There is architecture to discover in the South Pacific Featured
Vuna Wharf in Nuku‘alofa, Tonga. Image: Jason Mann
22 February, 2017. The South Pacific is where most people go to lie on beaches and get away from it all.
When we see images of the islands, they are generally resorts and palms and cloudless skies; picturesque isles, happy untroubled locals. You may see a few buildings – your over-the-water fale accommodation – if you are lucky, and a couple of cute churches you stop your scooter by, perhaps. But there is a lot of architecture in the Pacific and it is time we took a serious look at it.
Here, you will see images from a new project, by architectural photographer Jason Mann and Bill McKay, to document the architecture of the region. That’s rather ambitious, as the nations are so diverse and the place covers a third of the planet.
From the Anglo viewpoint, the watery side of the world has been seen as pretty much empty and dotted with little islands that harbour visions of paradise. Reality is different, of course. The Pacific has seen its share of conquest and colonisation over the past few centuries, followed by, as Paul Theroux describes, “the long parade of explorers and travellers and tourists who felt a need to invent the Pacific and to make it a paradise”.
Since then, we have seen coups, civil wars, corruption, bribery, neo-colonialism, fish stock plundering, prisons for boat people, cyclones and tsunamis. Our picture of the Pacific has become one as full of problems as those in our own homelands. And they have cities and urban issues, heritage issues and environmental issues – just like us.
The Pacific has been neglected in discussions and assessments of world architecture. Not only has the region experienced enormous social, political, economic and cultural pressures over the past few centuries, but, in addition, it is becoming an epicentre of foreign investment, commercial development, economic exploitation and politically-motivated ‘aid’ packages.
Simon Winchester has identified it as a crucible of the 21st century and his latest book on the geopolitics of the region handily summarises in its title the past and future collisions of cultures the area faces; Pacific: Silicon Chips and Surfboards, Coral Reefs and Atom Bombs, Brutal Dictators, Fading Empires, and the Coming Collision of the World’s Superpowers.
These pressures are affecting the material and built culture of the Pacific and the area will also be one of the first inhabited regions to bear the brunt of climate change events such as sea level rise and, increasingly, energetic and frequent cyclones. Much indigenous and heritage architecture of all periods is at risk.
But, beyond the depressing stuff, there is so much marvellous architecture to see around the Pacific and, with the help of tangata o le moana (people of the Pacific), it’s time for Westerners to properly appreciate it beyond the tourist drive-by.
This year will see the launch of a website devoted to the architecture of the South Pacific. It’s not just for us, though – it’s for the people of the Pacific, those there and throughout the diaspora, the young people of Pacific heritage growing up away from their parents’ homelands; in places like Los Angeles, which has supplanted Auckland as the city with the largest concentration of Polynesian people in the world.
The site will include maps and guides to notable architecture in cities and around islands, as well as other resources, such as building reports (when in the public domain) and bibliographies.
And, hopefully, this work can help politicians and authorities to make wise decisions as well. For example, over the past couple of years, the German Courthouse in Apia, Samoa, has been at risk. It’s a colonial period structure, notable for its architecture but for its history, too. It is where New Zealand invaders formally captured Samoa from the Germans in the First World War; it’s also where the New Zealand administration killed a dozen protesters of the Mau independence movement in 1929.
Recently, it was proposed to be bowled to make way for a development site for another foreign interest but now seems to have been saved with the assistance of a couple of New Zealand architectural historians, Dr Christoph Schnoor and Adam Wild. Just as in New Zealand, it is important that we document heritage architecture in order to preserve it.
Basilica of Saint Anthony of Padua in Nuku‘alofa, Tonga. Image: Jason Mann
Yet how do you determine what’s good architecture, especially when you are an outsider? The images of Samoa you see on these pages are just a tiny selection of those shot by Jason Mann and are generated from surveys produced by architecture students Matilda Phillips (Samoa) and Miriama Arnold (Cook Islands) during a University of Auckland Summer Scholarship programme in early 2016.
Our definition of architecture is broad and ranges from archaeological sites, through to indigenous and vernacular buildings, colonial and modernist buildings and contemporary structures – and, yes, even to resorts. Matilda and Miriama will be joined by Icao Tiseli and Lusi Vete in managing the website with us and have ambitions to increase the scope to enhance networking and conversations between all those interested in the built culture of the Pacific. This will be supported by a new Master’s level course in Pacific architecture at the University of Auckland’s School of Architecture and Planning.
Immaculate Conception of Mary Cathedral in Apia, Samoa. Image: Jason Mann
There is a view that all the islands, the nations, of the Pacific, are fairly similar. That’s wrong, even architecturally. The open-walled fale is common throughout the Pacific but in Samoa, you will notice it alive and well and evolving in dwellings from traditional thatched roofs, through to curved and wrapped corrugated steel roofs, to hipped ‘fale palangi’ roofs.
In Tonga, you won’t see as many fale-style dwellings but you will see the fale scaled up and incorporated as the main form of many significant churches. Churches are everywhere throughout the Pacific but their appearance and construction can be quite specific to locations.
In the Cook Islands, they supplanted malae (marae) at a very early date and these are often made from coral ripped from ancient terraces. And speaking of stone, we think of the original architecture of the Pacific as, like the fale, lightweight, flexible and lashed together, which is true but ancient stone marae and other structures are much more prevalent than you would think. They range from the astonishing stone city of Nan Madol (Pohnpei, Caroline Islands) to the langi, low stone pyramids, of Tonga, to the stone sculptures and malae of the Marquesas.
And in terms of contemporary architecture, when I passed through Tahiti, I was repeatedly assured there was no interesting architecture there, but the Maria No Te Hau church in Pape’ete, with its space-frame roof, must be one of the great buildings of the Pacific. And, as close as Samoa, you will be awed by the several-storeys-high Baha’i temple constructed from in-situ concrete.
Future issues of Architecture New Zealand will feature articles on the architecture of Pacific nations, along with guide maps, starting with Samoa, Tonga and the Cook Islands. For those of us with an avid appetite for good architecture, this will lure us away from the beaches and bars of the resorts.
-Architecturenow
3 comments
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'Oku ke mo'oni lahi fau Tavake 'o hange tofu pe koe lotu 'oku fa'a hake homau fungavaka, "'Oku kau a Tonga he lau pea toe lau 'a Tonga he kau" he pue moe vaa'ivaka he ngaahi 'ilo moe poto fufu he 'akitekisa moe tufunga langafale 'i mamanilahi kae tefito kihe mala'e 'oe ako.
Neongo 'ae ngali masivesiva hono koloa 'oku langa'aki 'ae fale 'o hange koe sino'iniu moe kafa moe me'angaue moe tekinolosia 'oku ngaue'aki hono langa 'oe fale 'o hange koe toki Tonga moe hui 'oku ngaue'aki hono tufunga moe langa 'oe fale ka 'oku 'ikai ngata pe he loloto, masila mo mataotao 'ae fakakaukau 'ehe kau tufnga langafale kae toe fihi mo faingata'a 'ae 'ilo moe moe poto he ta-va 'oku fakata mo fakava, fakafuo mo fakauho mo faka'aonga ai hono tufunga mo langa 'oe fale.
'Oku ako mei ai 'ae ngaahi 'univesiti 'o hange koe 'Univesiti 'o 'Aokalani kae tautefito kihe Sikulu 'oe Ako 'Akitekisa moe Sikulu 'oe 'Aati moe ngaahi kalatua moe sivilaise kehekehe pe 'o mamanilahi. 'Oku toki mo'oni atu leva heni 'ae lea Tonga heliaki malie 'o pehe, "'Oku kovi hono mata kae hua hono anga."
'O kake ma'u ha faingamalie pea 'oku ou fakaafe'i atu koe keke kataki 'ala 'o kukolo, kumi mo lau 'ae ngaahi fisisi MA 'aia na'e Fakalangilangi Kalasi 'Uluaki (1st Class Honours) kotoa 'a Semisi Fetokai Potauaine, Bruce Sione To'a Moa mo Lisiate Fifita he 'akitekisa moe tufunga langafale 'a Tonga he laipeli he 'Univesiti 'o 'Aokalani.
'Oku lau kotoa 'ae ngaahi fisisi MA ko 'eni 'ehe 'Univesiti 'o 'Aokalani koe koloa fungani mo masani 'e tu'uloa mo tolonga he 'akitekisa ma'a mamanilahi kae tautefito kihe mala'e 'oe ako koe tupu mei he fo'ou mo makehe 'ae 'ilo moe poto 'etau fanga kui moe kau tufunga langafale masila mo mataotao 'oe aneafi
'Oku mahino lelei heni 'ae loloto, maokupu moe loloa 'oe 'ilo moe poto 'ae kau tufunga 'oe kuohili moe kuongamu'a 'oku ta'imalie ai 'ae lotolotonga moe kuongaloto 'o hoko koe to'ongapo moe tukutukulaumea fakatouloua 'ae kuohili moe kuongamu'a moe lotolotonga moe kuongaloto ma'ae kaha'u moe kuongamui.
'Oku ta'efa'alaua 'ae ngaahi 'ilo moe poto fufu 'oe tufunga langafale pe 'akitekisa fakaTonga, 'o hange koe me'a malie fau ko hono tufunga mo fa'u 'ae kava he fetaulakinga pe fakahokonga moe fakamavaenga 'oe vaka moe fale, 'aia 'e lava ke ke lau koe "vaka koe fale fakafo'ohake" (boat as an upside-down house) pea taku koe "fale koe vaka fakafo'ohifo" (house as a downside-up boat).
.'Oku kau heni hono fakakaukau'i fakalukufua (total) kae 'ikai fakakonga (partial) 'ae tufunga langafale, 'aia 'oku toki makatu'unga ai hono fakata mo fakava, fakafuo mo fakauho mo faka'aonga hono tufunga mo langa 'oe fale, 'o fefakafekau'aki vaofi moe tala matangi (kuo ma'ave'ave hala he 'ahoni koe "tala 'ea"), 'o tefito he fetukuaki tu'uma'u mo ta'engata he vaha'a 'oe matangi moe avangi "malohi" moe matangi moe avangi "vavai" pea moe matangi moe avangi "mafana" moe matangi moe avangi "momoko."
'Oku toe kau ai hono fakakaukau'i fakataha (thought-out in total) 'ae "ngaohi" 'oe fale (quality or process of architecture / house-building or art work) moe "ngaue'aki" 'oe fale (utility or product of architecture / house-building or art use), 'aia ko 'ene faka'ofo'ofa ange hono tufunga mo langa 'oe fale koe lahi ange ia hono 'aonga pea 'oku tupu 'ene 'aonga lahi mei hono faka'ofo'ofa ange hono tufunga mo langa 'oe fale.
Koia ai, koe lesoni leva heni ke 'ave ma'u pe 'ae kuohili moe kuongamu'a kuo hili-mo-hoko 'o tuku 'i "mu'a" he lotolotonga moe kuongaloto 'oku tolotonga hoko koe tuhulu pea 'omai 'ae kaha'u moe kuongamui 'oku te'eki ai ha'u-mo-hoko 'o tuku 'i "mui" he lotolotonga moe kuongaloto ke huluhulu'aki 'ae ngaahi 'ilo, poto moe taukei potupotutatau moe faka'ofo'ofa kuo tu'uloa mo matu'uaki 'ae tesi moe sivi 'oe ta-va pea mo tolonga mai he ngaahi to'utangata moe ngaahi vaa'ikuonga.
'Oku mahino lelei heni ko 'etau fanga kui moe kau tufunga langafale 'oe 'aneafi ko kinautolu 'ae "puaka na'e fua nifo" ka ko kitautolu he 'ahoni 'oku tau kei kai me'avaivai mo akoako laka mo 'alu 'o kei to-mo-tu'u pe!
'Ofa ma'u moe 'anau fau,
Hufanga -
Malo Hufanga pea 'oku mahino mei he 'atikolo ko'eni ta 'oku tau kau pe he lau he talanoa 'atiteki.
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There is certainly a lot of architecture long awaiting discovery in the Moana/Pacific! Quite simply, it means adopting a total rather than a partial approach to architecture not only as a form of human art but also as a medium of human use. By combining both the quality and utility of architecture, there is then a real requirement for a critical focus on both its process and product of production and not just architecture as an art product.
As an age-old artform, Tongan architecture or house-building (tufunga langafale), for example, takes both the quality and utility of architecture, that is, work of art and use of art or, for that matter, process of art and product of art to be both coexistent and continuous by their very own nature. That is, the more beautiful it is as a work of art the more useful it is for human use and, the reverse holds true, that is, the more useful it is for human use the more beautiful it is as a work of art!
On the other hand, the thinking and practice of Tongan architecture (tufunga langafale) seriously takes into account the coexistence and continuity between society and ecology, where the part (that is, house) and the whole (that is, environment) are unified by way of both the quality of art and utility of art, work of art and use of art or process of art and product of art.
These unifying albeit conflicting artistic and pragmatic tendencies, namely, the quality of art and utility of art, work of art and use of art or process of art and product of art are temporally-spatially (ta-va), formally-substantially (fuo-uho) and functionally ('aonga) mediated through sustained symmetry (tatau) and harmony (potupotutatau) to produce beauty (faka'ofo'ofa/malie).
On the abstract level, this temporal-spatial (ta-va), formal-substantial (fuo-uho) and functional ('aonga) mediation fundamentally involves transforming the intersecting (fakafelavai) or connecting (fakahoko) and separating (fakamavahe) line-space (kohi-va) or time-space (ta-va) from a condition of chaos (felekeu) to a state of order (maau) by means of wood amongst other things.
On the concrete level, the mediation of time-space (ta-va), form-content (fuo-uho) and function ('aonga) are basically concerned with transformating the lineal-spatial intersecting (fakafelavai) or connecting (fakahoko) and separating (fakamavahe) winds (matangi or avangi) from a condition of crisis (fepaki) to a state of stasis (fenapasi) specifically by means of strong (malohi) and weak (vaivai), on the one hand, and warm (mafana) and cold (momoko), on the other.