ABSTRACT
The Museum of New Zealand (Jasmax Architects, 1998; Fig. 21.1) is one of a number of monuments to culture that have been completed in the Pacific region in recent years. These works signify at least three trends in current thinking. First, that there is rekindled interest in the culture of Oceania, driven no doubt in part by tourism. Secondly, it seems that we have become dissatisfied with the form of imperial mausoleums that once seemed adequate to contain the antipodean culture. Thirdly, there is a surprising expression of confidence, arguably unfounded, that architecture is capable of contributing to the construction of culture in the postcolonial world, or even, as Ian Wedde put it, of ‘reporting on the condition of culture’ through its formal symbolism. 1
