Albert L Refiti shares his understanding of the prehistory of Pacific architecture within Te Moana-nui-a-Kiwa and Oceania and the recent history of this architecture in Aotearoa and in the Pacific. Refiti discusses the main elements at the core of Pacific architecture and how and why traditional forms have persisted and re-emerged in recent times.
This research lead into the exhibition Oceanic Architectural Routes , curated by Refiti at Objectspace in December 2022. The exhibition considers architect and academic Mike Austin’s slide archive, exploring Pacific architecture through Austin’s travel around the Moana spanning thirty years.