MEDIA PREVIEW
HOMEGROUND: The Story of a Building that Changes Lives
By Simon Wilson; photographs by Mark Smith
Published by Massey University Press, December 01, 2022, RRP: $65.00
For over 20 years, the Auckland City Mission nurtured a vision – to create a wrap-around health and community services centre for the city’s most vulnerable. When HomeGround opened in early 2022– a unique and ambitious complex, including 80 apartments for the chronically homeless, addiction recovery, counselling support, community, and public spaces – that vision was realised.
In December Massey University Press will publish the book that tells the story of how the building came to be. HomeGround: The Story of a Building that Changes Lives by leading writer Simon Wilson is stunningly photographed by Mark Smith. The book also features a consideration of the building by architecture academics Professor Deidre Brown and Karamia Muller.
HomeGround documents and records a key moment in Aotearoa New Zealand, when a visionary social services agency, a committed architecture practice, courageous funders, and skilled construction specialists joined forces to create a ‘beacon in the city’ to transform the delivery of residential and social services to Auckland’s most vulnerable. It also shares the stories of the Auckland City Mission’s clients, staff, and volunteers.
The book is also a portrait of a remarkable building. Designed by leading architecture practice Stevens Lawson, HomeGround is currently the tallest cross-laminated timber building in Aotearoa New Zealand, with indicators suggesting an 80 percent reduction in carbon over a 60-year life. It contains a variety of light-filled spaces – from a bright and spacious dining area to a rooftop garden, whānau room, and community enterprise spaces. Artworks by Anton Forde, John Reynolds, and Graham Tipene bring joy to all who enter the building.
HomeGround ‘reimagines the possibilities of urban form,’ says Simon Wilson. ‘And, with support from successive governments that have not agreed on much else, it demonstrates the value of a non-partisan approach to fundamental social issues. HomeGround is a beacon of humanism and hope in the twenty-first century.’
ABOUT THE AUTHORS
Simon Wilson is one of New Zealand’s best-known journalists. The former editor of Cuisine and Metro magazines and Auckland editor for The Spinoff, he is now a senior writer at The New Zealand Herald. He is a regular writer on urban and social issues.
Professor Deidre Brown (Ngāpuhi, Ngāti Kahu) is an art historian and architectural lecturer. She is head of the School of Architecture and Planning at the University of Auckland
Dr Karamia Muller is a Pacific academic who lectures at the School of Architecture and Planning at the University of Auckland.
