Whakamaru o te Korowai – Wellington City Mission

Whakamaru o te Korowai o te Panepane o te Ika a Maui

Whakamaru
verb
1.   to protect, shelter

In March of 2019 three line studio began working on the new headquarters building for the Wellington City Mission.  As the project unfolded, it became clear to us that this is no ordinary HQ, as indeed the Mission are no ordinary organisation.

Wellington City Mission was founded 120 years ago in 1904 from St Peter’s Anglican Church, and was formally defined in an Act of Parliament in 1929.  Since then the Mission has helped thousands of Wellingtonians who have required support to live to their potential.  The people of Wellington have recognised this service and in turn offer generous support to this much-appreciated organisation.

The new Mission building allows the services of the Mission to operate 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, which is transformational for them and for the people they serve.  The building houses a social supermarket, a social cafe, a 24 hour accessible sacred space, offices for the Mission, public meeting rooms, a medical centre and dentist, public ablutions and laundry service, and warehousing for food storage and distribution.  Importantly it will also house 35 residential units for those in serious housing need to live in a supported and safe community, where they will be supported to thrive.

Mana Whenua have gifted the Mission the name Whakamaru o te Korowai o te Panepane o te Ika a Maui – ‘The shelter of the cloak of protection of the wider Wellington region’.  

Wellingtonians are invited to be a part of this place – a community where there is ‘no us and them’

Photography by André Vroon