Photograph captioned by Fairfax, "A crane lifts the turret of the top of the Great Hall at The Arts Centre for repairs after the earthquake".
Photograph captioned by Fairfax, "A crane lifts the turret of the top of the Great Hall at The Arts Centre for repairs after the earthquake".
Photograph captioned by Fairfax, "A crane lifts the turret of the top of the Great Hall at The Arts Centre for repairs after the earthquake".
Photograph captioned by Fairfax, "A crane lifts the turret off the top of the Great Hall at The Arts Centre for repairs after the earthquake".
A photograph of Helen Campbell in the Green Room garden on Colombo Street. Helen has been repairing Crack'd for Christchurch's armchair and ottoman mosaics.
Investigations into handling of asbestos in Canterbury earthquake repairs and a man's appeared in court charged with the murder of the Auckland woman, Blessie Gotingco.
Photograph captioned by Fairfax, "Christchurch Mayor Bob Parker (right) talks to media about architectural plans for Christchurch's rebuild following the September 4th earthquake. From left, architects Richard Dalman and Ian Athfield with Mayor Bob Parker".
A video of an interview with Richard Ballantyne inside the Ballantynes Department Store on Cashel Street. In the background, staff are preparing the store to reopen for the first time since the 22 February 2011 earthquake.
A video of an interview with Lianne Dalziel about her decision to run for the mayoralty of Christchurch. Dalziel talks about resigning as a member of parliament, creating a sounding board for community, businesses, and the political spectrum at the Christchurch City Council, and the importance of uniting the Council.
There is a critical strand of literature suggesting that there are no ‘natural’ disasters (Abramovitz, 2001; Anderson and Woodrow, 1998; Clarke, 2008; Hinchliffe, 2004). There are only those that leave us – the people - more or less shaken and disturbed. There may be some substance to this; for example, how many readers recall the 7.8 magnitude earthquake centred in Fiordland in July 2009? Because it was so far away from a major centre and very few people suffered any consequences, the number is likely to be far fewer than those who remember (all too vividly) the relatively smaller 7.1 magnitude Canterbury quake of September 4th 2010 and the more recent 6.3 magnitude February 22nd 2011 event. One implication of this construction of disasters is that seismic events, like those in Canterbury, are as much socio-political as they are geological. Yet, as this paper shows, the temptation in recovery is to tick boxes and rebuild rather than recover, and to focus on hard infrastructure rather than civic expertise and community involvement. In this paper I draw upon different models of community engagement and use Putnam’s (1995) notion of ‘social capital’ to frame the argument that ‘building bridges’ after a disaster is a complex blend of engineering, communication and collaboration. I then present the results of a qualitative research project undertaken after the September 4th earthquake. This research helps to illustrate the important connections between technical rebuilding, social capital, recovery processes and overall urban resilience.
Glazing systems are non-structural elements in a building that, more often than not, appear to be given little consideration in seismic design. Recent experimental work into glazing systems at the University of Canterbury, however, has shown that glazing systems can be very susceptible to serviceability damage, defined as loss of water-tightness. The focus of this paper is to highlight the difference in vulnerability of standard and seismic glazing systems and consider the implications of this for future repair costs and losses. The paper first describes the damage states chosen for glazing units according to the repair strategies required and expected repair costs. This includes three damage states: DS1: Water Leakage, DS2: Gasket Failure and DS3: Frame/Glass Failure. Implementing modern performance-based earthquake engineering, the paper proceeds to highlight a case study comparing costs and expected losses of a standard glazing unit and a seismic glazing unit installed on a case study building. It is shown that the use of seismic glazing units is generally beneficial over time, due to the early onset of serviceability damage in standard glazing units. Finally, the paper provides suggestions for designers aimed at reducing costs related to earthquake induced repairs of glazing.
Imagined landscapes find their form in utopian dreaming. As ideal places, utopias are set up according to the ideals of their designers. Inevitably, utopias become compromised when they move from the imaginary into the actual. Opportunities to create utopias rely largely on a blank slate, a landscape unimpeded by the inconveniences of existing occupation – or even topography. Christchurch has seen two utopian moments. The first was at the time of European settlement in the mid-nineteenth century, when imported ideals provided a model for a new city. The earthquakes of 2010 and 2011 provided a second point at which utopian dreaming spurred visions for the city. Christchurch’s earthquakes have provided a unique opportunity for a city to re-imagine itself. Yet, as is the fate for all imaginary places, reality got in the way.
8 Velsheda Street, Bexley, Christchurch, across the road from my house was demolished a week or so ago, just one of many demolitions of Red Zone properties at the moment. This house was about ten years old and suffered land damage during the 4th September 2010 and 22nd February 2011 earthquakes. The same fate awaits my house later in the year o...
A photograph of a sign from the TVNZ Building on the building's demolition site. Also visible are a fire extinguisher, hose and other rubble from the building.
Damaged buildings and empty demolition sites. The building on the left has had tarpaulins placed on it to prevent weather damage to the inside of the building.
A photograph submitted by Matt Pickering to the QuakeStories website. The description reads, "The army on hand, helping prepare for the demolition of the Strategy Building".
A photograph submitted by Bettina Evans to the QuakeStories website. The description reads, "Demolition of old Fire Station/Library in Lyttelton, corner London Street/Oxford Street".
Photograph captioned by BeckerFraserPhotos, "Looking across the demolition site of the Press Building towards Warners and Novatel Hotels. New Press Building on the right rear".
Photograph captioned by BeckerFraserPhotos, "Demolition site between the former Government Life building (on the right) and Grant Thornton House with Chancery Lane in the background".
Photograph captioned by BeckerFraserPhotos, "Looking from 205 Manchester Street to Radio Newtwork House across concrete rubble from the demolition of SBS House, 180 Manchester Street".
A photograph of ribbons hanging from a cordon fence on Cashel Street. The ribbons were placed in protest at the proposed demolition of the Christ Church Cathedral.
The vacant lot left after the demolition of St. John's Anglican Church on Latimer Square. The empty section in back was where CTV building use to be.
The vacant lot left after the demolition of St. John's Anglican Church on Latimer Square. The empty section in back was where CTV building use to be.
Demolition site of a building, where the wall on the adjoining building has been exposed. In the footpath in front is a road cone with a flower.
Blossom coming out by the Worcester Street bridge. File reference: CCL-2011-08-12-CanterburyPublic Library pre-demolition-041 From the collection of Christchurch City Libraries.
Nearing the end of demolition of the Westend Jewellers site on the corner of Worcester and Manchester Streets, Christchurch. Badly damaged in the September 4th earthquake.
A tangle of metal pipes and a roof beam on the footpath outside the Durham Street Methodist Church.
A view across Edgeware Road to the cleared site of St Mary and St Athanasius Church. The site has been cordoned off with road cones and emergency tape.
A splintered doorway in the remains of the Durham Street Methodist Church. A pile of broken masonry is sitting in front.
A pile of bricks, mortar, concrete and rusty metal constituting the remains of Beckenham Baptist Church on Colombo Street. A white sign has been erected outside the church reading, "Our church is still meeting. Please join us on Sunday. We gather in the youth hall, access is from #7 Percival St. (Turn left on Tennyson then left again on Percival)".