Up until February 22nd, 2011, the city of Christchurch was a unique, historic and cultural living and breathing entity. Inherited from a long list of valuable contributors dating back to its incep…
One Historic Places Trust report for Homebush Station. Homebush was in the process of being registered as a Historic Place, and this report was underway, when the homestead was severely damaged by the 4 September 2010 earthquake. Homebush Station was in the process of being registered as an historic place by the New Zealand Historic Places Trus...
The historic Townsend Teece telescope in Otautahi Christchurch was badly damaged in the 2011 earthquake, but has been expertly restored and is now reinstalled back in its central city home at the Arts Centre.
Maps showing historic tsunamis affecting Canterbury.
Submission of the then New Zealand Historic Places Trust to the Canterbury Earthquakes Royal Commission.
Sadly the Chapel has been badly damaged in the magnitude 6.3 earthquake that hit Christchurch 22 February 2011 - see photo at www.flickr.com/photos/geofftrotter/5570195671/in/photostr... The Rose Historic Chapel formerly St Mary’s Convent Chapel is the sole su...
A map showing historic watercourses under central Christchurch.
Sadly the Chapel has been badly damaged in the magnitude 6.3 earthquake that hit Christchurch 22 February 2011. See below. The Rose Historic Chapel formerly St Mary’s Convent Chapel is the sole survivor of a group of heritage buildings in Christchurch that once comprised the St Mary’s Convent complex for the Sisters of Mercy in North Colombo St...
Sadly the Chapel has been badly damaged in the magnitude 6.3 earthquake that hit Christchurch 22 February 2011. See below. The Rose Historic Chapel formerly St Mary’s Convent Chapel is the sole survivor of a group of heritage buildings in Christchurch that once comprised the St Mary’s Convent complex for the Sisters of Mercy in North Colombo St...
A map showing the location of historic Christchurch earthquakes.
Up until February 22nd, 2011, the city of Christchurch was a unique, historic and cultural living and breathing entity. Inherited from a long list of valuable contributors dating back to its incept…
An infographic describing research into historic earthquakes on the Greendale Fault.
An infographic explaining investigations into historic earthquakes on the Alpine Fault.
Photograph captioned by BeckerFraserPhotos, "Rose Historic Chapel, Colombo Street".
A company helping to demolish earthquake damaged buildings in Christchurch, has come to the rescue of the heritage-listed Peterborough Centre.
An aerial photograph of the historic BNZ building on Williams Street in Kaiapoi.
A view across Hereford Street to an excavator demolishing the historic Manchester Courts.
A map showing the location of a historic rupture of the Alpine Fault.
City Council notices are stuck to the gate of the Rose Historic Chapel.
A photograph showing part of the historic facade of the Clarendon Towers building.
Photograph captioned by Fairfax, "The historic Godley House accommodation/restaurant at Diamond Harbour".
Photograph captioned by Fairfax, "Damage to the Valley Inn (historic pub), Heathcote Valley".
A view across Hereford Street to an excavator demolishing the historic Manchester Courts.
Photograph captioned by Fairfax, "The historic Godley House accommodation/restaurant at Diamond Harbour".
Photograph captioned by Fairfax, "The historic Godley House accommodation/restaurant at Diamond Harbour".
Appendix One to the submission of the then New Zealand Historical Places Trust to the Canterbury Earthquakes Royal Commission. The appendix is titled, "Maps of Central Christchurch identifying registered Category I and II historic places and their level of damage sustained following the 22 February 2011 Christchurch earthquake (as at 31 March 2011)".
Photograph captioned by BeckerFraserPhotos, "78 Colombo Street. Demolition workers hand some salvaged pieces of the historic home over the fence".
The reality of just how many historic buildings will be lost to the Christchurch earthquake is now becoming apparent with Civil Defence adding another 123 buildings to the demolition list.
The demand for a new approach to safeguarding New Zealand’s endangered historic buildings was identified as a result of the recent increase in building code and strengthening requirements following the Christchurch earthquakes of 2010-2011. The Wellington City Council identified 266 heritage buildings in the city that must be either strengthened or demolished to address these increased requirements. This thesis explores this threat as an opportunity for researching how contemporary design interventions can be challenged to both strengthen and become active participants in the ongoing history of New Zealand’s potentially endangered historic buildings. This thesis challenges the current approach of completely ‘restoring’ 19th-20th century historic buildings in New Zealand, to develop techniques that structurally reinforce historic buildings while inviting the progressive weathering of a building to remain as a testament to its history. This thesis proposes a structural intervention that is responsive to the progressive history of historic buildings, simultaneously introducing a contemporary structural intervention that both participates in and compliments the progressive historic transformations of the vehicle. This thesis argues that current historic buildings in semi-decayed states in fact enable visitors to witness multiple stages in the life of a building, while fully restored buildings only enable visitors to witness the original form of the building. This thesis proposes a model for contemporary intervention within historic buildings that draws a design intervention from seismic strengthening.The notion of layering is explored as a design approach to incorporate the contemporary with the historic as an additional layer of exposed on-going history, thereby further exposing the layers of history evident within New Zealand’s historic buildings. This thesis combines layering theories of architects Louis Kahn and Carlo Scarpa with related theories of installation artist Mary Miss. The theoretical imperatives of Scarpa and Kahn are explored as a tool of engagement for the junction between the contemporary and historic building materials, and the work of Marry Miss is explored as a design approach for developing a contemporary intervention that references the layered historic building while inviting new means of occupancy between layers. The selected vehicle for the design research investigation is the Albemarle Hotel on Ghuznee Street in Wellington. The techniques proposed in this thesis to strengthen the Albemarle Hotel suggest an approach that might be applied to New Zealand’s wider body of historic buildings that constitute New Zealand’s heritage fabric, ultimately protecting them from demolition while preserving additional layers of their historic narratives. Over all the design research experiments suggest that contemporary interventions derived from structural strengthening may be a viable and cost-effective method of re-inhabiting New Zealand’s endangered heritage buildings, avoiding demolition and securing New Zealand’s heritage for future generations. Research Questions: This thesis challenges the current economically unsustainable approach of laterally reinforcing and completely ‘restoring’ 19th-20th century historic buildings in New Zealand. This thesis argues that current historic buildings in semi-decayed states in fact enable visitors to witness multiple stages in the on-going life of a building. Can the weathered state of New Zealand's heritage buildings be proactively retained and celebrated as witnesses to their history? Can new lateral reinforcing requirements be conceived as active participants in revealing the on-going history of New Zealand's historic buildings?
A map showing the location of a study dating historic earthquakes on the Alpine Fault.