This thesis investigates how cultural values can be used to influence design and architectural thinking. Architecture should not deny anyone – especially migrants and healthcare staff – caring and welcoming spaces and environments. How do we create architecture that offers care and support to the migrant healthcare workers who provide care for us?

Set in the Greenlane Clinical Services Centre, in the middle of Auckland City, the site is an enclosed campus surrounded by eclectic urban neighbourhood. Throughout the years, the site has experienced changes which caused disruptions, stress and anxiety for staff, patients and visitors. Currently, the existing staff housing is still operating in a paternalistic style that does not accommodate the needs of contemporary migrant worker and their families. The essence of care, hospitality and community within the context of the Greenlane hospital has slowly diminished. Furthermore, as New Zealand is in the midst of a healthcare worker shortage crisis alongside the rest of the world. The thesis interrogates the opportunity of offering immediate accommodation for healthcare migrant workers and their whanau as one measure to alleviate the healthcare staffing crisis that New Zealand is facing today.

Mapping and modelmaking are used as tools, catalysts and drivers for the design proposition and to interrogate the potential of manaakitanga (hospitality), kapwa (fellow being), paki-ramdam (feeling and empathy) and kagandahang-loob (inner nobility) in the context of architecture. The project addresses the practical needs of migrant healthcare workers but also aims to resonate with their cultural identity; promoting a sense of belonging. Ultimately, this thesis contributes to the discourse on the intersection between architecture and culture in the context of health and well-being.