Photograph captioned by BeckerFraserPhotos, "Historic Post Office in Cathedral Square from the site of the Regent Theatre (telephoto lens used)".
Photograph captioned by BeckerFraserPhotos, "Isaac House (aka National Bank) on the corner of Armagh and Colombo Streets".
A photograph captioned by BeckerFraserPhotos, "Provincial Council Chambers, Durham Street".
A photograph captioned by BeckerFraserPhotos, "Provincial Council Chambers, Durham Street".
A digitally manipulated image of a damaged wooden wall. The photographer comments, "And the walls came tumbling down".
A photograph captioned by BeckerFraserPhotos, "Provincial Council Chambers, Durham Street".
A photograph captioned by BeckerFraserPhotos, "Provincial Council Chambers, Durham Street".
A photograph captioned by BeckerFraserPhotos, "Workers at the Provincial Council Chambers, Durham Street".
Photograph captioned by BeckerFraserPhotos, "The Edmonds Clock on Oxford Terrace looks quite unlike itself, but at least it is being protected while it is repaired".
The southern side of the Christ Church Cathedral with boarded up windows and damage to the roof above both of the transepts. Damaged masonry has been piled on the ground in front and one of the spires has been removed and braced with steel in the foreground.
The demolition site of the Methodist Church on the corner of Colombo and Brougham Street in Sydenham. Wire fencing has been placed around the site with a sign that reads, "Property of the Sydenham Heritage Trust".
A video about the time capsule found in the foundations of the former Press Building in Cathedral Square. Heritage consultant Jenny May shows the contents of the time capsule, including several coins, newspaper articles, and messages. The capsule was left by the architects and the people working on the building, rather than the editors of The Press.
Photograph captioned by BeckerFraserPhotos, "The Cathedral of the Blessed Sacrament on Barbadoes Street, missing its distinctive green domes".
Photograph captioned by BeckerFraserPhotos, "Christ Church Cathedral with pallets of stone from the demolished tower ready to be stored".
Photograph captioned by BeckerFraserPhotos, "The digger is working on the remains of Gough House, with the fragile remains of the wooden heritage building Shands Emporium (one of Christchurch's oldest retail buildings) still standing on Hereford Street".
Photograph captioned by BeckerFraserPhotos, "Provincial Council Chambers viewed from Armagh Street".
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?
Photograph captioned by BeckerFraserPhotos, "Knox Church with the lights on at dusk showing the beautiful woodwork of the ceiling".
A photograph captioned by BeckerFraserPhotos, "The former convent on Exeter Street, Lyttelton".
A photograph captioned by BeckerFraserPhotos, "The former convent on Exeter Street, Lyttelton".
A photograph captioned by BeckerFraserPhotos, "The former convent on Exeter Street, Lyttelton".
A photograph captioned by BeckerFraserPhotos, "The former convent on Exeter Street, Lyttelton".
A photograph captioned by BeckerFraserPhotos, "The former convent on Exeter Street, Lyttelton".
A photograph captioned by BeckerFraserPhotos, "The former convent on Exeter Street, Lyttelton".
A photograph captioned by BeckerFraserPhotos, "The former convent on Exeter Street, Lyttelton".
A photograph captioned by BeckerFraserPhotos, "The former convent on Exeter Street, Lyttelton".
Photograph captioned by BeckerFraserPhotos, "The former Trinity Congregational Church, which was most recently known as Octagon Live, viewed from Manchester Street".
Notes and dried flowers on the cordon fence at the east end of the Re:Start mall. These express the public concerns and frustrations about the status of heritage buildings and the rebuild process.
The Cranmer Court demolition started today in Christchurch. The 1876 building was originally a Normal School and was in a derelict state in the early 1980s when it was rescued and converted into apartments. The heritage-listed building was red-stickered after the February 2011 earthquake.
An entry from Deb Robertson's blog for 3 August 2012 entitled, "Scrap Basket Quilt Number Six".