Derek Kawiti

Derek is a Professor of Architecture specialising in Māori-designed environments and the integration of contemporary manufacturing technologies and automation within architecture. An expert and educator in advanced digital tools—such as generative software and robotics—he leads SITUA (Site of Indigenous Technologies Understanding Alliance), Indigenous Material Domains (IMD), and Corporate Spheres – Indigenous Workspaces. These labs play a vital role in the ‘re-indigenising’ of architectural knowledge through renewed exploration of customary spatial organisation methods (tikanga/kawa), engineered structures and patterns, Māori geometries, and materials, all facilitated through computation and digital fabrication. Derek is a technical advisor to PISC (Pacific Islands Standards Committee) and serves as a Principal Investigator and is a member of the Science Executive for the MacDiarmid Institute. He is also a researcher with the Robinson Space Program.

As an architectural practitioner, Derek is a director of the interdisciplinary design firm CILOARC and an associate director at Peddle Thorp Architects in Auckland, where he is the cultural and digital lead on various civic and government projects. With over 25 years of experience in both commercial and domestic architecture, he has worked in New Zealand, as well as internationally in London, the Caribbean, and Italy. He brings extensive expertise as a cultural strategist and design advisor to major industry players and collaborates with architectural practices both locally and globally on project bid strategies.

His academic research, teaching, and practice are deeply influenced by his cultural heritage, with a central focus on understanding the implications of the growing use of digital design technologies in architecture and their increasing convergence with aspects of Indigenous customary knowledge.