MEDIA RELEASE
Rewi: Āta haere, kia tere
Jade Kake & Jeremy Hansen
Published by Massey University Press, 14 September 2023, RRP: $75.00
The untimely death of legendary architect Rewi Thompson (Ngāti Porou, Ngāti Raukawa) robbed us of a visionary thinker who believed that great architecture is crafted through careful consideration of people and place. These principles informed Rewi Thompson’s work across civic, social and private projects and his influential teaching career.
Rewi Thompson’s contribution to architecture has been significant — from his City to Sea Bridge in Wellington and Auckland’s Ōtara Town Centre canopies to the Puukenga School of Māori Studies at Unitec and the ‘marae style’ concept of the Mason Clinic — and yet, outside architectural circles, awareness of his contribution tends to be scant. Now a major book about his work serves as a corrective.
Published by Massey University Press in September, Rewi: Āta haere, kia tere, is the culmination of a four-year project by editors Jade Kake and Jeremy Hansen, who discussed Thompson with those who knew him best — his daughter, Lucy (who gave the book her blessing), friends, colleagues, clients and students. They also took a deep dive into the archives which house his many drawings and conceptual designs to build a more complete picture.
Although Thompson resisted the easy categorisation of ‘Māori architect’, he had an undeniable impact on our architectural identity as a nation — the relationships between people and to land, and the manifestation of these relationships spatially. The approaches he took are now common in a new era of architecture in which the expression of te ao Māori and co-design are becoming more widely practised.
‘Rewi touched the lives of many with his ability to listen carefully and make space for the perspectives of others, his conceptual brilliance and ability to translate deep listening into architectural ideas, and his generosity of spirit in sharing his skills and knowledge with others,’ says Jade Kake. ‘His impact is felt, not only through his own built and speculative work, but also through the lives and work of those who were taught by, collaborated with, or knew him.’
For the new generation of Māori architects Thompson is a seminal and inspirational figure. ‘Rewi’s influence on the design of prisons and mental health institutions still shapes the way those facilities are designed today,’ says Jeremy Hansen. ‘And his long stint as a lecturer at the School of Architecture at the University of Auckland encouraged a generation of students to feel more confident about using landscape and Māori narratives in their designs.’
This handsome book, stunningly designed by Extended Whānau, showcases the breadth of Thompson’s projects alongside long-form interviews with those who knew and loved his work.
ABOUT THE AUTHORS
Jade Kake (Ngāpuhi — Ngāti Hau me Te Parawhau, Te Whakatōhea, Te Arawa) is an architectural designer, writer and housing advocate. Her design practice is focused on working with Māori organisations on their marae, papakāinga and civic projects, and in working with mana whenua groups to express their cultural values and narratives through the design of their physical
environments. She received a major grant from Copyright Licensing New Zealand to research and write this book.
Jeremy Hansen is director, communications and community at Britomart Group. He is a well-known writer and podcaster (on 76 Small Rooms) about architecture and urbanism and a former magazine editor, interviewer and presenter.
