A photograph of the earthquake damage to The Volcano Café on London Street. The brick wall on the left side of the building has crumbled, and the bricks have spilt onto the footpath. A red sticker on the door indicates that the building is no longer safe to enter. Plywood has been used to board up the windows and wire fencing has been placed around the building as a cordon.
A photograph of a member of the Wellington Emergency Management Office Emergency Response Team climbing a ladder up the back of a house on Gloucester Street. The ladder has been placed against the house so that the ERT members can enter the building through the open window. To the right a section of the house next door has collapsed and the bricks have spilled onto the shed below.
Damage to the garden of a house in Richmond. Liquefaction is visible among the plants and on the driveway, and the driveway is badly cracked. The photographer comments, "These photos show our old house in River Rd. Water and silt have flattened the long grass in the back garden. The growth right of centre is suckers growing from the stump of a prunus tree we had felled last year. The section of fence between us and our neighbour fell down in the Sep 4 quake".
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.
The Edmonds Band Rotunda on the bank of the Avon River, Cambridge Terrace. The brickwork of the building has been damaged by the earthquake and wire fencing has been placed around the building to keep people away.
Photos taken in Lyttelton showing the demolition at various locations following the February 22 earthquake. File reference: CCL-2011-05-20-Lyttelton-Demolition-P1120473 From the collection of Christchurch City Libraries.
File reference: CCL-2011-08-12-CanterburyPublic Library pre-demolition-024 From the collection of Christchurch City Libraries.
File reference: CCL-2011-08-12-CanterburyPublic Library pre-demolition-014 From the collection of Christchurch City Libraries.
File reference: CCL-2011-08-12-CanterburyPublic Library pre-demolition-020 From the collection of Christchurch City Libraries.
File reference: CCL-2011-08-12-CanterburyPublic Library pre-demolition-006 From the collection of Christchurch City Libraries.
File reference: CCL-2011-08-12-CanterburyPublic Library pre-demolition-015 From the collection of Christchurch City Libraries.
File reference: CCL-2011-08-12-CanterburyPublic Library pre-demolition-009 From the collection of Christchurch City Libraries.
File reference: CCL-2011-08-12-CanterburyPublic Library pre-demolition-010 From the collection of Christchurch City Libraries.
File reference: CCL-2011-08-12-CanterburyPublic Library pre-demolition-018 From the collection of Christchurch City Libraries.
File reference: CCL-2011-08-12-CanterburyPublic Library pre-demolition-017 From the collection of Christchurch City Libraries.
Photos taken in Lyttelton following the February 22 earthquake. File ref: CCL-2011-03-05-After-The-Earthquake-P1110475 From the collection of Christchurch City Libraries
File reference: CCL-2011-08-12-CanterburyPublic Library pre-demolition-008 From the collection of Christchurch City Libraries.
File reference: CCL-2011-08-12-CanterburyPublic Library pre-demolition-023 From the collection of Christchurch City Libraries.
File reference: CCL-2011-08-12-CanterburyPublic Library pre-demolition-013 From the collection of Christchurch City Libraries.
File reference: CCL-2011-08-12-CanterburyPublic Library pre-demolition-019 From the collection of Christchurch City Libraries.
Friday 22 February 2013. File reference: CCL-2013 -02-22-IMG_4062 From the collection of Christchurch City Libraries.
File reference: CCL-2011-08-12-CanterburyPublic Library pre-demolition-011 From the collection of Christchurch City Libraries.
File reference: CCL-2011-08-12-CanterburyPublic Library pre-demolition-007 From the collection of Christchurch City Libraries.
File reference: CCL-2011-08-12-CanterburyPublic Library pre-demolition-021 From the collection of Christchurch City Libraries.
Shipping containers against the cliff on the road to Sumner, Christchurch. File reference: CCL-2012-05-12-Around-Sumner-May-2012 DSC_013.JPG From the collection of Christchurch City Libraries.
Shipping containers against the cliff on the road to Sumner, Christchurch. File reference: CCL-2012-05-12-Around-Sumner-May-2012 DSC_004.JPG From the collection of Christchurch City Libraries.
File reference: CCL-2011-08-12-CanterburyPublic Library pre-demolition-025 From the collection of Christchurch City Libraries.
Shipping containers against the cliff on the road to Sumner, Christchurch. File reference: CCL-2012-05-12-Around-Sumner-May-2012 DSC_003.JPG From the collection of Christchurch City Libraries.
Shipping containers against the cliff on the road to Sumner, Christchurch. File reference: CCL-2012-05-12-Around-Sumner-May-2012 DSC_010.JPG From the collection of Christchurch City Libraries.
Pws-2010-12-27-dsc6353