
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 an installation that forms part of the '60 Lights Market' at the LUXCITY event. Coordinators: Jeongbin Ok, Tiago Rorke, Jonathan Coates; student: Tom Hall
A photograph of crowds at the LUXCITY event. The photograph shows an installation on Worcester Street, with the new Press building in the background. The installation is titled "Murmur".
A photograph of an installation on the corner of Gloucester Street and Colombo Street. The installation is titled "Etch-a-Sketch", and is part of the LUXCITY event.
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.
Wellington is located on a fault line which will inevitably, one day be impacted by a big earthquake. Due to where this fault line geographically sits, the central city and southern suburbs may be cut off from the rest of the region, effectively making these areas an ‘island’. This issue has absorbed a lot of attention, in particular at a large scale by many different fields: civil engineering, architecture, infrastructure planning & design, policymaking. Due to heightened awareness, and evolved school of practice, contemporary landscape architects deal with post-disaster design – Christchurch, NZ has seen this. A number of landscape architects work with nature, following increased application of ecological urbanism, and natural systems thinking, most notably at larger scales. To create parks that are designed to flood, or implement projects to protect shorelines. A form of resilience less often considered is how design for the small scale - people’s 1:1 relationship with their immediate context in exterior space - can be influential in forming a resilient response to the catastrophe of a major earthquake. This thesis intends to provide a response to address the shift of scales, as a paradigm for preparation and recovery. After a large-scale earthquake, state and civic policies and agencies may or subsequentially not go into action. The most important thinking and acting will be what happens in the minds, and the immediate needs, of each and every person; and how they act communally. This is considered in general social terms in state and civic education programmes of civil defence, for example, but much less considered in how the physical design of the actual spaces we inhabit day-to-day can educate us to be mentally prepared to help each other survive a catastrophe. Specifically, the identification of design of typologies can provide these educative functions. Typology inherently a physical form or manipulation of a generic and substantial prototype applicable in contexts is something that exists in the mind. Working with the physical and social appearance and experience of typologies can also/will change people’s minds. Socially, and economically driven, the community-building power of community gardening is well-proven and documented, and a noticeably large part of contemporary landscape architecture. The designs of this thesis will focus on community gardening specifically to form typologies of resilience preparation and response to disaster. The foundation will remain at the small scale of the local community. The specific question this thesis poses: Can we design local typologies in landscape architecture to integrate community gardens, with public space by preparing for and acting as recovery from a disaster?
This topic was chosen in response to the devastation caused to Cathedral Square, Christchurch, New Zealand following earthquakes in 2010 and 2011. Working amongst the demolition bought to attention questions about how to re-conceive the square within the rebuilt city. In particular, it raised questions as to how a central square could be better integrated and experienced as a contemporary addition to Christchurch city. This thesis seeks to investigate the ways in which central squares can be better integrated with the contemporary city and how New Urbanist design principles can contribute toward this union. The research principally focuses on the physical and spatial integration of the square with the contemporary city. A drawing-based analysis of select precedent case studies helped to determine early on that overall integration of the contemporary square could be attributed to several interdependent criteria. The detailed studies are supplemented further with literature-based research that narrowed the criteria to five integrative properties. These are: identity, scale and proportion, use, connectivity and natural landscape. These were synthesised, in part, from the integrative New Urbanist movement and the emerging integrative side of the more contemporary Post Urbanist movement. The literature-based research revealed that a more inclusive approach toward New Urbanist and Post Urbanist design methodologies may also produce a more integrated and contemporary square. Three design case studies, using the redesign of Cathedral Square, were undertaken to test this hypothesis. The case studies found that overall, integration was reliant on a harmonious balance between the five integrative properties, concluding that squares can be better integrated with the contemporary city. Further testing of the third concept, which embraced an allied New Urbanist / Post Urbanist approach to design, found that New Urbanism was limited in its contribution toward the integration of the square.
At the conclusion of the 2010 and 2011 Canterbury earthquakes more than 5100 homes had been deemed unsafe for habitation. The land and buildings of these were labelled “red zoned” and are too badly damaged for remediation. These homes have been demolished or are destined for demolition. To assist the red zone population to relocate, central government have offered to ‘buy out’ home owners at the Governmental Value (GV) that was last reviewed in 2007. While generous in the economic context at the time, the area affected was the lowest value land and housing in Christchurch and so there is a capital shortfall between the 2007 property value and the cost of relocating to more expensive properties. This shortfall is made worse by increasing present day values since the earthquakes. Red zone residents have had to relocate to the far North and Western extremities of Christchurch, and some chose to move even further to neighbouring towns or cities. The eastern areas and commercial centres close to the red zone are affected as well. They have lost critical mass which has negatively impacted businesses in the catchments of the Red Zone. This thesis aims to repopulate the suburbs most affected by the abandonment of the red zone houses. Because of the relative scarcity of sound building sites in the East and to introduce affordability to these houses, an alternative method of development is required than the existing low density suburban model. Smart medium density design will be tested as an affordable and appropriate means of living. Existing knowledge in this field will be reviewed, an analysis of what East Christchurch’s key characteristics are will occur, and an examination of built works and site investigations will also be conducted. The research finds that at housing densities of 40 units per hectare, the spatial, vehicle, aesthetic needs of East Christchurch can be accommodated. Centralising development is also found to offer better lifestyle choices than the isolated suburbs at the edges of Christchurch, to be more efficient using existing infrastructure, and to place less reliance on cars. Stronger communities are formed from the outset and for a full range of demographics. Eastern affordable housing options are realised and Christchurch’s ever expanding suburban tendencies are addressed. East Christchurch presently displays a gaping scar of devastated houses that ‘The New Eastside’ provides a bandage and a cure for. Displaced and dispossessed Christchurch residents can be re-housed within a new heart for East Christchurch.
<b>Ōtautahi-Christchurch faces the future in an enviable position. Compared to other New Zealand cities Christchurch has lower housing costs, less congestion, and a brand-new central city emerging from the rubble of the 2011 earthquakes. ‘Room to Breathe: designing a framework for medium density housing (MDH) in Ōtautahi-Christchurch’ seeks to answer the timely question how can medium density housing assist Ōtautahi-Christchurch to respond to growth in a way that supports a well-functioning urban environment? Using research by design, the argument is made that MDH can be used to support a safe, accessible, and connected urban environment that fosters community, while retaining a level of privacy. This is achieved through designing a neighbourhood concept addressing 3 morphological scales- macro- the city; meso- the neighbourhood; and micro- the home and street. The scales are used to inform a design framework for MDH specific to Ōtautahi-Christchurch, presenting a typological concept that takes full advantage of the benefits higher density living has to offer.</b> Room to Breathe proposes repurposing underutilised areas surrounding existing mass transit infrastructure to provide a concentrated populous who do not solely rely on private vehicles for transport. By considering all morphological scales Room to Breathe provides one suggestion on how MDH could become accepted as part of a well-functioning urban environment.
New Zealand has a housing crisis. High land prices and high construction costs have all contributed to unaffordable housing. Additionally, the New Zealand dream of the "quarter acre section" lifestyle that has encouraged urban sprawl throughout our major cities with increasingly unsustainable services, transport and road costs. New and exciting housing options need to be explored for urban areas. Christchurch is a city in New Zealand where urban sprawl has always been prevalent. In the wake of the 2010/2011 earthquakes sprawl increased further, relocating large suburban areas yet further away from the city centre. This has caused a greater reliance on cars, and a slower revival to the city. Historically there is an aversion to higher density living. Perceived desirability is a large factor. The medium to high density solutions produced thus far have little regard for the concept of "home", with the use of substandard materials, and monotonous and repetitive design, and essentially falling short of addressing the needs of New Zealand's increasing population. "A Home with a View" looks to address the needs of New Zealanders and Christchurch, through the individual tower-house within an overarching tower-housing neighbourhood development. The design as research thesis develops a medium density tower-housing neighbourhood as a mini city-scape, through the exploration of the tower-house as an intimate space to live and observe from. Tower-housing has the potential to create a delightful, lively neighbourhood environment that contributes to quirky, new, and exciting housing options for New Zealand. The tower-house creates desire through unconventional lifestyle and highlights engaging solutions to an individual vertical housing type.
A photograph of people walking past the Pavilions & Lighting Devices market at LUXCITY, situated on the corner of Manchester Street and Gloucester Street. A large-scale hanging sculpture titled Altitude can be seen illuminated in the distance.
A photograph of people walking past the LUXCITY Pavilions & Lighting Devices market, situated on the corner of Manchester Street and Gloucester Street. A large-scale hanging sculpture Altitude can be seen illuminated in the distance.
A photograph of a vacant site on the corner of Gloucester Street and Colombo Street. The site is to be the location of In Your Face, a large-scale installation which is part of LUXCITY.