A photograph of a temporary sculpture titled Illuminate, on a vacant site on Worcester Street. The sculpture was created by students from Unitec's Architecture department for Canterbury Tales - a carnivalesque procession which was the main event of FESTA 2013.
A photograph of a temporary sculpture titled Illuminate, on a vacant site on Worcester Street. The sculpture was created by students from Unitec's Architecture department for Canterbury Tales - a carnivalesque procession which was the main event of FESTA 2013.
A photograph of a vacant site on the corner of Manchester Street and Worcester Street. This is to be the location of the Archrobatics project, which is part of LUXCITY.
A close-up photograph of a sculpture titled Illuminate, on a vacant site on Worcester Street. The sculpture was created by students from Unitec's Architecture department for Canterbury Tales - a carnivalesque procession which was the main event of FESTA 2013.
A photograph of people watching a model posing in a large inflatable ball as part of the In Your Face installation at LUXCITY.
A photograph of a vacant site between Manchester Street and Latimer Square. The site is to be the location of Kloud, a large-scale installation which is part of LUXCITY.
A photograph of the installation titled In Your Face on the corner of Gloucester Street and Manchester Street. The installation is part of LUXCITY.
A photograph of people walking among the large inflatable balls that were part of the installation titled In Your Face. The installation is part of LUXCITY.
A photograph of the installation titled In Your Face on the corner of Gloucester Street and Colombo Street. The installation is part of LUXCITY.
A photograph of the installation titled In Your Face on the corner of Gloucester Street and Colombo Street. The installation is part of LUXCITY.
The suburb of New Brighton in Christchurch Aotearoa was once a booming retail sector until the end of its exclusivity to Saturday shopping in 1980 and the aftermath of the devastating 2011 Christchurch earthquake. The suburb of New Brighton was hit particularly hard and fell into economic collapse, partly brought on by the nature of its economic structure. This implosion created an urban crisis where people and businesses abandoned the suburb and its once-booming commercial economy. As a result, New Brighton has been left with the residue of abandoned infrastructure and commercial propaganda such as billboards, ATM machines, commercial facades, and shopping trolleys that as abandoned fragments, no longer contribute to culture, society and the economy. This design-led research investigation proposes to repurpose the broken objects that were left behind. By strategically selecting objects that are symbols of the root cause of the economic devastation, the repurposed and re-contextualised fragments will seek to allegorically expose the city’s destructive economic narrative, while providing a renewed sense of place identity for the people. This design-led thesis investigation argues that the seemingly innocuous icons of commercial industry, such as billboards, ATM machines, commercial facades, and shopping trolleys, are intended to act as lures to encourage people to spend money; ultimately, these urban and architectural lures can contribute to economic devastation. The aim of this investigation is to repurpose abandoned fragments of capitalist infrastructure in ways that can help to unveil new possibilities for a disrupted community and enhance their awareness of what led to the urban disruption. The thesis proposes to achieve this research aim by exploring three principal research objectives: 1) to assimilate and re-contextualise disconnected urban fragments into new architectural interventions; 2) to anthropomorphise these new interventions so that they are recognisable as architectural ‘inhabitants’, the storytellers of the urban context; and 3) to curate these new architectural interventions in ways that enable a community-scale allegorical and didactic experience to be recognised.
Part 1 of a video contributed by Henry Allison, a participant in the Understanding Place research project. The video has the description "Henry Allison talks about his experiences at the brewery on St Asaph Street during the earthquakes, and about the architecture that was lost in the central city".
A photograph of a vacant site on the corner of Manchester Street and Gloucester Street. This is to be the location of a large-scale sculpture titled Altitude, which is part of LUXCITY.
A photograph of a vacant site on Press Lane next to the Press building. The site is to be the location of Atmosphere, a large-scale installation which is part of LUXCITY.
A photograph of a vacant site on Press Lane next to the Press building. The site is to be the location of Atmosphere, a large-scale installation which is part of LUXCITY.
A photograph of people at the Pavilions & Lighting Devices market at LUXCITY, taken from inside one of the temporary installations. A large-scale hanging sculpture Altitude can be seen illuminated in the distance.
A photograph of one of the creators of the Pavilions & Lighting Devices market standing with her constructed installation on the corner of Manchester Street and Gloucester Street. The market is part of LUXCITY.
A photograph of a vacant site on Gloucester Street next to Cathedral Junction. The site is to be the location for 'Sound Cone', a performance space which is part of LUXCITY.
A photograph of vacant sites on either side of Gloucester Street. Across the road in the distance, students are installing In Your Face, which is part of LUXCITY.
A photograph of a fenced-off vacant site on Gloucester Street. The site is to be the location for Silhouette Carnival, a large-scale installation which is part of LUXCITY.
A photograph of the illuminated Silhouette Carnival installation at on Gloucester Street. Part of In Your Face can also be seen on the left. The installations are part of LUXCITY.
A photograph of vacant sites on either side of Gloucester Street. Across the road in the distance, students are installing In Your Face, which is part of LUXCITY.
A photograph of a fenced-off vacant site on Gloucester Street. The site is to be the location for Silhouette Carnival, a large-scale installation which is part of LUXCITY.
A photograph of a vacant site on the corner of Gloucester Street and Manchester Street. The site is to be the location of Pavilions & Lighting Devices, an installation which is part of LUXCITY.
A photograph of a vacant site on the corner of Gloucester Street and Manchester Street. The site is to be the location of Pavilions & Lighting Devices, an installation which is part of LUXCITY.
A photograph of a vacant site on the corner of Gloucester Street and Manchester Street. The site is to be the location of Pavilions & Lighting Devices, an installation which is part of LUXCITY.
A photograph of people walking beneath a temporary sculpture titled Illuminate, on a vacant site on Worcester Street. The sculpture was created by students from Unitec's Architecture department for Canterbury Tales - a carnivalesque procession which was the main event of FESTA 2013.
A photograph of a temporary sculpture titled Illuminate being installed on a vacant site on Worcester Street. The sculpture was created by students from Unitec's Architecture department for Canterbury Tales - a carnivalesque procession which was the main event of FESTA 2013.
A photograph of a temporary sculpture titled Illuminate being installed on a vacant site on Worcester Street. The sculpture was created by students from Unitec's Architecture department for Canterbury Tales - a carnivalesque procession which was the main event of FESTA 2013.
A photograph of people looking at a temporary sculpture titled Illuminate, on a vacant site on Worcester Street. The sculpture was created by students from Unitec's Architecture department for Canterbury Tales - a carnivalesque procession which was the main event of FESTA 2013.