A vehicle that was smashed by fallen masonry from the Cathedral of the Blessed Sacrament. In the background, the broken building can be seen.
The Seido Karate Shibu building on Barbadoes Street. The top section of the building has been weather proofed with plywood where the masonry has fallen away and its side has been braced with timber.
The cross at the top of the Cathedral of the Blessed Sacrament, knocked off kilter by the earthquake.
A photograph of a painted building located on the corner of Barbadoes and Kilmore Street. The side of the building has significant damage. The paint displays an address for Piko in red and white. There is also street art depicting a bandaid, with a speech bubble pointing to it that says "You poor thing".
A photograph of a member of the Wellington Emergency Management Office Emergency Response Team walking past a pile of bricks. The bricks have been stacked on Barbadoes Street in front of a house.
A photograph of two members of the Wellington Emergency Management Office Emergency Response Team walking past a pile of bricks. The bricks have been stacked on Barbadoes Street in front of a house.
A photograph captioned by BeckerFraserPhotos, "The front of the Cathedral of the Blessed Sacrament. Security fencing has been placed around the building to restrict access".
A photograph captioned by BeckerFraserPhotos, "The front of the Cathedral of the Blessed Sacrament. Security fencing has been placed around the building to restrict access".
Damage to the Cathedral of the Blessed Sacrament. The upper part of the corner structure has collapsed, and the cross on the roof is on a lean.
Damage to the Cathedral of the Blessed Sacrament. The upper part of the corner structure has collapsed, and the cross on the roof is on a lean.
A photograph of the damaged Cathedral of the Blessed Sacrament. The tower on the south-west corner of the building has collapsed. Shipping containers support the far wall of the building.
A photograph of an excavator sitting outside the damaged Cathedral of the Blessed Sacrament. The tower on the south-west corner of the building has collapsed and the dome has been removed. Shipping containers support the far wall of the building.
A photograph of detail of the Cathedral of the Blessed Sacrament. The tower on the south-west corner has partly crumbled, leaving the inside space exposed. A door can be seen propped up against the interior wall.
Photograph captioned by BeckerFraserPhotos, "Avon Loop. Holiday Inn hotel at centre left. Oxford Terrace to the left of the Avon and Cambridge Terrace to the right of the Avon. Barbadoes Street Cemetery top and right".
Photograph captioned by BeckerFraserPhotos, "Avon Loop. Holiday Inn hotel at top left. Oxford Terrace to the left of the Avon and Cambridge Terrace to the right of the Avon. Barbadoes Street Cemetery at top right".
A cordon check-point at the corner of Barbadoes and Lichfield Streets. In the foreground, a sign reading "Warrant of fitness", advertising a nearby automotive shop, leans against the "Road closed" sign. Behind the cordon, a soldier sleeps on top of the cab of an army truck.
A photograph submitted by Raymond Morris to the QuakeStories website. The description reads, "Cathedral of the Blessed Sacrament, Barbadoes Street. The Cathedral was opened in 1905, the architect was Frank Petrie, and was designed in the Italian renaissance style as a basilica. It is not certain yet whether it will be reconstructed after the 2011 earthquakes.".
A photograph submitted by Raymond Morris to the QuakeStories website. The description reads, "The Provincial Hotel, corner Barbadoes and Cashel streets is one the buildings now missing after the 2011 earthquakes, paintings of others can be found on the artist Raymond Morris’s flickr site (http://www.flickr.com/photos/rayso180/sets/72157626939956494/)".
Heritage buildings are an important element of our urban environments, representing the hope and aspirations of a generation gone, reminding us of our achievements and our identity. When heritage buildings suffer damage, or fall into disrepair they are either met by one of two extremes; a bulldozer or painstaking repair. If the decision to conserve defeats the bulldozer, current heritage practice favours restoration into a mausoleum-type monument to yesteryear. But what if, rather than becoming a museum, these heritage buildings could live on and become a palimpsest of history? What if the damage was embraced and embodied in the repair? The Cathedral of the Blessed Sacrament on Barbadoes Street, Christchurch is the case study building for this thesis. Suffering damage in the Canterbury earthquakes of 2010 and 2011, the Cathedral sits in ruin waiting for decisions to be made around how it can be retained for future generations. This thesis will propose a reconstruction for the Cathedral through the analysis of precedent examples of reconstructing damaged heritage buildings and guided by a heritage framework proposed in this thesis. The employed process will be documented as an alternative method for reconstructing other damaged heritage buildings.