Pacific Regional Architecture : Driven by Culture

The Pacific Regional Architecture practice is dedicated to developing forms of architecture that draw upon local knowledge and traditions, and are adapted to the local climate, economy, and culture. In architectural circles, this an approach known as 'regionalism'.

Regionalism recognises that when we tune the architecture to a local place, many benefits can ensure for the building users, owners, and for the local community and economy. For example:

• Adapting the building to local climate creates comfortable buildings, and minimises energy use

• Ensuring that that construction draws upon the local skill base makes local builders and tradespeople competitive, and thus helps ensure that the capital cost of the building supports the local economy

• This is also true of building materials, and much of the PRA practice is concerned with using, supporting, and in some cases even setting up the production of local building materials.

• Learning from traditional buildings. For purely practical reasons, many historical building forms are regional, because world trade did not operate to the extent it does today. For this reason, there is often much to be learned about what makes sense for an area , by studying the historical architecture of the region.

• Arranging construction management so that complex projects are broken down into packages that are commercially and technically accessible to local builders.

Pacific Regional Architecture is Assai's original practice. Its heritage lies in the Community-Based Building Program, which was established in 1977 by David Week and Ken Costigan, under the initial auspices of PNG Office of Environment and Conservation, and Berkeley's Center for Environmental Structure.