The Drawing Board: A magical collaboration between Pākehā architects and Te Wānanga o Raukawa

The Drawing Board this episode examines the magnificent and magical building at Otaki’s Te Wānanga o Raukawa - a collaboration between architects Tennent and Brown and the wānanga.

The design response was to evoke Ngā Kete Mātauranga e Toru, the Three Baskets of Knowledge acquired by Tāwhaki. Ngā Kete align in their qualities with the central ritual space housing the lecture theatre and carvings, and the two saddlebags of the library to the South and student hub to the North.

It is Te Ara a Tāwhaki (The Pathway of Tāwhaki) and serves three purposes: as a home for student services and social space, as the whare pukapuka (library) for the campus, and to provide a tiered teaching and interactive lecture space.

The eight-part series, The Drawing Board examines the past, present and what future architectural designs in Aotearoa might look like.

Host, professor of architecture at Victoria University of Wellington Derek Kawiti (Ngāti Hine, Ngāpuhi, Tūhoe, Ngāti Porou), leads viewers on a journey of exploration, visiting construction sites and completed buildings.

See the full episodes on Whakaata Māori, Mondays, 7.30pm, or head to Māori+ or watch on demand.