Green Star lessons from healthcare, education, and international development projects showing how early Indigenous engagement informed design outcomes, cultural identity, and social sustainability.
Early engagement with Indigenous peoples can influence project outcomes when cultural values, knowledge, and aspirations are integrated from early stages of design. This presentation explores lessons from three Green Star projects where Indigenous engagement moved beyond consultation to become a co-design process shaping project identity, architecture, landscape, and user experience.
The first case study examines a healthcare facility in Hamilton, where collaboration with mana whenua, cultural advisors, and artists informed cultural narratives throughout the building, creating a culturally responsive place of healing and wellbeing. The second focuses on a tertiary education redevelopment in Christchurch, where engagement with Ngai Tuahuriri representatives and cultural design partners translate creation narratives into building form, spatial planning, and storytelling elements. The third explores an office building in Papua New Guinea, where co-design brought together Maori and Papua New Guinean cultural values to create a strong sense of place and intercultural identity.
Across the projects, common themes emerged: the importance of early and meaningful engagement, cultural narratives becoming project drivers rather than decorative additions, and stronger connections between people, place, identity, and wellbeing. The presentation discusses process, and lessons and examples from integrating Indigenous knowledge and values into project development across different sectors and cultural contexts. Additionally presents how the outcome can contribute to gaining inn
Principal Sustainability Consultant at WSP, researcher & educator specializing in LCA, green buildings, decarbonization, and applied research, with 15 years' experience across industry and academia.