Grainform Part 2 Dissertation 2026 James Corles University of Auckland Auckland | New Zealand Grainform explores mass timber housing in New Zealand by tracing its design and production back to the source, New Zealand’s vast forestry. This draws out three entangled systems of forestry, housing and manufacturing that form a knot of architectural opportunity. To frame this investigation, a metaphor of grain is drawn forth. The research asks how an understanding of grain can inform the design and production of a New Zealand mass timber housing chain.The research is anchored in New Zealand’s largest forestry, Kaingaroa, and its small milling town within. Kaingaroa embodies a national condition of abundant forestry resources, struggling local industry, and a pressing need for quality housing. Using the grain metaphor as an organising principle, this design-led research explores how forestry, manufacturing and housing systems intersect and entangle. Grain becomes a research metaphor and method, informing a cascading series of making. Through prototypes, the thesis draws lessons to inform a grain-based domesticity in which the house is tied to its production.The thesis proposes a “re-laminated” housing chain that bonds forestry, fabrication and community through an integrated architectural project. This project proposes an upgrade to the existing Kaingaroa factory, enabling it to produce mass timber products used in the design and construction of a surrounding housing scheme.This systematic investigation of housing has value for the New Zealand timber industry, which is so focused on log exports. Grainform seeks to reimagine an endangered milling town as a new timber epicentre that exports knowledge, systems and innovation instead. Tutor(s) Anthony Hōete