S. Chien, S. Choo, M. A. Schnabel, W. Nakapan, M. J. Kim, S. Roudavski (eds.), Living Systems and Micro-Utopias: Towards Continuous Designing, Proceedings of the 21st International Conference of the Association for Computer-Aided Architectural Design Research in Asia CAADRIA 2016, 63–72. © 2016, The Association for Computer-Aided Architectural Design Research in Asia (CAADRIA), Hong Kong. INDIGENOUS PARAMETRICISM – MATERIAL COM- PUTATION The implementation of a collaborative indigenous domain based research lab DEREK KAWITI, MARC AUREL SCHNABEL and JAMES DURCAN Victoria University of Wellington, Wellington, New Zealand {derek.kawiti, marcaurel.schnabel}@vuw.ac.nz, j.b.durcan@gmail.com Abstract. The use of computational formats and digital tools includ- ing machine fabrication by indigenous people worldwide to augment traditional practices and material culture is becoming more and more commonplace. However within the practice of architecture while there are indigenous architectural practitioners utilizing digital tools, it is unclear as to whether there is motivation to implement traditional in- digenous knowledge in conjunction with these computational instru- ments and methodologies. This paper explores how the tools might be used to investigate the potential for indigenous development, cultural empowerment and innovation. It also describes a general methodology whereby capacity can be shared between academia and indigenous groups to foster new knowledge through a recently implemented in- digenous focused design research entity, SITUA. The importance and significant research potential of what we term 'domain based research' is reinforced through the exploration of emergent materials and build- ing systems located within specific tribal domains. A recent project employing 3D clay extrusion printing is used to illustrate this ap- proach. Keywords. Indigenous domain based research: Maori; materials; digi- tal fabrication. 1. Introduction This paper consists of three distinct but closely inter-related aspects of local- ized production. Firstly it provides a general analysis and argument for a cul-