This section showcases housing concepts that allow Māori to live, as Māori, in an urban context. They differ from papakāinga as all have been designed to be developed on land held in general title rather than on ancestral whenua held in Māori title. We have grouped them under the term Kāinga Hou.
Tāmaki Makaurau has the largest Māori population in the universe, yet ourhomes are overwhelmingly designed for western values and the western concept of the nuclear family unit. The Kāinga Hou designs have been created to inspire new design thinking for housing that accommodates Māori concepts of whanau and community, and which reflect Māori culture and values. The design concepts demonstrate a range of potential urban Māori housing solutions.
In developing Kāinga Hou we have worked with subject matter experts and kaumātua to develop a matrix of Māori housing values. These values form the foundation from which the following Kāinga Hou designs are developed and can be assessed against. The result is site-responsive housing designs which reflect Māori values, and which may also provide design solutions to the housing crisis facing many urban Māori in Tāmaki Makaurau.