The need for a new Community Centre after the earthquakes led us to question existing assumptions of construction. We wondered what a a super lean, highly economic sustainable architecture could look like? At the edge of the estuary crustaceans and bivalves inspired us to design a lightweight yet strong shell architecture that could embrace the community and re-orientate and uplift them to the sun and daily rhythms of the estuary. The shell was digitally fabricated from 110m3 of 45mm thick triangular timber modules of cross banded LVL covered with an insulated metal skin.