Recent News
Nov 23-26, 2009 Whareuku Workshop in Ahipara, Northland.
Hands-on learning on how to build using the UKU method.
If you are interested to attend please email jche242@aucklanduni.ac.nz
Nov 8, 2009 Open home at the Rotoiti UKU dwelling. See the house, chat with the house occupants, meet the Whareuku Team. A great opportunity to see the real thing.
Date: Sunday 8 Nov 2009
Time: 9:30am-12:30pm
Venue: Haumingi 10a2b Papakainga, 1504 SH30, Rotoiti, Bay of Plenty
Host: The Hitchcock Family and the SHaC09 Whareuku team
For more information please contact John on 021 0262 3499 or email shac09uku@gmail.com
Sept 29 - Oct 8 Art show ‘One Quarter of a Whare’ collides the two worlds of Art and Engineering in the physical collaboration of labour in the context of the university gallery. A rammed earth wall will gradually be constructed over the period of the show through the joint efforts of the artists and the visiting public. Everyone welcome.
Sept 17 Engineers for Social Responsibility Lecture - Towards Sustainable Housing Solutions for Maori: UKU
Thursday 17 September 2009, 7:30pm
Venue: Room 3.407 School of Engineering, University of Auckland
All Welcome
July 16 Sustainable Housing Lecture - John Cheah, leader of the Whareuku Team, will give a 1 hour presentation on sustainable housing and the UKU Project at the Minerva Club, Howick. All welcome.
July 10 Whareuku Team field trip - The team embark on a day trip to visit two UKU dwellings - One in Otara, the other at Waimango.
July 9, 2009: UKU TV1 Te Karere News coverage.
July 4, 2009: JULY Whareuku e-Newletter is out. Download it here
July 1-3, 2009: Uku Workshop at the University of Auckland has completed successfully. Participants were taught how to process the flax, mix the soils, build the formwork (boxing in which the earth is rammed) and built two UKU wall panels. A great time of learning, sharing and building together! Next workshop planned for November 2009 in the Far North (Te Tai Tokerau)
June 24-26, 2009: Flax working bee. 300+ flax leaves given by a rural Maori community in Ahipara were transported to the University of Auckland, processed into flax fibres, washed, dried in the sun, and cut into flax fibres for use in the July Uku workshop wall panels.
March 24 - June 7, 2009: The Whareuku Team set up a large display in the University of Auckland Engineering Library consisting of a display cabinent containing the individual constituents of UKU, posters detailing the research being conducted, and a PowerPoint display pictorially telling the UKU story over the last few years. The display was well visited and drew many inquiries from students and non-students alike.
The Project
Whareuku
Whareuku, or Earth House, is a University of Auckland collective founded to create a low-cost earthen housing solution for rural Maori communities. By the end of 2007 the project had successfully acquired a building consent for the proposed earthen structure and began construction in March 2008.
The objective of the whareuku construction is to create a simple and affordable modular building system that local people can build from local materials, with minimal need to draw on outside expertise like professional engineers or architects.
