Sarah McLeod-Venu from Te Herenga Waka—Victoria University of Wellington, Te Kura Waihanga—School of Architecture has received Highly Commended at the 2025 Resene Student Design Awards for her project 'Fa’a’ato’atoa: From Fractals to Fullness'.
Judges citation
A powerful story of a personal journey, told through drawing, form and space that strikes to the heart of the power and potential of architecture. Through four phases, the project postulates an answer to the question: can intangible elements of Samoan culture be translated into physical form? Through the use of vā, the sacred space between people, their environment, and the spiritual world, and explored through 3D models and sketches, there is a kinetic feel to this project. It communicates Samoan and Pasifika culture through architecture, movement and form, offering a space where identity can be explored.
Project description
Fa‘a‘ato‘atoa: From Fractals to Fullness explores how fa‘asamoa (the Samoan way of being) along with Samoan knowledge, ceremony and identity can shape contemporary architecture in Aotearoa. The project responds to the lived reality of the Samoan diaspora, where cultural connection is deeply felt yet often distant in everyday environments.
The design draws from the concept of vā, a Samoan understanding of relational space. Instead of viewing space as empty, vā sees it as the living field that binds people, ancestors, land and time. This project asks how architecture might give form to that relational world so it can be experienced, honoured and shared.
The final design is a diasporic threshold: an architectural landscape that carries its own memory rather than belonging to one fixed site. The terrain is shaped from drawings and observations of the ‘ava ceremony in Samoa and the faiga si‘i ceremony within the diaspora. These rituals of giving, receiving and respect establish the spatial logic of the place.
Ultimately, the project seeks to expand ideas of Samoan and Pasifika architecture, offering a space where identity, memory and belonging can be felt. A movement from fractals to fullness.
