As part of a seismic retrofit scheme, surface bonded glass fiber-reinforced polymer (GFRP) fabric was applied to two unreinforced masonry (URM) buildings located in Christchurch, New Zealand. The unreinforced stone masonry of Christchurch Girls’ High School (GHS) and the unreinforced clay brick masonry Shirley Community Centre were retrofitted using surface bonded GFRP in 2007 and 2009, respectively. Much of the knowledge on the seismic performance of GFRP retrofitted URM was previously assimilated from laboratory-based experimental studies with controlled environments and loading schemes. The 2010/2011 Canterbury earthquake sequence provided a rare opportunity to evaluate the GFRP retrofit applied to two vintage URM buildings and to document its performance when subjected to actual design-level earthquake-induced shaking. Both GFRP retrofits were found to be successful in preserving architectural features within the buildings as well as maintaining the structural integrity of the URM walls. Successful seismic performance was based on comparisons made between the GFRP retrofitted GHS building and the adjacent nonretrofitted Boys’ High School building, as well as on a comparison between the GFRP retrofitted and nonretrofitted walls of the Shirley Community Centre building. Based on detailed postearthquake observations and investigations, the GFRP retrofitted URM walls in the subject buildings exhibited negligible to minor levels of damage without delamination, whereas significant damage was observed in comparable nonretrofitted URM walls AM - Accepted Manuscript
One landscape colour digital photograph taken on 12 April 2011 showing earthquake damage to the former Convent of Our Lady of Mercy. St Mary's School, run by the Sisters of Mercy, was also housed in this building. At the time of the 4 September 2010 earthquake the building was a private residence. The sense of loss felt when confronted with the...
A digitally manipulated image of damaged Music Centre. The photographer comments, "The destruction caused by the demolition of the heritage buildings damaged in the Christchurch earthquakes looks similar to the scenes in London during the second world war. The building was the Catholic Cathedral College, Christchurch. It was an integrated Catholic co-educational secondary school. It was founded in 1987, but its origins go back more than a 100 years earlier. The college was an amalgamation of two schools: Sacred Heart College for girls, and Xavier College for boys".
Photograph captioned by BeckerFraserPhotos, "The city blocks encompassed by Manchester, Gloucester, Latimer Square and Hereford Streets are amongst those with the most demolished buildings in the city centre at the moment".
“One of the most basic and fundamental questions in urban master planning and building regulations is ‘how to secure common access to sun, light and fresh air?” (Stromann-Andersen & Sattrup, 2011). Daylighting and natural ventilation can have significant benefits in office buildings. Both of these ‘passive’ strategies have been found to reduce artificial lighting and air-conditioning energy consumption by as much as 80% (Ministry for the Environment, 2008); (Brager, et al., 2007). Access to daylight and fresh air can also be credited with improved occupant comfort and health, which can lead to a reduction of employee absenteeism and an increase of productivity (Sustainability Victoria, 2008). In the rebuild of Christchurch central city, following the earthquakes of 2010 and 2011, Cantabrians have expressed a desire for a low-rise, sustainable city, with open spaces and high performance buildings (Christchurch City Council, 2011). With over 80% of the central city being demolished, a unique opportunity to readdress urban form and create a city that provides all buildings with access to daylight and fresh air exists. But a major barrier to wide-spread adoption of passive buildings in New Zealand is their dependence on void space to deliver daylight and fresh air – void space which could otherwise be valuable built floor space. Currently, urban planning regulations in Christchurch prioritize density, allowing and even encouraging low performance compact buildings. Considering this issue of density, this thesis aimed to determine which urban form and building design changes would have the greatest effect on building performance in Central City Christchurch. The research proposed and parametrically tested modifications of the current compact urban form model, as well as passive building design elements. Proposed changes were assessed in three areas: energy consumption, indoor comfort and density. Three computer programs were used: EnergyPlus was the primary tool, simulating energy consumption and thermal comfort. Radiance/Daysim was used to provide robust daylighting calculations and analysis. UrbaWind enabled detailed consideration of the urban wind environment for reliable natural ventilation predictions. Results found that, through a porous urban form and utilization of daylight and fresh air via simple windows, energy consumption could be reduced as much as 50% in buildings. With automatic modulation of windows and lighting, thermal and visual comfort could be maintained naturally for the majority of the occupied year. Separation of buildings by as little as 2m enabled significant energy improvements while having only minimal impact on individual property and city densities. Findings indicated that with minor alterations to current urban planning laws, all buildings could have common access to daylight and fresh air, enabling them to operate naturally, increasing energy efficiency and resilience.
Photograph captioned by BeckerFraserPhotos, " remains of the Hotel Grand Chancellor, Cashel Street".
One landscape colour digital photograph taken on 25 September 2011 showing the remaining portion of the former Convent of Our Lady of Mercy. St Mary's School, run by the Sisters of Mercy, was also housed in this building. At the time of the 4 September 2010 earthquake the building was a private residence. The picture shows the perimeter wall, t...
Photograph captioned by BeckerFraserPhotos, "Central city with the cathedral at the bottom right and the Hotel Grand Chancellor, Westpac Building and Holiday Inn clustered in the bottom right".
One landscape colour digital photograph taken on 6 September 2011 showing demolition of the former Convent of Our Lady of Mercy. St Mary's School, run by the Sisters of Mercy, was also housed in this building. At the time of the 4 September 2010 earthquake the building was a private residence. Three years after the 2010-2011 earthquakes there a...
A view across Armagh Street to the Cranmer Centre. Scaffolding has been constructed on the building's Armagh Street face, while on the Montreal Street side masonry from the walls has collapsed onto the road.
A school pool, a BMX bike club and a music school are among twenty organisations in Christchurch that have benefitted from the final grants from an international appeal for re-building the quake-damaged city. The Christchurch Earthquake Appeal has so far raised almost 100 million dollars, and as our reporter Teresa Cowie discovered, the latest 8 million dollars that's been released from the fund is giving a welcome boost to residents.
Christchurch Mayor Bob Parker, New standards for earthquake prone buildings in Christchurch, Some schools reopen, while others face permanent closure, PM says Defence Force's role to check CV, Plans to burn the Koran on hold not cancelled, Chances of magnitude aftershock hitting rapidly decreasing.
An aerial photograph captioned by BeckerFraserPhotos, "Worcester Street from Cathedral Square to Manchester Street, with Gloucester Street at the bottom".
Photograph captioned by BeckerFraserPhotos, "Detail of Christ's College".
Photograph captioned by BeckerFraserPhotos, "New Cashel Mall centre left".
Photograph captioned by BeckerFraserPhotos, "CBD. Looking north between Colombo and Manchester Streets".
Photograph captioned by BeckerFraserPhotos, "CBD with Christ's College in the foreground, Canterbury Museum and the Arts Centre".
College of Engineering staff stand beside a sign pointing through a fern garden to the temporary new entrance to the School of Engineering office. Asbestos is currently being removed from areas within the building. Pictured: Lisa Carter, Arran Yuill, Cecillia King, Karen Carthew, Janet Butcher, Cheryl McNickel and Vicki O'Sullivan.
College of Engineering staff stand beside a sign pointing through a fern garden to the temporary new entrance to the School of Engineering office. Asbestos is currently being removed from areas within the building. Pictured: Lisa Carter, Arran Yuill, Cecillia King, Karen Carthew, Janet Butcher, Cheryl McNickel and Vicki O'Sullivan.
One landscape colour digital photograph taken on 25 February 2011 showing earthquake damage on western side of Oxford Street, Lyttelton Taken from the footpath looking downhill from Lyttelton Main School. The buildings visible (from the foreground) are: London Street Restaurant; Bells Pharmacy; Maritime House (McKay - ISS Limited, Shipping Ag...
One landscape colour digital photograph taken on 25 February 2011 showing earthquake damage on eastern side of Oxford Street, Lyttelton Taken from the footpath looking downhill from opposite Lyttelton Main School. The Buildings visible are the premises of Moda Fotografica (former Library and Council Chambers), a private residence (former Libra...
On September the 4th 2010 and February 22nd 2011 the Canterbury region of New Zealand was shaken by two massive earthquakes. This paper is set broadly within the civil defence and emergency management literature and informed by recent work on community participation and social capital in the building of resilient cities. Work in this area indicates a need to recognise both the formal institutional response to the earthquakes as well as the substantive role communities play in their own recovery. The range of factors that facilitate or hinder community involvement also needs to be better understood. This paper interrogates the assumption that recovery agencies and officials are both willing and able to engage communities who are themselves willing and able to be engaged in accordance with recovery best practice. Case studies of three community groups – CanCERN, Greening the Rubble and Gap Filler – illustrate some of the difficulties associated with becoming a community during the disaster recovery phase. Based on my own observations and experiences, combined with data from approximately 50 in-depth interviews with Christchurch residents and representatives from community groups, the Christchurch City Council, the Earthquake Commission and so on, this paper outlines some practical strategies emerging communities may use in the early disaster recovery phase that then strengthens their ability to ‘participate’ in the recovery process.
Earthquake bus survivor, Mike Ardagh - Christchurch Hospital, Reporter Erina O'Donohue live from Christchurch, Where to obtain water, Murray McCully thanks international community, Cowles Stadium welfare centre closed, Man escapes from 12th floor of Forsyth Barr building, Aussie medics set up field hospital, Schools need significant rebuilding and Fourteen supermarkets closed in Christchurch.
Photograph captioned by BeckerFraserPhotos, "Central city with the BNZ at the bottom right, the Hotel Grand Chancellor, Westpac Building and Holiday Inn clustered in the bottom centre, and Latimer Square upper".
A video of an interview with Arts Centre CEO Andre Lovatt about the restoration of the Arts Centre after the 22 February 2011 earthquake. The video also includes a tour of the Arts Centre, including the Boys' High School swimming pool and gymnasium which was exposed after another building was demolished.
A review of the week's news including: Christchurch's emergency operation moves from rescue to recovery, two minutes' silence observed nationwide, government announces aid package, Finance Minister outlines cost of quake, a fifth of Christchurch population has fled, inquiry launched into collapse of damaged buildings, many Christchurch schools remain closed and some of their pupils enrol elsewhere, students and farmers roll up their sleeves to help quake victims, rescuers tell stories of survival, hundreds of Wellington buildings expected not to meet earthquake safety standards and time capsule discovered under statue of Christchurch founding father
Photograph captioned by BeckerFraserPhotos, "The remains of SBS House, on the south-east corner of Worcester and Manchester Streets. The Octagon Live is behind".
One photocopied photograph on blue paper of ten English language students and their teacher in an inside setting. A message at the bottom reads 'Miss you always x Rama'. This tribute is a photocopied photograph of some students and teachers from King’s Education language school that was located in the Canterbury Television (CTV) building. When ...
This project looks at how destroyed architecture, although physically lost, fundamentally continues to exist within human memories as a non-physical entity. The site chosen is Avonside Girls’ High School in Christchurch, New Zealand, a school heavily damaged during the February 22nd earthquake in 2011. The project focuses on the Main Block, a 1930s masonry building which had always been a symbol for the school and its alumni. The key theories relevant to this are studies on non-material architecture and memory as these subjects investigate the relationship between conceptual idea and the triggering of it. This research aims to study how to fortify a thought-based architecture against neglect, similar to the retrofitting of physical structures. In doing so, the importance of the emotive realm of architecture and the idea behind a building (as opposed to the built component itself) is further validated, promoting more broadminded stances regarding the significance of the idea over the object. A new method for disaster recovery and addressing trauma from lost architecture is also acquired. Factors regarding advanced structural systems and programmes are not covered within the scope of this research because the project instead explores issues regarding the boundaries between the immaterial and material. The project methodology involves communicating a narrative derived from the memories alumni and staff members have of the old school block. The approach for portraying the narrative is based on a list of strategies obtained from case studies. The final product of the research is a new design for the high school, conveyed through a set of atmospheric drawings that cross-examines the boundaries between the physical and non-physical realms by representing the version of the school that exists solely within memories.
One landscape colour photograph of eighteen English language students and their teacher taken at 12.05pm on an unknown day. This photographic tribute is to the students and teachers from King’s Education language school who were killed in the collapse of the Canterbury Television (CTV) building during the 22 February 2011 earthquake. We do not ...