A feature of the project, the Living Pā’s design and construction team has hosted numerous tours through the construction site.

“We have hosted tours covering an impressive range of interest groups,” says co-project manager Rhonda Thomson. “It’s been fabulous. Te Herenga Waka class groups have come through. Local kura, the women in construction association, community and whānau housing groups, small private training establishments, a group of librarians, and even health providers. In addition to the more typical construction sector attention, the diversity of interest in the Living Pā doesn’t seem to end.”

It’s a radical project that sparks curiosity and connects to many in the University, the wider Wellington region, and beyond.

There have been ten times more tours than on a regular construction site, Rhonda says. “We are finding that people who are interested in innovation and benchmark shifts, sustainability and regeneration topics, systems thinking, and building healthy, vibrant communities are interested in this project.”

As the project nears completion, the team has stopped facilitating tours. There is a lot of work to be completed on the site before its opening on Friday 6 December, and the team is now focused on this task.

Once the building opens, and the marae and wharenui are reawakened, tours will begin again.

The building will continue to be a teaching tool and a place that brings people together, and Rhonda says this dimension is an important part of both the marae’s founding principles and the Living Building Challenge.

“Living buildings give off a pulse—the innovations that they feature and their attention to environmental and social justice concerns fundamentally differentiate them from a typical construction project and is something people are attracted to. Part of the way you can fulfil that curiosity is by providing tours.

“This is also a building that talks to the University’s values and tikanga, who we are, and who we are going to be.”