McAuley House in Footscray offers a range of safe and stable accommodation options for women, from immediate crisis housing to short-term respite stays. The facility is a unique and responsive solution for the region, designed with direct input from women. Focusing on the needs of women affected by family violence and mental health issues, McAuley House also serves as an essential community service hub, assisting over 100 women every year.

The four-story structure integrates a homeless centre and rooming house. The ground floor features office and communal spaces, with 25 private ensuite rooms with balconies on the first and second floors, a prayer room, as well as a blend of accommodation and shared facilities for cooking, dining, and meetings on the top floor.

An architectural statement, the building showcases a curved curtain wall facade at its entrance, complete with environmentally sustainable inclusions like solar shading fins that artfully conceal its lightweight structural components. The first floor’s cantilevering transfer plate creates an illusion of floating for the upper accommodations. Adding to the façade’s allure is a spiral staircase.

The landscaping prioritises native flora, with climbing planters strung on stainless cables between balconies. A serene garden at the rear offers a space for respite and reflection while the third-level patio includes a vegetable garden. This initiative serves as both a communal green space and a strategy for enhanced wellbeing, encouraging social interaction, culturally significant activities, and alleviating food insecurity.