An endangered Māori construction technique called mīmiro, which uses interlocking structural supports and rope lashing and tightening has passed modern seismic testing.
Architect and researcher Professor Anthony Hoete and his team from the University of Auckland created a full-scale timber structure and tested the prototype against earthquake requirements for modern buildings.
Hoete said mīmiro first surfaced in Kohika in the Ngāti Awa rohe (Eastern Bay of Plenty) in the 1700s, and later in the construction of the wharenui, Tānewhirinaki, in the 1870s.
It was the only wharenui in the country that used this interlocking method.
He said that the ancient construction practice was lost with the arrival of the Europeans.
Hoete said the origins of mīmiro can be traced back to the ships and strong sail lashing his ancestors used to travel across the Pacific.
The team has been working closely with Ngāti lra o Waioweka, descendents of those who built the original Tānewhirinaki, and will use this knowledge to rebuild the wharenui.
The most important carvings representing the iwi’s ancestors were saved from the wreckage and remarkably stored in a shed at the marae for 90 years.
The hapū have nearly reached their funding goal to fully restore the wharenui.
Hema Wihongi, senior Māori research advisor at Toka Tū Ake EQC, says $19 million is annually funded to research that protects communities from natural hazards.
Credit: stuff.co.nz
