James Corles from Waipapa Taumata Rau, The University of Auckland, Te Pare School of Architecture and Planning is a finalist for his project 'Grainform'.
Project description
Grainform revives Aotearoa’s historic ability to grow, manufacture and use its own timber. The project proposes a new mass timber housing chain that considers the entire process from forest to dwelling. Represented symbolically by the circle and the line, it brings together two architectural components, a ring of housing and a linear factory extension. Together, these elements explore how forestry, industry and housing might reconnect through design.
The project is set in Kaingaroa, New Zealand’s largest forestry, and its small milling town within. The site carries a layered history of colonial forestry, Māori land relationships and industrial decline. Kaingaroa reflects a wider national condition of abundant forestry, struggling local industry and an urgent need for quality housing. As Aotearoa turns to mass timber as a sustainable material, Grainform asks how this resource might support community-driven development.
At the heart of the project is a factory extension designed to upgrade Kaingaroa's existing factory to produce cross-laminated timber (CLT). Three consecutive manufacturing halls trace the linear production from log to panel, with the central hall reusing an existing warehouse. A new mill precedes the current factory, and a CLT press hall follows it, completing the physical and symbolic line from forest to house.
Using panels from this new line, a ring of worker housing is proposed around the factory. The continuous form is broken into three clusters, each forming a social node within the wider ring. Over time, the rigid geometry is eroded and softened as everyday life fills in the gaps.
Grainform envisions a re-laminated relationship between forest, factory and settlement, reimaging a fading milling town as a new timber epicentre.
