Danielle Koni, highly commended
Danielle Koni
Photo by David St George
Danielle Koni, from the University of Auckland School of Architecture, was highly commended for her project ‘Once the Dust Settles: Weaving a Cloak of Resilience for Hinemoa Point’.
Project description
Frictions between Ngāti Whakaue and Crown over the intended construction of a road through iwi-designated land at the edge of Lake Rotorua inspired this work. The proposed road prevented iwi from developing the land for more than 50 years and, as a response, this thesis argues for an architecture of resilience. The series of structures that permeate the setting employ iterative making, craft and conceptual drawing as vehicles for analysis. The result is a contemporary architectural lake-scape that engages Ngāti Whakaue myth and narrative. The work is figuratively and literally layered, and interrogates the use of the cloak in contemporary architecture and argues for an interpretation beyond just a façade treatment.
Citation
In DanieLle’s hands, the notion of weaving is more than just a façade treatment. An impressive waharoa on a Lake Rotorua site is the first of a sequence of interlaced and undulating structures and landscapes, where horizontal wefts – ahu – are interlaced with vertical strands – whenu – to give physical form to a place that privileges whenua.
