Amelia Lee Chee from Te Wānanga Aronui o Tāmaki Makau Rau—Auckland University Of Technology, School of Future Environments—Huri te Ao is a finalist for her project 'Fale Tupu: An Indigenous Toolkit for Designing Culturally Grounded Living Environments with Pasifika Communities in Aotearoa '.
Project description
Fale Tupu reimagines how housing for Pasifika families in Aotearoa can be designed, adapted, and lived in. The project addresses the longstanding disparity between traditional housing models in Aotearoa and Pasifika collective living – a way of living that emphasises intergenerational care, shared space, and respect for land and sea.
Developed through Indigenous research methods, the project translates cultural values into a practical design toolkit that bridges the gap between policy and practice. The toolkit comprises four interconnected tools that move from principle to lived reality: the Maumoana Framework, Fale Typologies, Material Palette, and Communal Wellbeing Spaces. Rather than prescribing a single design, Fale Tupu offers an incremental housing model that reinforces community agency. It enables Pasifika Housing Providers to lead conversations with architects, funders, planners, and families, ensuring that cultural identity and ecological responsibility shape housing from the outset.
