A photograph of an empty site where a house has been demolished. The photograph is captioned by BeckerFraserPhotos, "Seabreeze Close, Bexley".
Photograph captioned by BeckerFraserPhotos, "A view of Selwyn Street with MP Jim Anderton's office to the left and an empty site to the right".
A photograph captioned by BeckerFraserPhotos, "Saint John the Baptist Anglican Church in Latimer Square. The empty site is where the church hall stood".
Photograph captioned by BeckerFraserPhotos, "Looking along Chester St West - there are already a number of empty sites and several more buildings due for demolition".
Photograph captioned by BeckerFraserPhotos, "A view looking from Poplar Lane across empty sites to High Street, Alice in Videoland on the left".
Photograph captioned by BeckerFraserPhotos, "A view looking from Poplar Lane across empty sites to High Street, Alice in Videoland on the left".
Photograph captioned by BeckerFraserPhotos, "A view looking from Poplar Lane across empty sites to High Street, Alice in Videoland on the left".
Photograph captioned by BeckerFraserPhotos, "A view looking from Poplar Lane across empty sites to High Street, Alice in Videoland on the left".
A photograph of a mural painted on wooden boards erected on an empty site in central Christchurch. The mural is part of Art Beat.
A photograph of a wooden cross erected on an empty site in Lyttelton. The cross is numbered 24, and is part of the Crux project.
A photograph of a wooden cross erected on an empty site in Lyttelton. The cross is numbered 42, and is part of the Crux project.
A photograph of a wooden cross erected on an empty site in Lyttelton. The cross is numbered 44, and is part of the Crux project.
A sign on the fence surrounding an empty site between St Asaph Street and Tuam Street. The sign reads, "Danger, your house has a red placard, do not enter".
A photograph captioned by BeckerFraserPhotos, "Moira Fraser standing near the intersection of Madras and Armagh Streets. In the background is a large and empty demolition site".
Photograph captioned by BeckerFraserPhotos, "The Grant Thornton building at 97 Cathedral Square, and the Government Life building, 69 Cathedral Square, with the empty sites of 53-57 Cathedral Square between".
Photograph captioned by BeckerFraserPhotos, "The Grant Thornton building at 97 Cathedral Square, and the Government Life building, 69 Cathedral Square, with the empty sites of 53-57 Cathedral Square between".
A photograph captioned by BeckerFraserPhotos, "A view looking east along Armagh Street, empty sites to the left and right. Road crew in the distance can be seen working on Madras Street".
Photograph captioned by BeckerFraserPhotos, "The view from the top of Alice in Videoland towards Poplar Lane, showing how little is left there. Twisted Hop had a 'make safe' status at the time of this picture, now changed to demolish".
A photograph of Wayne Youle's mural 'I Seem to Have Temporarily Misplaced My Sense of Humour' (2012). The photograph is captioned by BeckerFraserPhotos, "Art installation at an empty site on Colombo Street, Sydenham".
A photograph captioned by BeckerFraserPhotos, "A view of Saint John the Baptist Anglican Church in Latimer Square. The church hall to the right of the church has been demolished. The empty site in the foreground is where the Arrow International building was before demolition".
An aerial photograph of the Majestic Theatre on the corner of Lichfield and Manchester Street. The photograph has been captioned by BeckerFraserPhotos, "Cashel Street running across the top of the photograph from Manchester Street (just out of shot on the left of the photo) towards Madras Street. Avonmore House is now an empty site".
An aerial photograph captioned by BeckerFraserPhotos, "A view looking north-west over the central city towards Hagley Park. Hereford Street can be seen in the foreground, as well as Worcester Street running towards the the Christ Church Cathedral. The empty site of the Press Building and Warners hotel can also be seen".
This thesis revisits the topic of earthquake recovery in Christchurch City more than a decade after the Canterbury earthquakes. Despite promising visions of a community reconnected and a sustainable and liveable city, significant portions of the city’s core – the Red Zone – remain dilapidated and “eerily empty”. At the same time, new developments in other areas have proven to be alienated or underutilised. Currently, the Canterbury Earthquake Recovery Authority’s plans for the rebuilding highlight the delivery of more residential housing to re-populate the city centre. However, prevalent approaches to housing development in Christchurch are ineffective for building an inclusive and active community. Hence, the central inquiry of the thesis is how the development of housing complexes can revitalise the Red Zone within the Christchurch city centre. The inquiry has been carried out through a research-through-design methodology, recognising the importance of an in-depth investigation that is contextualised and combined with the intuition and embodied knowledge of the designer. The investigation focuses on a neglected site in the Red Zone in the heart of Christchurch city, with significant Victorian and Edwardian Baroque heritage buildings, including Odeon Theatre, Lawrie & Wilson Auctioneers, and Sol Square, owned by The Regional Council Environment Canterbury. The design inquiry argues, develops, and is carried through a place-assemblage lens to housing development for city recovery, which recognizes the significance of socially responsive architecture that explores urban renewal by forging connections within the social network. Therefore, place-assemblage criteria and methods for developing socially active and meaningful housing developments are identified. Firstly, this thesis argues that co-living housing models are more focused on people relations and collective identity than the dominant developer-driven housing rebuilds, as they prioritise conduits for interaction and shared social meaning and practices. Secondly, the adaptive reuse of derelict heritage structures is proposed to reinvigorate the urban fabric, as heritage is seen to be conceived as and from a social assemblage of people. The design is realised by the principles outlined in the ICOMOS charter, which involves incorporating the material histories of existing structures and preserving the intangible heritage of the site by ensuring the continuity of cultural practices. Lastly, design processes and methods are also vital for place-sensitive results, which pay attention to the site’s unique characteristics to engage with local stakeholders and communities. The research explores place-assemblage methods of photographic extraction, the drawing of story maps, precedent studies, assemblage maps, bricolages, and paper models, which show an assembly of layers that piece together the existing heritage, social conduits, urban commons and housing to conceptualise the social network within its place.