Whānau Ātea
Created by the Tūpuna Maunga Authority on the northern side of Te Pane o Mataoho / Te Ara Pueru / Māngere Mountain, the Whānau Ātea Māra Hupara is an exciting fusion of traditional Māori play features, natural play elements and the best of contemporary playground equipment.
Whānau ātea means ‘family recreation space’ and there is truly something for everyone in this unique play area. The traditional Māori play elements were overseen by Māori play expert Harko Brown and the overall design was meticulously and mindfully planned by Landscape Architects Boffa Miskell. We worked closely with Boffa Miskell from the early stages of the project to select the most appropriate contemporary play items to compliment the natural and traditional play features and to customise equipment from our Ngā Papa Tākaro Māori range especially for this space. With guidance from the Boffa Miskell team we created bespoke māra hupara play items to round out all the desired play activities for a modern destination play space.
The first of its kind, this inviting play space also features:
- Bookable automated hāngī pits.
- Kī-o-rahi field with pou/Matariki star compass.
- Two basketball half-courts painted with patterns representing mana whenua stories.
- Integrated skate space.
This north-facing site makes the most of the sun and with beautiful mature native trees all around, there is plenty of natural shade for the whole whānau to stay and play all day long.
