Ngahere atawhai : an exploration of a natural environment and an architecture driven by place to encourage the healing of people, the land and the relationships between them

Abstract

Today, people experience the natural world in different ways, gaining delight or contentment, adoring the beauty or enjoying the openness of untouched environments. Māori specifically, are often at home in, or feel at peace within, these places and our connection to the land is deeper than beauty, instead it is a connection to our ancestors, cultural heritage and spiritual awareness." Māori people traditionally believed that in nature everything was linked together...The weather, birds, fish and trees, sun and moon are related to each other, and to the people of the land.”2 Places within the natural world, such as native forest and streams are where we can see or imagine how our ancestors lived in these environments, and with this we can have the desire to live the experience of a similar way of life. This research project gives the opportunity to explore these connections and how they effect people in the modern world while also gaining a better understanding of my own personal connections. The devastation of Kauri logging is significant to the local context of my home in Rangiahua, Northland. Logging has brought with it great physical and spiritual damage to the natural condition and ecology of other northland forests, in the same ways. This damage is felt by both the forest and the people who belong to these places. A facility designed for the reconnection between people and place can occur only within that place. This research project proposes an architectural intervention within a natural environment, focusing on regenerating these connections through physical, spiritual, mental and emotional immersion. A simultaneous translation of this connection will be through an active attempt in mending the relationship between people and the Kauri tree. This, not only in the sense that Tane Mahuta is the God of the Forest, but also with the devastation that this forest giant as a dominant and ancient species has endured since human settlement in Aotearoa. Purposed site: A visitor complex for working (nursery and education spaces), eating and rest (livng spaces) situated on the Waipapa River near the Rereturoa Steam in the Waipapa River Valley in the Puketi Forest, Northland.