Maori Architecture

Maori architecture is the building tradition of the Maori of New Zealand, developed from around 1400 AD as early Polynesian settlers adapted their building traditions to New Zealand's colder climate using local materials such as totara wood and raupo reeds, reaching a classic phase between roughly 1350 and 1769. Its most significant building type is the wharenui, or carved meeting house, the focal point of tribal gatherings, whose form symbolizes an ancestor's body, with the ridge beam representing the backbone, diagonal bargeboards the arms, and central columns the heart, its carved wall panels depicting warriors, chiefs and explorers alongside painted rafter patterns; the tradition of richly carved meeting houses on the East Coast is traced to the Ngati Porou ancestor Ruatepupuke, with carving styles varying among iwi and houses often named for revered ancestors. Fortified settlements called pa placed defensive whare on hilltops, while other structures included pataka storehouses, kauta cooking houses, and the marae, the open ceremonial plaza at the center of a village; traditional sleeping houses were small, some two to three meters across, with low doorways, earth floors and interior fires for warmth, built from native timbers including totara and pukatea with raupo reed thatching and flax roofing.