Marae DevelopmentPast Projects

The Bossley Concept

By May 25, 2009 No Comments

The concept was offered to us at a meeting in Ponsonby at Pete Bossley’s office in Mckelvie Street on March 23, 2007.

Pete said that, after looking at the development of the Marae from the 1960 and reading our Strategic Plan, his first thought was that he had to:

  • Show respect to the Whare and its spiritual power – keep the whare where it is
  • Show respect to the ones who had been there before – keep the Cenotaph where it is
  • All the buildings should face in to the whare and the Cenotaph to acknowledge them
  • Show respect to the people who carried out every day activities there by giving them space
  • Show respect to the land and the sea by being able to see them and blending with them
  • Show respect and relevance to the future by having a design which is modern and futuristic.

He said that the whare and the Cenotaph should stay where they were now because they were the centre of the Marae and the community. Everything else had to move to make them the centre. The other buildings had to be placed facing in to the whare, like a fan. This was his basic concept.

So, the main dining room is angled on the site. The second dining room building is an extension dining hall that has storage cupboards at the inside end. The third building is an extension of the kitchen with storage and an outside deck. The toilets have moved to the back of the kitchen with a separating wall and the mattress room is at the back of the back of the whare.

The whare shape has changed. Its northern wall on the bank side follows the shape of the bank, which is to be cut back in to the hillside. The front windows of this extension are narrow floor to ceiling ones. The existing and repaired verandah is screwed on to the front of this. There are also two floor to ceiling posts along the line of the existing northern whare wall, delineating the old northern whare wall and the roof.

The roof of each building is sloped and covered with iron and in between the roof is covered with the black sealant rubbery composite-Butanol.

The caretaker cottage is a 2 bedroom one. The Mahi Toi building is smaller than before. The third building behind the hangi pit is for the future. The sizes of the concept of the Mahi Toi and caretaker buildings is reversed. The Mahi Toi building will be bigger than in the concept.

Conclusion

This is the whole concept.

Ngati Kuta and Patukeha have adopted these plans and they are being developed to Resource Consent level. The costs will be covered by some funding and sponsorship.

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