Te Ūranga Waka – the new administration, lecturer and research building for EIT’s Te Manga Māori – was launched in the early hours of Monday (7 May) with due ceremony and tradition.

The $2.5m-plus project is the first in a three-stage, five-year redevelopment of Te Manga Māori, EIT’s faculty of Māori Studies.  Future stages will provide classrooms and a large area for Māori crafts such as greenstone carving, and a language laboratory and a further three classrooms.

Te Manga Māori Head of School Puti Nuku said the faculty had waited a long time for new premises. 

“We have been here in recycled prefabs since the mid 1980s, and are very much looking forward to settling into Te Ūranga Waka.” 

The building’s name, meaning the landing place for waka, was chosen to convey a sense of the educational journey undertaken by Te Manga Māori students and staff.  The inspiration for the Paris Magdalinos Architects’ design was the waka – the traditional Māori canoe.

The opening of the building was itself steeped in tradition.  Held at the approach of the dawning day, it began with a karakia followed by a whakatau (welcome).

Leading the karakia were EIT kaumātua Matiu Eru, who teaches on EIT’s Bachelor of Arts (Māori) programme, Jeremy MacLeod, who studied for his BA Honours (Māori) at EIT and is director, Reo, Tikanga and Mātauranga Māori for Ngāti Kahungunu Iwi Inc and Derek Lardelli, Associate Professor and senior lecturer, Toihoukura at EIT Tairāwhiti.

Te Manga Māori students performed an action song written by lecturer Materoa Haenga for the occasion.

Prominently positioned facing Gloucester Street at the front of EIT’s Hawke’s Bay campus, the building’s form and east-facing orientation echo that of the meeting house on Te Marae o Te Ara o Tāwhaki – the symbolic heart of Te Manga Māori.   

One of four pou – the carved poles representing guardian spirits which traditionally mark an invisible boundary protecting those within – has been relocated to stand sentry over the entrance to Te Ūranga Waka.

The gabled entry opens onto an expansive reception area which will also provide an exhibition space for Māori art and crafts.  Associate Professor Derek Lardelli presented an artwork created to celebrate Te Ūranga Waka’s opening , and the circular mirror featuring Māori designs will be hung in the foyer.

Te Manga Māori has also purchased a multimedia work from Toihoukura.  The artwork is by Tamatamarangi Clausen who graduated from EIT Tairāwhiti last week with a Bachelor of Māori Visual Arts (Level 7).

Gemco Construction committed to an accelerated works programme to meet a very tight deadline for the building’s completion.