Futuna: Life of a Building

Since its grand opening in 1961, Wellington's Futuna Chapel devised by architect John Scott and artist Jim Allen has held a singular place in New Zealand's cultural history. Futuna: Life of a Building tells the remarkable story of the chapel's inception and construction, and its status beyond as well as within the architectural world. The book also tells the vexed story of the chapel's sale to a developer in 2001 and its subsequent dereliction and, at the eleventh hour, rescue. Since then, the chapel has been transformed from a place of Catholic worship to a non-denominational centre for spiritual, cultural and artistic expression. With essays by Chris Cochran, David Mitchell, Niall McLaughlin, Gregory O'Brien and Nick Bevin and photographs by Paul McCredie and Gavin Woodward, this book takes us into the heart of one of the most dynamic and affecting human-made structures in Oceania.