Photograph captioned by BeckerFraserPhotos, "High Street with the remains of the Hotel Grand Chancellor and the Holiday Inn and Westpac building (both under demolition)".
A photograph captioned by BeckerFraserPhotos, "Materials salvaged from Our City, O-Tautahi on pallets out front".
A story submitted by Rosalee Jenkin to the QuakeStories website.
A story submitted by Tara Ridge to the QuakeStories website.
A photograph captioned by BeckerFraserPhotos, "The Octagon Live Restaurant, formerly the Trinity Congregational Church, with the recent damage to the Rose Window from the 23 December 2011 aftershock".
Photograph captioned by BeckerFraserPhotos, "Looking east along Worcester Street past the demolition site of the Press Building".
Photograph captioned by BeckerFraserPhotos, "Looking along Gloucester Street towards the Marque Hotel with the Novotel on the right. Demolition material is the Coachman".
A photograph captioned by BeckerFraserPhotos, "The Octagon Live Restaurant, formerly Trinity Congregational Church, on the corner of Manchester and Worcester Street. This was further damaged in the 23 December 2011 earthquake when a big piece of the rose window fell out".
Transcript of Andrea's earthquake story, captured by the UC QuakeBox project.
The "Lyttelton Review" newsletter for 29 August 2011, produced by the Lyttelton Harbour Information Centre.
An entry from Deb Robertson's blog for 29 June 2013 entitled, "What is cognitive dissonance??".
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?
Lyttelton First World War memorial
Photograph captioned by BeckerFraserPhotos, "St John the Baptist".
An entry from Jennifer Middendorf's blog for 19 March 2012 entitled, "Time to catch up".
A story submitted by Joanna Orwin to the QuakeStories website.
Photograph captioned by BeckerFraserPhotos, "St John the Baptist".
Photograph captioned by BeckerFraserPhotos, "St John the Baptist".
Photograph captioned by BeckerFraserPhotos, "St John the Baptist".
Photograph captioned by BeckerFraserPhotos, "St John the Baptist".
An aerial photograph captioned by BeckerFraserPhotos, "The central city looking east, with Latimer Square at the top".
A video of an interview with Alison Locke about the Elsie Locke Park in Christchurch which was created to honour her mother. Locke talks about finding out that the park will be replaced, her fears that other heritage sites in Christchurch will be lost, and her belief that her mother would have wanted the Centennial Swimming Pool to be saved. The park will be replaced with The Margaret Mahy Family Playground, which will include a mix of uniquely-designed playground equipment, recreational spaces, community gardens, art pieces, and water features.
Transcript of Steve's earthquake story, captured by the UC QuakeBox project.
Transcript of Adam Cawley's earthquake story, captured by the UC QuakeBox project.
Transcript of Owen Macintyre's earthquake story, captured by the UC QuakeBox project.
The "Lyttelton Review" newsletter for 27 June 2011, produced by the Lyttelton Harbour Information Centre.
An entry from Deb Robertson's blog for 8 August 2015 entitled, "Sociology of the City {part 1(4) Sociology 355}".The entry was downloaded on 2 November 2016.
An entry from Deb Robertson's blog for 20 February 2012 entitled, "Looking back...".
A video of a press conference with Anglican Bishop Victoria Matthews and Dean Peter Beck, about the interim plans for the earthquake-damaged ChristChurch Cathedral. In the press conference Matthews announces that the Cathedral will be deconsecrated, that parts of it will be demolished, and that the rest will be made safe. These measures will allow the recovery of artefacts and heritage items from the building.
Professor Jacky Bowring has been a consultant to both the Ministry for Culture and Heritage, and CERA for the process for the EQ Memorial, as well as for the Christchurch City Council from the early days of the Recovery Plan, when the section on 'Remembering the Earthquakes' was developed. It was one of those times when her areas of research and passion suddenly became very real.