co-KĀINGA Ōrākei: a collective urban habitat for the Hawke whānau and Oranga Tamariki
Tāmaki Makaurau’s housing density has remained low for too long. This “single-home per quarter-acre” mentality has led to the unaffordability, scarcity and uncertainty of housing for the average person; emphasising a ‘nuclear family’ system which is an unnatural living situation for many cultures – especially Māori. A solution to such an imminent crisis is to densify our urban areas: to build up vertically and accommodate our multi-generational whānau.
Atop the steep slopes of Kitemoana Street, the beautiful sea views of the Waitematā conflict with the tumultuous history of state housing and land loss. Prime land which should be developed fights with the current municipal legislation that makes it difficult from doing so. Working closely with the Hawke whānau and their mahi with Oranga Tamariki, this project is a speculative design that explores the possibility of higher density housing on Māori-owned land, in hopes to further a discourse to bring it closer to reality.
co-KĀINGA Ōrākei is a design for a collective urban habitat. The building manifests as an assembly of four distinct housing strategies: co-housing, multi-generational housing, transitional youth housing and temporary guest housing. The building mass is split into two distinct units – the smaller left unit as a private whare to the Hawke’s, the right as accommodation for vulnerable youth and other temporary guests. Carefully situated on the bottom and top levels are open communal spaces for all residents to play, socialise and eat together; for youth to re-engage with the concept of a healthy whānau system. Mezzanine levels act as a transitional space between private bedrooms and the communal areas, allowing self-agency to build in vulnerable tamariki through visual and auditory connections to these open spaces. Outdoor decks and sea-facing balconies with living plant walls are favoured in this biophilic design. Māori were never afraid of manipulating their whenua, therefore the steep land at the back of the site has been terraced to host planting and play. Weaving-like patterns influenced by traditional tāniko forms on exterior screens and pergolas adorn the building with shadows cast by rā, the sun, and he also powers the building’s solar energy production. Native flora species have repopulated the land, drawing in the cheeky pūkekos that love to roam Ōrākei.
The architectural democracy within this complex creates a safe, comfortable and joyful environment to reside in. It aims to generate housing as a response to what is an atypical typology of building – but not of living. And despite the irony that is in the further future progression towards traditional living, co-KĀINGA Ōrākei aspires to become an existing model for housing to regenerate Aotearoa’s ancestral lands.
