Aluminium spiral sculptures on four buildings at Ellerslie’s new Waiatarua rental blocks

Waiatarua is on what was the old carpark for Ellerslie Racecourse, run by Auckland Thoroughbred Racing. Cars now park in the centre of the course.

Spiral art works on the side of a block of rental apartments at Waiatarua, Ellerslie. Photo / Shane Brealey

Bob Jahnke, a professor of Māori visual arts at Massey University at Palmerston North, was the design expert on the sculpture project.

The spirals would appear to twist or move as people drove past, Jahnke said.

“People will be treated to a visual interpretation of our history, because the spirals carry cosmological significance,” he said.

Three of the four sculptures refer to the three baskets of knowledge prominent in te ao Māori, Jahnke said.

The fourth refers to the two sacred stones brought from the heavens by the first man, Tāne, Forde wrote about the site where the apartments have been built, where a puna or wetland once existed.

Simplicity Living managing director Shane Brealey (left) and Simplicity KiwiSaver managing director Sam Stubbs. Photo / Michael Craig

The interlocking spiral design pays tribute to the movement of life and evolution to death.

That spiral design is sometimes found adorning the body in the art of tā moko (traditional tattooing), Forde noted.

The buildings would be waitohu, or landmarks which people would see when they arrived in or left Tāmaki.

So those buildings needed to be beautiful as well as connected to the site they stand on, he said.

“Waiatarua has an historical connection through lava forms and the caves and puna that run underneath, creating sound and interactions with air, sea and land to create waiata or song,” Forde wrote.

How Waiatarua is planned to look with its sculptures. Image / Simplicity Living

The sounds were created by lava flows from natural landmarks which are iconic in the area and play a major part in its development.

Waiatarua also comprises the word wai for water, ata, which is reflection, and rua, which means two.

Te Reiputa at Mt Wellington, Auckland is a build-to-rent project. Photo / Simplicity Living

That refers to two reflections in the water at St Johns Hill Lake, whose traditional name is Waiatarua, Forde said.

A giant Māori artwork by Peata Larkin is also on the New Zealand International Convention Centre.

Kokihi apartments by Ockham in Waterview, 2021. Photo / Alex Burton

Ockham also has many Māori symbols and designs at its Auckland apartment blocks.

Simplicity Living’s build-to-rent projects

More than 2000 build-to-rent units are planned or under construction on seven sites at:

Anne Gibson has been the Herald’s property editor for 26 years, written books and covered property extensively here and overseas.