Colleen Hawkes13:37, May 03 2021
RICKY WILSON/Stuff
Whare Timu, new associate principal and leader of Warren and Mahoney s cultural design unit Te Matakīrea, is forging an architecture career that seemed destined from childhood.
Whare Timu (Ngāti Kahungunu, Te Arawa, Ngāti Tūwharetoa) is the first person in his family to go to university, and now, at 34, he has landed one of the most sought-after jobs in architecture – associate principal in charge of Warren and Mahoney Architects advanced cultural design unit Te Matakīrea. Timu’s parents may not be too surprised, however. To hear him talk about his childhood in Heretaunga, it’s clear they encouraged his artistic talent from a very young age. Timu was allowed to paint superheroes all over the walls of the family home – comic strip characters, landscapes and horses were other favourites.