A photograph of an empty building site on the corner of Lichfield Street and Madras Street. A mural commissioned by Gap Filler titled 'Knit Happens' has been painted on the brick wall in the corner of the remaining buildings.
Empty sections where houses once stood at 24A Waygreen Avenue in New Brighton. The sections are overgrown with weeds. A single Victorian-style street lamp stands on the side of the footpath. The gutter has partly flooded.
A photograph captioned by BeckerFraserPhotos, "A view looking east along Armagh Street, empty sites to the left and right. Road crew in the distance can be seen working on Madras Street".
A photograph of Wayne Youle's mural 'I Seem to Have Temporarily Misplaced My Sense of Humour' (2012). The photograph is captioned by BeckerFraserPhotos, "Art installation at an empty site on Colombo Street, Sydenham".
A photograph of a musical instrument created from empty fire extinguisher canisters, at Sound Garden. Sound Garden was a Greening the Rubble project created by local artist-musicians and launched as part of FESTA 2013.
The empty conservatory of house on Avonside Drive that has been abandoned due to damage from the 4 September 2010 earthquake. The metal frame of the conservatory has bent and sections of glass have broken. Cracks can be seen in the building's foundation.
A blackboard announcing live music on Saturdays at the Lyttelton Petanque Club, a Gap Filler project in the empty site of the Ground Culinary Centre. In the distance, the Port Hole can be seen, a temporary bar made out of shipping containers where the Volcano Cafe used to be.
An empty section where a house once stood at 27 Waygreen Avenue in New Brighton. The section has partly flooded and is overgrown with weeds and silt from liquefaction. An road cone sits to the left-hand side of the section.
A photograph of children playing a musical instrument constructed from empty fire extinguisher canisters, at Sound Garden. Sound Garden was a Greening the Rubble project created by local artist-musicians and launched as part of FESTA 2013.
A photograph of local musician Gemma Syme playing an instrument constructed from empty fire extinguisher canisters, at Sound Garden. Sound Garden was a Greening the Rubble project created by local artist-musicians and launched as part of FESTA 2013.
Photograph captioned by BeckerFraserPhotos, "The view from the top of Alice in Videoland".
A photograph of spotlights shining on the empty Government Life building on the corner of Cathedral Square, during the Canterbury Tales event. Canterbury Tales was created by Free Theatre Christchurch, and was the main event of FESTA 2013.
A photograph captioned by BeckerFraserPhotos, "A view of Saint John the Baptist Anglican Church in Latimer Square. The church hall to the right of the church has been demolished. The empty site in the foreground is where the Arrow International building was before demolition".
A flooded driveway leading to 26 and 28 Waygreen Avenue in New Brighton. The driveway is covered with weeds and silt from liquefaction. The mailbox is on a lean and on the right-hand side is an empty section where a house once stood.
A photograph of a man playing a musical instrument created from empty fire extinguisher canisters, at the launch of Sound Garden. Sound Garden was a Greening the Rubble project created by local artist-musicians from recycled materials. It was launched as part of FESTA 2013.
An empty section on the corner of Cashel and Colombo Streets where buildings have been demolished. In the background, a "drummer boy" dummy dressed in a hi-vis jacket sits on top of one of the still-standing High Street buildings. Written on the back of the building is "Merry Christmas Christchurch Pa Rum Pum Pum Pum".
An aerial photograph of the Majestic Theatre on the corner of Lichfield and Manchester Street. The photograph has been captioned by BeckerFraserPhotos, "Cashel Street running across the top of the photograph from Manchester Street (just out of shot on the left of the photo) towards Madras Street. Avonmore House is now an empty site".
Furniture and equipment packed up ready for the University of Canterbury's E-Learning team's move to their temporary office in the James Hight building. The photographer comments, "First looks at our new temporary (maybe) office space. Our group will stay here until April or May 2011, then will move to another floor in the Central Library. Waiting for the truck. An empty office, before the removal truck arrived".
Part two of the audio that makes up Gap Filler's 29th project, the Transitional City Audio Tour. This part of the tour begins in Cathedral Square and includes commentary on the proposal for the Convention Centre. The tour then moves down Worcester Street, providing commentary on Hotel 115, the Old Government Building (now the Heritage Hotel), and the Trinity Church on the way. Once the tour reaches Latimer Square, it moves towards Hereford Street and there is commentary on the Green Frame, and the future of Les Mill and Calendar Girls. The tour then moves down Madras Street, passing the Transitional Cathedral and the artwork, 185 Empty Chairs. The tour ends with commentary on the Farmers' Trading Building, the first Farmers' building in Christchurch which was eventually replaced by the IRD Building on Madras Street.
Photograph captioned by BeckerFraserPhotos, "The view from the top of Alice in Videoland towards Poplar Lane, showing how little is left there. Twisted Hop had a 'make safe' status at the time of this picture, now changed to demolish".
An aerial photograph captioned by BeckerFraserPhotos, "A view looking north-west over the central city towards Hagley Park. Hereford Street can be seen in the foreground, as well as Worcester Street running towards the the Christ Church Cathedral. The empty site of the Press Building and Warners hotel can also be seen".
Two children running across the empty lot in Beckenham that housed Gap Filler's "Film in the Gap!" project. Behind them is a chalkboard sign outlining the programme for the evening of April 2nd, 2011. The sign reads, "Gap Filler: 1st - 10th of April. Free live music and films from 6pm onwards. Saturday: 5pm: The Captain Willis Trio, 6pm: Ed Muzik, 7pm: The Cracks in Everything, 8pm: Film - 4 Houses, 4 Decades (Christchurch Architecture). All welcome! Bring a blanket or cushion. Ex demolition site. Please be safety aware. Proper footwear must be worn!".
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.