The Māori worldview, deeply rooted in indigenous New Zealand culture, shapes how architectural design is conceptualised, executed, and experienced. It is a holistic perspective that interweaves spiritual, cultural, and environmental dimensions, resulting in architecture that reflects the Māori connection to the land, ancestors, and the spiritual realm. What type of unique building, house, landmark, chapel, church, marae, or shade space would you design to reflect and represent your worldview? I am referring to symbolism-related shapes, forms, patterns, and colours. What would be the main shapes and forms you will use to convey your worldview in a building? In this short eBook, I explore a Māori worldview and architecture in a New Zealand context. I briefly look at other worldviews for architectural design.

A short overview and exploration of Maori and other cultures' placenta practices worldwide. This short book provides a rich canvas for artists, designers, architects and Design and Visual Communication students (DVC). The book is also handy for the new curriculum 2023 New Zealand NCEA Level 1. Can you think of spatial or product design ideas as you read the article? Jot them down or make simple sketches in your sketchbook, visual diary or notebook. You can explore and develop your conceptual ideas later. You could document your initial ideas and thoughts as you read the book. Do you have a visual diary or notebook? Perfect opportunity to make notes. Are you a writer? This book could spark new ideas for stories and more.

This eBook or article aims to give a short overview of traditional Māori Furniture and tools. Garden tools - the hoe or paddle - are one of the focuses—Māori -inspired shapes, forms and patterns for hardwood chairs and side tables. I also include ideas for a mild steel side or coffee table—concepts at the end. Towards the end - just for fun and inspiration - I include AI-generated images (Midjourney) to inspire readers, artists, carpenters, furniture makers, carvers, and designers. The focus is on aesthetics - Māori art, Māori carvings, and more. Shape and form embedded in furniture and garden tools (hoe/spade or paddle). Additionally, the resource could be used for the new Technology Curriculum NCEA Level 1 (New Zealand), which will be implemented in 2024. Secondary school students and teachers could find this resource valuable for research and design inspiration. It includes a summary of the history of Māori furniture and Māori gardening tools, with a strong focus on embedding Mātauranga Māori (Māori Knowledge).

Design and the Vernacular explores the intersection between vernacular architecture, local cultures, and modernity and globalization, focussing on the vast and diverse global region of Australasia and Oceania. The relevance and role of vernacular architecture in contemporary urban planning and architectural design are examined in the context of rapid political, economic, technological, social and environmental changes, including globalization, exchanges of people, finance, material culture, and digital technologies. Sixteen chapters by architects designers and theorists, including Indigenous writers, explore key questions about the agency of vernacular architecture in shaping contemporary building and design practice. These questions include: How have Indigenous and First Nations building traditions shaped modern building practices? What can the study of vernacular architecture contribute to debates about sustainable development? And how has vernacular architecture been used to argue for postcolonial modernisation and nation-building and what has been the effect on heritage and conservation? Such questions provide valuable case studies and lessons for architecture in other global regions -- and challenge assumptions about vernacular architecture being anachronistic and static, instead demonstrating how it can shape contemporary architecture, nation building and cultural identities.

Should all-inclusive engagement be the major task of architecture? All-Inclusive Engagement in Architecture: Towards the Future of Social Change presents the case that the answer is yes. Through original contributions and case studies, this volume shows that socially engaged architecture is both a theoretical construct and a professional practice navigating the global politics of poverty, charity, health, technology, neoliberal urbanism, and the discipline's exclusionary basis. The scholarly ideas and design projects of 58 thought leaders demonstrate the architect's role as a revolutionary social agent. Exemplary works are included from the United States, Mexico, Canada, Africa, Asia, and Europe. This book offers a comprehensive overview and in-depth analysis of all-inclusive engagement in public interest design for instructors, students, and professionals alike, showing how this approach to architecture can bring forth a radical reformation of the profession and its relationship to society.

In this article, I provide a rich resource for artists, designers, teachers and design students. I include a short clothing and fashion design overview over the past 700 years of Māori in New Zealand. I start with traditional clothing and then progress to AI-inspired clothing—a modern and contemporary approach. See the AI images generated by Midjourney/Discord. Extravagant Māori shapes, forms, patterns and colours are included. The images will provide excellent prompts for designers. Specifically, the resource will provide a great background and new foreground for Māori-inspired designs. Considering the new NCEA Level 1 Technology Curriculum for New Zealand (launched in 2024), this resource will provide a brief overview with pointers to the future of fabric and fashion design.

This resource includes an overview of Māori food in New Zealand over the past 700 years. I have the influence of Britain, other cultures, and Christianity on Māori food and dishes. Also included are several AI-inspired dishes (Midjourney/Discord). Additional focus on aesthetics - crockery & garnishing (Māori-inspired dish-up plates). See the contemporary Māori-shaped, formed and patterned plates. Traditional Māori-colours feature on the ceramic (pottery) plates containing the food (red, black & grey). These images and concepts should provide prompts and inspiration for chefs, foodies, artists, sculptors, and potters. This resource could be very useful to students in New Zealand who will be doing the new curriculum (NCEA Technology Level 1) in 2024. Food Technology students could find this resource helpful, as it is short, sharp, and concise.