The new Wellington City Mission headquarters, Whakamaru o te Korowai o te Panepane o te Ika a Maui, is more than a building. Designed by Three Line Studio, it brings together housing, healthcare, social services, and community spaces under one roof—providing a place of dignity, care, and belonging for Wellington’s most vulnerable.
At the heart of the building is a light-filled central atria with two oblong voids penetrating the level four and three slabs, allowing natural light to permeate to levels below. Asymmetric free-form barriers of X-Tend® stainless-steel tensile mesh were designed to enclose the voids, their anticlastic shapes a functional and intriguingly playful way of connecting shared spaces and encouraging interaction. Two stairwells and a vertical facade section also incorporate X-Tend® mesh, balancing safety, openness, and transparency. Over time, climbing plants will soften the facade mesh, adding greenery and reinforcing the building’s welcoming presence in the city.
Ronstan Tensile Architecture supported SRS Group, our New Zealand X-Tend® partner, to deliver the tensile mesh elements. We provided engineering and design support and supplied the stainless-steel X-Tend mesh patterned and ready for SRS to realize these provocative and refined complex forms. The mesh barriers provide essential fall protection in high-level areas while maintaining visibility and lightness—helping the architecture achieve its intent of openness, safety, and shelter.
All images by André Vroon
