Te Uru Taumatua - Tuhoe Building

The fiercely independent Tuhoe have their heartland in the remote rugged and heavily forested Te Urewera National Park. The construction of Te Uru Taumatua is a step affirming the tribes connection to the land - mana tanagata following the tribe's Waitangi settlement with the Crown in March 2013.

Tuhoe Tu Uru Taumatua is the new centre of governance and meeting place for the iwi. At the time it was built (2014) making extensive use of local materials and people this was New Zealand's most advanced sustainable building and referred to as a 'Living Building'. Extensive grounds provide for sewage and storm water disposal fields, as well as infrastructure for gathering water and harvesting solar energy.
The Urewera Mural commissioned from Colin McCahon in 1974 by the Urewera National Park board for the Aniwaniwa Visitor Centre and removed from there by Tuhoe activists in the dead on night is now permanently in the hands of Tuhoe and housed here. (The painting remained missing for 15 months. It was finally recovered after negotiations between wealthy Auckland art patron Jenny Gibbs and Tuhoe activist, Tame Iti.)

The NZ Institute of Architects chose to include Te Uru Taumatua in their Exhibit 'Future Islands' at the Venice Architecture Biennial in 2016.