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The Museum of New Zealand, is a post modern giant that is seated upon the shoreline of wellington harbor. The Maori name given for the building, Te Papa Tongarewa, means “Container of Treasures”(Our History, 1998), however, not only does it hold a magnificent bounty inside of its walls, but an intriguing history and culture as well.

The leadings up to the birth of Te Papa Tongarewa consisted of the government producing a Project development board that worked along side JASMAX architects (an Auckland based company) to design and then construct the National Museum (The designing of Te Papa, 1998). Although the board was in charge of making decisions throughout the project, they had consulted people from across the nation including Maori Iwi (Our History, 1998) to produce a building which we can understand to be post-modern, because of the different aspects of cultures and styles across New Zealand, which collide to form, what is, Te Papa.

A direct quote taken from The Designing of TE PAPA, describing the museum, states “bicultural nature of the country, recognising the mana and significance of the two mainstreams of tradition and cultural heritage and provide for each to contribute effectively to a statement of the nations identity”, (The designing of Te Papa, 1998) this clearly shows the bicultural diversity of the museum. Examples of cultural input into the museum can be seen through the various art and exhibitions it holds, and is shown in the stance of the building facing the sun like a Maori Marae (The designing of Te Papa, 1998).

Te Papa Tongarewa is a great example of a post-modern piece of architecture and brings with it a great history and cultural diversity to represent New Zealand.

References:

J. Hunt. (February, 1998). The designing of Te Papa. New Zealand: R. Beckett.

Our History. (1998). Retrieved from: http://www.tepapa.govt.nz/AboutUs/history/Pages/default.aspx