place and Metropolis to Sea Bridge in Te Whanganui-a-Tara Wellington. His dwelling in Auckland’s Kohimarama (1985) is maybe probably the most notable of his initiatives attributable to its authentic poutama tukutuku-inspired design. Additionally vital (albeit unrealised) was his idea drawing for the brand new Museum of New Zealand constructing, undertaken with Ian Athfield and Frank Gehry.

Thompson cut up his time between apply and studio educating from 2002 after being appointed adjunct professor at the College of Auckland’s Faculty of Structure and Planning. There he developed alongside along with his colleagues a Māori culture-focused curriculum referred to as ‘Te Pare’ (The Threshold). Taken from a 2019 College of Auckland weblog web page written after his passing:

“Rewi described his work as specializing in land and other people. He obtained dozens of structure awards for his work, together with quite a few New Zealand Institute of Architects awards. He introduced a culturally-based perspective to every of his initiatives which mirrored his perception that wellbeing may very well be enhanced by means of Māori design and connection to the panorama.”

The exhibited drawings from his archives on the College of Auckland — found in an undated folder labelled ‘KOHA’ — function prismatic buildings on water, a Tyrannosaurus rex, totemic buildings rising from the ocean whereas birds swirl by means of a sundown sky. These dreamscapes — imagined and actual, buildable and fewer so — are interpreted within the exhibition as “a manifestation of architectural chance, collectively exhibiting how Māori design ideas ought to by no means be locked in associations with the previous however can generate a imaginative and prescient of a optimistic post-colonial future.”

KOHA: The speculative worlds of Rewi Thompson coincides with the launch of a brand new publication by Jade Kake and Jeremy Hansen titled Rewi: Āta haere, kia tere. Rewi brings collectively a variety of Thompson’s initiatives, from conceptual work to one-of-a-kind properties.

Revealed September, 2023 by Massey College Press
Designed by Prolonged Whānau
ISBN: 9781991016416

Exhibition particulars: 

KOHA: The speculative worlds of Rewi Thompson 10 February – 24 March 2024
Curated by Jade Kake and Jeremy Hansen
Exhibition design by Micheal McCabe
Offered by Architectus
Location: Objectspace in Ōtautahi at Sir Miles Warren Gallery
65 Cambridge Terrace, Christchurch Central
Hours: Thursday–Sunday, 10am–4pm

Be taught extra at www.objectspace.org.nz

Jade Kake (Ngāpuhi, Te Whakatōhea, Ngāti Whakāue) is an architectural designer and author. She is the founding father of Matakohe Structure and Urbanism, a Kaupapa Māori structure studio, and a part-time lecturer at Huri Te Ao Faculty of Future Environments at Auckland College of Expertise Te Wānanga Aronui o Tāmaki Makaurau. She is the creator of Rebuilding the Kāinga: Classes from Te Ao Hurihuri (Bridget Williams Books, 2019) and has contributed articles and chapters to magazines and books on housing, structure and urbanism. She is a two-time winner of Te Kāhui Whaihanga New Zealand Institute of Architects’ Warren Belief Awards for Architectural Writing.

Jeremy Hansen is the co-author (with Jeremy Salmond and Patrick Reynolds) of Villa: From Heritage to Up to date (Godwit, 2009), and editor of Trendy: New Zealand Structure from 1938 to 1977 (Godwit, 2014). For 11 years he was the editor of HOME journal. He was additionally the editor of Paperboy, a free Auckland weekly journal, from 2016 to 2018. He has been a contributor to Metro, North & South, New Zealand Listener and The Spinoff, and to US-based Architectural File and Dwell magazines. He now works as a placemaker and facilitator of arts and tradition initiatives in Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland’s Britomart precinct.