United States site instead?
Tasked with creating a visionary supportive living facility for Auckland City Mission, long-established Auckland-based architects Stevens Lawson Architects took the opportunity to transition to Archicad and, in doing so, leveraged training support, and CI Tools extensions to enhance the project’s design. Joshua Warne, an Associate at Stevens Lawson Architects, explains how it came about.
“The Auckland City Mission HomeGround project consists of residential accommodation with integrated health and community services and is based on the Breaking Ground (previously Common Ground) supportive housing model developed in New York City in the 1990s,” Joshua explains. “But this is a real one-off: it’s the only project in the world to have this level of wrap-around services within the housing structure itself, and as such it was very much a brief-driven concept.”
Many clients at the Auckland City Mission are of Māori or Pasifika descent. The design reflects this connection, promoting identity and manaakitanga. Te Manawa Ora, a whānau room, offers a sacred space to celebrate Māori tikanga, while integrated artwork fosters a sense of home and belonging. HomeGround was one of the first projects by Stevens Lawson Architects to use Archicad, transitioning from their previous CAD software.
Joshua explains. “We wanted to take advantage of the opportunity for BIM collaboration with the other consultants on the project, so we set up our BIM guidelines and coordination document to identify the level of detail we were aiming for with clash detection systems and so on. I’ve used Archicad since v7, so when I was appointed to the project, I was already familiar with the software, as were a couple of others in the office. It wasn’t too much of a leap, and everyone caught up very quickly. Typically, we would create renders in Archicad, then overlay them in Photoshop or similar.”
The building features a rainscreen and a core structural model with a wall overclad positioned away from it. Spanning 12,500 square meters, it includes an eleven-story tower, a podium, and a restored heritage building with 80 studio and one-bedroom apartments. Amenities include a commercial kitchen, community dining room, public restrooms, a medical center and pharmacy, addiction withdrawal services, activity spaces for arts and drama, a rooftop garden, and a sacred space. The healthcare center on-site serves up to 3,000 patients and is open to both Mission clients and local residents.
Auckland City Mission’s HomeGround project aims to reduce homelessness by offering permanent housing, care, and addiction support at a single site. “Stevens Lawson Architects has a holistic approach, creating architecture for people, so we see this project as a perfect fit,” says Joshua. With two decades of experience, the firm specializes in customized architectural solutions across a range of project types, including residential, educational, spiritual, and public buildings.
