A video of a presentation by Haydn Read, Programme Director of Smart City Coalition, at the 2016 Seismics in the City Conference. The presentation is titled, "Smart City/Choice City".The abstract for the presentation reads, "'We want to get to the point where people can get amazing information in real-time that helps them make choices about where to swim or what road to take' (Vicki Buck, Deputy Mayor of Christchurch). Real time information and feedback via the Internet of Things. The CCC is now part of Land Information New Zealand's (LINZ) Smart City coalition which aims to test the value of smart city concepts through a series of projects in Christchurch, Auckland, and Wellington."Note that due to technical issues, the final part of this presentation was not recorded.
Three men chat in a pub. One of them reads a newspaper article about the Mayor of Christchurch, Bob Parker, who commented that he was scared of earthquakes when in Wellington. All three drinkers would rather be in Wellington than trapped beside Bob Parker at a dinner table. Context: Christchurch's Mayor has told the Emergency Management Conference he's scared to be in Wellington. He gave graphic descriptions of the Christchurch earthquakes, getting people to bang on the tables for 45 seconds so they could see what it felt like. Quantity: 1 digital cartoon(s).
A photograph of members of the Wellington Emergency Management Office Emergency Response Team sitting outside City Care on Antigua Street. The City Care building has been blocked off with wire fencing and police tape.
Christchurch employers have been in Wellington today signing up tradespeople to help rebuild the earthquake damaged city.
A photograph of members of the Wellington Emergency Management Office Emergency Response Team filling out paperwork outside City Care on Antigua Street. The City Care building has been blocked off with wire fencing and police tape.
A photograph of members of the Wellington Emergency Management Office Emergency Response Team filling out paperwork outside City Care on Antigua Street. The City Care building has been blocked off with wire fencing and police tape.
A photograph of liquefaction inside a building in the Christchurch central city.
A photograph of USAR codes spray-painted on the side of a building in the Christchurch central city.
A photograph of a whiteboard in the Christchurch City Council Command Unit in Latimer Square. The whiteboard includes information about each USAR team working in Christchurch after the 22 February 2011 earthquake.
A photograph of emergency tape cordoning off Hereford Street near the end of the Christchurch City Council building. Tape has also been draped around St Elmo Courts as a cordon.
A photograph of a collapsed house in the Christchurch central city. USAR codes have been spray painted on the fence in front.
A photograph of members of the Wellington Emergency Management Office Emergency Response Team breaking into a clinic in the Christchurch city centre.
A photograph of members of the Wellington Emergency Management Office Emergency Response Team standing in a car park in the Christchurch city centre.
The devastation caused by the Christchurch earthquake has other cities reviewing how well they are prepared for a similar shake.
The devastation caused by the Christchurch earthquake has other cities reviewing how well they are prepared for a similar shake.
A photograph of a map of the Christchurch central city. Greed, red, and yellow dots have been used to indicate the status of inspected buildings
A photograph taken inside an office in the Christchurch central city. Documents have fallen off many of the desks and are lying on the floor.
A photograph of volunteers from the Wellington Emergency Management Office standing on a pile of bricks from an earthquake-damaged building in the Christchurch central city.
A photograph of volunteers from the Wellington Emergency Management Office standing on a pile of bricks from an earthquake-damaged building in the Christchurch central city.
In the late 1960s the Wellington City Council surveyed all the commercial buildings in the city and marked nearly 200 as earthquake prone. The owners were given 15 years to either strengthen or demolish their buildings. The end result was mass demolition throughout the seventies and eighties.¹ Prompted by the Christchurch earthquakes, once again the council has published a list of over 630 earthquake prone buildings that need to be strengthened or demolished by 2030.²Of these earthquake prone buildings, the majority were built between 1880 and 1930, with 125 buildings appearing on the Wellington City Council Heritage Building List.³ This list accounts for a significant proportion of character buildings in the city. There is a danger that the aesthetic integrity of our city will be further damaged due to the urgent need to strengthen these buildings. Many of the building owners are resistant because of the high cost. By adapting these buildings to house co-workspaces, we can gain more than just the retention of the building’s heritage. The seismic upgrade provides the opportunity for the office space to be redesigned to suit changes in the ways we work. Through a design-based research approach this thesis proposes a framework that clarifies the process of adapting Wellington’s earthquake prone heritage buildings to accommodate co-working. This framework deals with the key concepts of program, structure and heritage. The framework is tested on one of Wellington’s earthquake prone heritage buildings, the Wellington Working Men’s Club, in order to demonstrate what can be gained from this strengthening process. ¹ Reid, J., “Hometown Boomtown,” in NZ On Screen (Wellington, 1983). ² Wellington City Council, List of Earthquake Prone Buildings as at 06/03/2017. (Wellington: Absolutely Positively Wellington. 2017). ³ ibid.
A photograph of Fred Mecoy, the Wellington City Council's Emergency Preparedness Manager, speaking at a graduation ceremony for more than 40 new civil defence volunteers in the Wellington Town Hall. Members of the Wellington Emergency Management Office team were presented certificates of appreciation during this event. The certificates were presented to the members to honour their involvement in the emergency response to the 22 February 2011 earthquakes in Christchurch.
A photograph of a hallway in a building in the Christchurch city centre. Concrete blocks and other rubble fill the stairwell on the left-hand side of the hallway.
A photograph of a member of the Wellington Emergency Management Office Emergency Response Team using a crowbar to open the door of a building in the Christchurch central city.
A photograph of members of the Wellington Emergency Management Office Emergency Response Team outside a building in the Christchurch city centre. One of the men is holding bolt cutters.
A photograph of a map of Christchurch. The city has been divided into sections. Green, red, and yellow dots have been used to indicate the status of inspected buildings.
A photograph of a member of the Wellington Emergency Management Office Emergency Response Team using a sledgehammer to break open the window of a building in the Christchurch central city.
A photograph of the earthquake damage to a house in the Christchurch central city. The bricks walls of the building have collapsed and the bricks have spilt into the garden.
Two people stare at a demolition scene. The man thinks there must have been an earthquake but the woman advises him that it was the city council. Refers to plans to demolish three buildings in Wellington's Willis Street without public consultation. The buildings due for demolition are owned by Singaporean Grand Complex Properties, which plans eventually to build a multimillion-dollar high-rise on the site, reports stuff.co.nz. The Canterbury earthquake happened 4th September and as a result there has been a lot of discussion about the need to preserve historic buildings if at all possible. Quantity: 1 digital cartoon(s).
A photograph an Wellington Emergency Management Office Emergency Response Team standing next to car inside a building in the Christchurch city centre. The car is a 1968 Plymouth Road Runner Super Bee.
Christchurch was struck by a 6.3 magnitude earthquake on the 22 February 2011. The quake devastated the city, taking lives and causing widespread damage to the inner city and suburban homes. The central city lost over half its buildings and over 7000 homes were condemned throughout Christchurch. The loss of such a great number of homes has created the requirement for new housing to replace those that were lost. Many of which were located in the eastern, less affluent, suburbs. The response to the housing shortage is the planned creation of large scale subdivisions on the outskirts of the city. Whilst this provides the required housing it creates additional sprawl to a city that does not need it. The extension of Christchurch’s existing suburban sprawl puts pressure on roading and pushes residents further out of the city, creating a disconnection between them. Christchurch’s central city had a very small residential population prior to the earthquakes with very few options for dense inner city living. The proposed rebuild of the inner city calls for a new ‘dense, vibrant and diverse central hub’. Proposing the introduction of new residential units within the central city. However the placement of the low-rise housing in a key attribute of the rebuild, the eastern green ‘Frame’, diminishes its value as open green space. The proposed housing will also be restrictive in its target market and therefore the idea of a ‘vibrant’ inner city is difficult to achieve. This thesis acts as response to the planned rebuild of inner Christchurch. Proposing the creation of a model for inner city housing which provides an alternative option to the proposed housing and existing and ongoing suburban sprawl. The design options were explored through a design-led process were the options were critiqued and developed. The ‘final’ proposal is comprises of three tall towers, aptly named the Triple Towers, which condense the proposed low-rise housing from an 11000 square metre footprint to combined footprint of 1500 square metres. The result is an expansion of the publicly available green space along the proposed eastern frame of the city. The height of the project challenges the height restrictions and is provocative in its proposal and placement. The design explores the relationships between the occupants, the building, the ‘Frame’ and the central city. The project is discussed through an exploration of the architecture of Rem Koolhaas, Renzo Piano and Oscar Niemeyer. Rather than their architecture being taken as a direct influence on which the design is based the discussion revolves around how and why each piece of comparative architecture is relevant to the designs desired outcome.