A colour photograph of the west facade of the Excelsior Hotel, taken after the September 4th earthquake.
A poster created by Empowered Christchurch to advertise their submission to the CERA Draft Transition Recovery Plan on social media.The poster reads, "Submission, CERA Draft Transition Recovery Plan. Prime Minister Assurance. Let us remember the much-quoted assurance from the Prime Minister in 2011: 'On behalf of the Government, let me be clear that no one will be left to walk this journey alone. New Zealand will walk this journey with you. We will be there every step of the way. Christchurch; this is not your test; this is New Zealand's test. I promise we will meet this test.' We call on the authorities to live up to this promise. We need a city that is driven by the people that live in it, and enabled by a bureaucracy that accepts and mitigates risks, rather than transferring them to the most vulnerable of its residents".
An audio recording of a meeting between the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE), and several Christchurch residents' groups, held on 20 June 2013.
A colour photograph of the north side of the Excelsior Hotel, taken from High Street.
A photograph of window details on the Excelsior Hotel, taken after the 4 September 2010 earthquake.
A colour photograph of the Fisher's Building, seen from the corner of Lichfield and High Streets. The photograph was taken before the 4 September 2010 earthquake.
The Stewart Dawson building on the corner of High and Cashel Streets, in 2009 before the earthquakes.
Colour photograph of cracking in the structure of St. Elmo's Courts following the 4 September 2010 earthquake.
Colour photograph of St. Elmo's Courts, taken from the corner of Hereford and Montreal Streets before the earthquakes.
A colour photograph of the north facade of the former Odeon Theatre after the 4 September 2010 earthquake.
A poster created by Empowered Christchurch to advertise their submission to the CERA Draft Transition Recovery Plan on social media.The poster reads, "Submission. CERA Draft Transition Recovery Plan. After nearly five years of 'Emergency Response' where sustainability has been sacrificed in the interests of speed, we can assume that this phase is now behind us. We see no reason why this period should be extended until April 2016. Lessons must be learned from the past. It is time to move into the 'Restoration Phase'. Once seismic and building standards are corrected, and risks are notified, mapped and accepted, sustainability will be ensures. We need a city that is driven by the people that live in it, and enabled by a bureaucracy that accepts and mitigates risks, rather than transferring them to the most vulnerable residents. We support option 3+."
A copy of a document from Empowered Christchurch which was sent to Queen Elizabeth. The document consists of a letter from Empowered Christchurch to Douglas Martin, Crown Manager from the Christchurch City Council, and Official Information Act requests sent to Building and Construction Minister Maurice Williamson and Canterbury Earthquake Recovery Minister Gerry Brownlee. It also includes an appeal to the Queen on behalf of Christchurch residents with badly-damaged houses. Please note that a letter from the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment, which was originally included in the document, has been removed due to copyright issues.
A copy of a letter from Hugo Kristinsson which was sent to Niels Holm, Official Secretary to the Governor General, on 12 August 2014. The letter was sent on behalf of Empowered Christchurch. It thanks Holm for his response to the letter Empowered Christchurch sent to the Governor General and expresses their disappointment that they have not recieved a response from the Governor General. Kristinsson also expresses his disappointment that the Governor General has not forwarded a letter sent by the Queen 'to the relevant minister'.
A poster created by Empowered Christchurch to advertise their submission to the CERA Draft Transition Recovery Plan on social media.The poster reads, "Submission, CERA Draft Transition Recovery Plan. Seismic Risk. One thing we can learn from the past is that seismic risk in Canterbury has been underestimated before the earthquakes struck. This is confirmed in a report for EQC in 1991 (paper 2005). It is also the conclusion of the Royal Commission in the CTV report. A number of recommendations have been made but not followed. For example, neither the AS/NZS 1170.5 standard nor the New Zealand Geotechnical Society guidelines have been updated. Yet another recovery instrument is the Earthquake Prone Building Act, which is still to be passed by Parliament. As the emergency response part of the recovery is now behind us, we need to ensure sustainability for what lies ahead. We need a city that is driven by the people that live in it, and enabled by a bureaucracy that accepts and mitigates risks, rather than transferring them to the most vulnerable residents."
Wednesday 2 May 2012. File reference: CCL-2012-05-02IMG_2170 From the collection of Christchurch City Libraries.
Oxford Terrace, 6 March 2012. File reference: CCL-2012-03-06-AroundChristchurch-IMG_0128 From the collection of Christchurch City Libraries.
File reference: CCL-2011-11-25-Presspass-November2011 527 From the collection of Christchurch City Libraries. Passes for The Press Christchurch Writers Festival, cancelled due to the earthquakes.
A photograph of a Master of Architecture student from the University of Auckland giving a presentation at a Future Christchurch lecture series. The event was part of FESTA 2012.
A best practice traffic management guideline, produced in February 2014, which helps traffic management team members manage cyclists through road work sites safely.
A photograph of a Master of Architecture student from the University of Auckland giving a presentation at a Future Christchurch lecture series. The event was part of FESTA 2012.
A photograph of a Master of Architecture student from the University of Auckland giving a presentation at a Future Christchurch lecture series. The event was part of FESTA 2012.
A photograph of a Master of Architecture student from the University of Auckland giving a presentation at a Future Christchurch lecture series. The event was part of FESTA 2012.
A photograph of a Master of Architecture student from the University of Auckland giving a presentation at a Future Christchurch lecture series. The event was part of FESTA 2012.
An authority granted by the New Zealand Historic Places Trust, providing the authority to carry out earthquake repair work that may affect archaeological sites within the Christchurch City area.
Manchester Street looking south-ish, near the corner of Worcester Street. The is the Trinity Building, which housed a restaurant and live music venue called Octagon Live.
This thesis revisits the topic of earthquake recovery in Christchurch City more than a decade after the Canterbury earthquakes. Despite promising visions of a community reconnected and a sustainable and liveable city, significant portions of the city’s core – the Red Zone – remain dilapidated and “eerily empty”. At the same time, new developments in other areas have proven to be alienated or underutilised. Currently, the Canterbury Earthquake Recovery Authority’s plans for the rebuilding highlight the delivery of more residential housing to re-populate the city centre. However, prevalent approaches to housing development in Christchurch are ineffective for building an inclusive and active community. Hence, the central inquiry of the thesis is how the development of housing complexes can revitalise the Red Zone within the Christchurch city centre. The inquiry has been carried out through a research-through-design methodology, recognising the importance of an in-depth investigation that is contextualised and combined with the intuition and embodied knowledge of the designer. The investigation focuses on a neglected site in the Red Zone in the heart of Christchurch city, with significant Victorian and Edwardian Baroque heritage buildings, including Odeon Theatre, Lawrie & Wilson Auctioneers, and Sol Square, owned by The Regional Council Environment Canterbury. The design inquiry argues, develops, and is carried through a place-assemblage lens to housing development for city recovery, which recognizes the significance of socially responsive architecture that explores urban renewal by forging connections within the social network. Therefore, place-assemblage criteria and methods for developing socially active and meaningful housing developments are identified. Firstly, this thesis argues that co-living housing models are more focused on people relations and collective identity than the dominant developer-driven housing rebuilds, as they prioritise conduits for interaction and shared social meaning and practices. Secondly, the adaptive reuse of derelict heritage structures is proposed to reinvigorate the urban fabric, as heritage is seen to be conceived as and from a social assemblage of people. The design is realised by the principles outlined in the ICOMOS charter, which involves incorporating the material histories of existing structures and preserving the intangible heritage of the site by ensuring the continuity of cultural practices. Lastly, design processes and methods are also vital for place-sensitive results, which pay attention to the site’s unique characteristics to engage with local stakeholders and communities. The research explores place-assemblage methods of photographic extraction, the drawing of story maps, precedent studies, assemblage maps, bricolages, and paper models, which show an assembly of layers that piece together the existing heritage, social conduits, urban commons and housing to conceptualise the social network within its place.
Friday 22 February 2013. File reference: CCL-2013 -02-22-IMG_4089 From the collection of Christchurch City Libraries.
Wednesday 2 May 2012. File reference: CCL-2012-05-02IMG_2167 From the collection of Christchurch City Libraries.
File reference: CCL-2012-03-13-AroundChristchurch-IMG_0132 From the collection of Christchurch City Libraries.
File reference: CCL-2012-03-13-AroundChristchurch-IMG_0131 From the collection of Christchurch City Libraries.