Aonui - Co-designing Space with mana whenua

Aonui, the new headquarters for Otago Regional Council, is shaped through a genuine co‑design partnership with Kāi Tahu.

With mana whenua organisation Aukaha and Port Otago’s project architects GHD, we’ve collaborated to embed mana whenua voices and values from project inception, reflecting ORC’s commitment to working as authentic partners with mana whenua, and promoting our shared aspirations.

Co-design is a collaborative process that weaves iwi, architects, and project partners together to ensure that Māori perspectives, values and stories are respectfully woven into the project from the ground up.

Aonui’s building and cultural design integration is a response to place. It acknowledges the whenua (land) and wai (waterways) of the site location and its cultural significance. This connection to place runs throughout the project, from orientation and spatial flow to natural materials and native planting.

Aonui is grounded in partnership. Through our work with Aukaha and GHD, we are embedding a te ao Māori lens into the building in a way that is both practical and symbolic. Aonui stands as a visible expression of our respect for mana whenua and our shared aspirations for Otago.

The site’s history—adjacent Toitū awa stream and its past as a Ross & Glendining warehouse—has been respected and visually referenced in the architectural lighting, glazing, and cultural art zones.

The co-design phase involved mana whenua through Aukaha, together with architects GHD and partners (Calder Stewart, Octa), ensuring Māori cultural values, narratives, te reo, and environmental stewardship (kaitiakitaka, manaakitaka) were woven into the design.

Names are important to Māori. Names ground us in our identity, and they connect us to our ancestors.

Māori name whare (houses and buildings) and aspects of the taiao (environment) with names that encompass whakapapa, historical events and/ or matauraka (knowledge) passed through generations.

Names can tell us about places – what may have happened there, what mahika kai was undertaken, or clues into environmental factors, says Edward Ellison. Our names bring the landscape alive.

There is an abundance of knowledge stored in place names, and it is important to restore and revitalise these names.

As Paulette Tamati Elliffe says, names are a beacon and marker of identity, connecting us to our past as well as our future through the transmission of knowledge to the next generations.

The Port Otago new build is located in an important area to mana whenua. The Toitū awa (stream) runs beneath MacLaggan Street, and the old Māori hostel built in 1860 is located nearby on Princes St, adjacent to the Māori Market, both of which were destroyed in 1865. Promises to restore the Princes Street Native Reserve have never been met.

Nearby in Queens Gardens is the name Ōtepoti. According to Tahu Pōtiki, it is an ancient name that described the shape of the area as a corner of a māori woven food basket, known as a poti.

Mana whenua considered these nearby features for the name of the new building. However, given the magnitude of work undertaken by the Otago Regional Council, and its expanse into other takiwā (regions), mana whenua chose an elevated name that was inclusive of wider Otago and embedded in Kāi Tahu whakapapa.

The name is celestial and inclusive of wider Otago. Its meanings include:

Aonui is a taniko (embroidery) pattern of triangles that represent the pursuit of knowledge in the natural world.

Aonui is the son of Rehua (Antares).

Aonui is the name of a stone pillar off the Āraiteuru coast - just north of the mouth of the Tokomairaro river.

Aonui was a crew member on the Āraiteuru waka who sought fresh water and found it at the Matau au.

Ao is broken down into two vowel sounds:

• ‘a’, being the same sound as the vowel used in ‘are’
• ‘O’ being the same sound as the vowel used in ‘or’
• When put together, they resemble the vowel sound used in ‘how’.

Nui is also has two vowel sounds

• ‘Nu’ is the same sound as ‘noo’ in noon.
• ‘i’ is the same sound as ‘eee’.

So together it sounds like:  ‘Are-or-noo-ee’, or ‘ow-noo-ee’

The name was selected by mana whenua cultural experts Dr Megan Pōtiki, Paulette Tamati-Elliffe and Edward Ellison. It was then shared with Otago and Southern Rūnaka, who approved of the name.

The Otago Regional Council works with Kāi Tahu as mana whenua and representatives of the Treaty partner in the region to develop a trusted and enduring relationship, and to enable the development of mana whenua capacity to contribute to decision making.

Engagement with Māori is a requirement of legislation and a key part of engagement for the Council. As an overall principle, greater involvement of Māori in local government activity is recognised and supported.

And while legislation requirements are critical, the council aspires to achieving meaningful engagement with mana whenua as a standard.

As part of this, the Otago Regional Council worked with mana whenua owned organisation Aukaha to weave mana whenua values and narratives into new build design based off cultural narratives provided by Edward Ellison and the late Tahu Potiki.

The Council deemed it appropriate, given the design aspect and the Council’s commitment to the strong partnership, to request that mana whenua provide a name for the building.