Hannah Broatch and Mason Rattray design slowly, and on purpose.
Together they are Hatch Workshop, the designers behind the Blenheim Pae. Their starting point is not a drawing or a grand statement. It is a belief that a well-made thing changes how a person feels in a place.
“We have seen the power that architectural design has to either improve or harm people’s lives and the environment,” they say. “The impact that good design can make in terms of dignity, identity and wellbeing is so great that it must be shared and spread to all.”
They build on what is already there. They prefer natural materials, the kind people can touch and live alongside. “It is comforting to be around materials that have life in them, that show their age and tell stories of time and place.” They have a particular interest in doing as much as possible with as little as possible.
For Blenheim, that meant listening first. Local people already knew the shape they wanted: a low, raised platform to gather on, a form the Pacific has always known. Hatch’s work was to take a form the community recognised and make it endure a thousand years. “We prefer simple, honest works that build on what is already in place,” they say.
It is work that suits the long view. “The very concept of something being made to last 1000 years is deeply contemplative, particularly in an age of short-term thinking,” they say. “The presence of Paererewā across Aotearoa offers a deeply philosophical experience, inviting collective reflection.”
Credits: Designed by Hatch Workshop (Hannah Broatch and Mason Rattray). Concept render courtesy of Hatch Workshop.