Waka hourua set to provide tangible and culturally rich education to Aotearoa secondary schools

A four-metre-long waka hourua (double-hulled waka) created by School of Design Innovation staff has unlocked Māori and Pasifika knowledge as an educational tool for schools around Aotearoa New Zealand.

5 December 2023

Waka hourua are traditional ocean-going vessels that Māori and Pacific peoples used for migration across the Pacific Ocean and around Aotearoa New Zealand.

Working within Te Kura Hoahoa—School of Design Innovation and in partnership with the National Library of New Zealand, Deputy Head of School David Hakaraia, Senior Tutor Mark Bagley, and Summer Research Scholar Lawrence Reid took 18 months to design and construct the waka hourua.

The waka hourua provided the design team with a tangible and culturally rich experience in which they were personally connected with the navigation and wayfinding narratives from both Māori and wider Pacific communities.

Lawrence Reid, who is of Samoan heritage, found the project personally resonating.

“Working on the project really opened my eyes to how amazing we are as Pacific people and what we've accomplished, and no one can take that away from us”.

Mark Bagley said that effectively capturing the high level of engineering and practical considerations of these vessels was a challenge.“Unlocking the intricate engineering, interfaces, and materials that aided the tīpuna (ancestors) who voyaged on these vessels challenged our approaches to design.”

David Hakaraia and the team are supporting the National Library of New Zealand to transport the waka hourua to Auckland, where it embarks on its nationwide journey to secondary schools.

The waka is scaled 1:5, which Mark Bagley says is an important feature of the educational tool.“Its scaled size ensures the vessel is an accessible and transportable tool for learning, in a time where costs of traveling for these sorts of learning initiatives are less and less viable.”

The design team enlisted digital fabrication technologies at the School of Design Innovation such as CNC milling, and large-scale 3D printing to produce the vessel and reveal its indigenous design and construction methods. They recycled and repurposed materials for its fabrication and created modular components for the assembly, mixing the mātauranga (knowledge) of Polynesian Voyaging with contemporary innovation.

Deputy Head of School David Hakaraia teaches engagement with Māori creativity and mātauranga Māori (Māori knowledge) in the production of both visual and material cultural design within the course Mātauranga Design / Hoahoa ā-Mātauranga, and employs Māori tikanga to offer students a path to restore the health and well-being of both people and the planet through narrative, making, language, and shared values in Wakapapa Design I.

Summer Research Scholar Lawrence Reid recently won the Kohler Award for Innovation and Excellence within Industrial Design at the Wellington Faculty of Architecture and Design Innovation End of Year Exhibition.

Senior Tutor Mark Bagley continues to teach undergraduate and postgraduate students in Te Kura Hoahoa—School of Design Innovation, focusing on digital heritage, education and storytelling through artefacts.