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Videos, NZ On Screen

This promotional travelogue, made for the Christchurch City Council, shows off the city and its environs. Filmed at a time when New Zealand’s post-war economy was booming as it continued its role as a farmyard for the “Old Country”, it depicts Christchurch as a prosperous city, confident in its green and pleasant self-image as a “better Britain” (as James Belich coined NZ’s relationship to England), and architecturally dominated by its cathedrals, churches and schools. Many of these buildings were severely damaged or destroyed in the earthquakes of 2010 and 2011.

Videos, NZ On Screen

In this episode of the influential NZ architecture series, dapper tour guide David Mitchell looks at the 'Christchurch Style'. He begins with the humble baches on Taylor's Mistake's cliffs, before focusing on the Euro-influenced brutalism of Miles Warren and the "flamboyant" practice of Peter Beaven (earthquake victims SBS House, and Lyttelton Tunnel's "fifth ship" are featured); and the cottage's modern descendent: Don Donnithorne's post-war home. Warren intriguingly compares his process designing Christchurch Town Hall with Jørn Utzon's Sydney Opera House.

Images, UC QuakeStudies

A digitally manipulated photograph looking through a broken window into a darkened room. Through windows opposite, an overgrown garden can be seen. The photographer comments, "This is a restaurant that was closed down and without any help the garden at the back has flourished".

Videos, UC QuakeStudies

A video of a press conference with Bishop Victoria Matthews in the Botanic Gardens about the plans for the earthquake-damaged ChristChurch Cathedral. Matthews announces that the cathedral will be deconstructed, allowing the safe retrieval of taonga and heritage items within the building.