Ngā whare whakahirahira o te marae

The exceptional marae facilities

The two whare of Te Herenga Waka Marae are built on a shared vision—to realise Māori values and to protect and nurture the things that we love.

Te Tumu Herenga Waka, the carved ancestral house, is rich in cultural meaning and is a repository of legends, traditions, and knowledge. Its structure, rafters, panels, and carvings, are a masterful representation of whakapapa—the genealogical connections between tribes, the Pacific, ancestral deities, and the natural world. The mauri has been set in place to represent Māori as a people and as a culture. Te Tumu Herenga Waka provides a place for our students to learn about and practise Māori protocols, history, and language.

Ngā Mokopuna (formerly the Living Pā) is a contemporary house conceived to complement the whare whakairo. It demonstrates our commitment to manaakitanga and kaitiakitanga, and to acting with more care towards people and the natural world.

Both Te Tumu Herenga Waka and Ngā Mokopuna were conceived and built as teaching tools in their own right. They signify our community’s desire to cement the founding principles of our marae, to live authentic Māori lives, and to push the boundaries of innovation and knowledge. In a sense they are both talking buildings, and they speak about who we are and the direction we want to take.