Transitional Christchurch - Public Art

So as you are all probably well aware I am doing my planning thesis on the transitional temporary uses that have happened in Christchurch in response to the earthquake and  in the last couple of weeks, I actually got to go and experience Christchurch and talk to some of the key people involved in pushing the boundaries of temporary and experimentation for Christchurch. It was awesome. The creativity in a city that is facing a long and slow recovery is astounding, and the public art in the city is of an amazing quality and content. So seeing as I have quite a few pictures and quite a few thoughts on transitional Christchurch I thought I would dedicate this post to the amazing public art I saw during my visit. 

Kaleidoscope Wall near Re:Start Mall

This "kaleidoscope" piece had the most amazing colours and was located on a wall near the Re:Start Mall (where I spent way too much time and money!). This piece really picked up the area, and was a huge change from the traditionally grey city centre that Christchurch had pre-earthquakes. 

Freak Container in the Re:Start Mall

The personalisation on some of the shipping containers actually in the Re:Start Mall was also amazing, this "freak container" near the amazing food truck area was one of my favourites. 

Portrait on the currently vacant Art Gallery

This large portrait is on the wall of what was previously the Art Gallery, but now remains unused. Also outside this art gallery is one of my particular favourite pieces...

The Gnomes

The giant, silver gnomes! What could be better then those two gnomes standing guard. I also really loved the "It's Coming Down" sculpture pictured below, which is actually 3m tall on the roof of a still standing building. 

It's Coming Down Sculpture

So that is all I have for you for now, even though the amazing public art in Christchurch appeared to be endless! I am flat out with work and uni at the moment but I will post again soon on the great transitional streetscapes and transitional urban design/architecture that has developed in Christchurch's Central City. 

The Creative Christchurch Transition

Some of you may know that the original purpose of this blog was to aid in helping me right my honours thesis for my town planning degree, and although I have been pretty side tracked by other cool projects here - I have still been busy working on my thesis in the background. So I thought seeing as it is already June (!!!) and six months have flown past, I would create a little update (okay, it was originally meant to be an info-graphic but my skills just aren't there yet!) on the key points of my thesis below. 

I leave for Christchurch on the 25th to conduct interviews with some pretty cool people so I can start the data analysis part of the thesis  and have this whole project completed by the end of October! If you are from Christchurch and have had first hand involvement with these temporary projects I would be stoked if you got in contact either here or via twitter and if you have 5 minutes, can fill out my survey here: http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/VG6FBT7. It will be super appreciated. 

When A City Falls...

Last night for the two year anniversary of the devastating February 22nd Christchurch Earthquake I watched the documentary on the Earthquakes "When a City Falls" on SBS. Watching this documentary really hit home for me how great an impact the earthquakes have had on Christchurch and will continue to have on shaping the city centre for the future. What struck me most in this documentary was not only the huge gaping holes in the city where my favourite places and landmarks used to be but the continuing sense of kindness and humour seen throughout the community. 

Demolishing the Cathedral from here (sorry I couldn't find a better link)

Despite little concrete rebuild being completed, even two years down the road from the initial destruction, it would be easy to lose spirit and simple let the inner city deteriorate. This is why I am so excited by the work of Gap Filler, to ensure those empty spaces are never really empty spaces but places of excitement and intrigue (instead of just parking lots for cars that are not even there). This I think is a key element for building community resilience and ensuring people dont just forget about the inner city and become more and more entrenched in the suburbs. I am looking at making my planning thesis based around exactly how this community resilience can be achieved through the creative community action enabled by Gap Filler, so stay tuned because I will be sure to keep you updated with what I find out! 

Urban Change Maker - Ryan Reynolds

One of the original reasons I decided that my future was in urban design and not city planning was based on Ryan Reynolds and his "Gap Filler" project for Christchurch post earthquake damages. In response to the devastation and large number of vacant spaces left in Inner City Christchurch post earthquake, Gap Filler make it their mission to temporarily activate these spaces with creative and innovative community uses. Ryan Reynolds, whose inspirational TEDxChCh talk can be viewed here (Coralie Winn also deserves a mention for her talk here).  

Dance-O-Mat in use via Gap Filler

Projects such as "Dance-O-Mat", a coin operated washing machine jukebox, embody the principles of Gap filler; community engagement, experimentation, leadership, creativity, resourcefulness and collaboration. This project was such a huge success that it was recently reinstated due to community demand - a true sign of a great community project. Other projects have also been a huge success and inspiration, including the recent "Summer Pallet Pavilion", a project that provides a small to medium sized community venue built by the community itself. 

Pallet Pavilion Concept Design via Gap Filler

 Keeping a city alive and vibrant in the face of huge devastation is a sizeable task to undertake and one that only a true urban change maker would be behind. I say everyone should key an eye out for what Gap Filler help to implement next, I know I am intrigued. 

Cardboard Houses

I am currently reading "The Happiness Project" by Gretchen Rubin (because Kikki K did a collaboration and sometimes you can judge a book by its cover) and one of her tasks was to spend a little bit of time each day working on her blog. And so, I have decided to dedicate myself to doing the same, to stop this blog being a dream and to do the work to make it a reality. 

So, my very first thought was that I should write a post about something that really excites me and at the moment that is the work of Japanese architect Shigeru Ban. Luckily (and to my excitement) Shigeru Ban has contributed work to the rebuilding efforts in Christchurch, by designing a cardboard cathedral to replace one that regrettably had to be demolished. This cathedral, pictured below, uses the humble cardboard tube as it's main structural support elements. 

Model of the cardboard cathedral from Inhabitat.com

The coolest thing about this design is that it can be quickly assembled to allow Christchurch to resume life in the inner city and it can remain indefinitely until it is taken down and the parts are reused in another project. This work really highlights a new era in the realm of sustainable building design and development, that not only fills a need for buildings in the present but also accounts for the future of what is so called "temporary" architecture. Not only is this building sustainable, I am also highly attracted to the simple geometric design and the idea that the stained glass windows can be created by local artists which really helps connect the project with the city and provide a sense of ownership. 

Shigeru Ban has done countless other amazing projects and has fast become my hero. Inhabitat.com has featured a number of other projects which are definitely worth taking a look at if your interested in architecture, design and sustainability. 

The Process of Temporary Urban Design

What first got me excited about the idea of temporary urban design is the diagram below by Rick Agnes which was discussed on the Gehl cities for people blog in relation to the processes currently being implemented in Christchurch. As a concept it has only evolved relatively recently in response to a number of factors (e.g. natural disasters and the GFC) and really incorporates those intermediate, unplanned uses that can be put in place immediately in empty spaces throughout the city.  

The process of Temporary Urban Design @ Gehl Cities for People Blog

For the purpose of this blog I want to look at temporary urban design in terms of achieving a number of goals, namely; 

• Increasing activation and community involvement within our cities 
• Rebuilding a sense of community and bringing people back into the city after damaging natural disasters 
• Allowing for "unplanned", intermediate use of undeveloped land within a city 
• Creating unique uses which bring fun back into the urban realm 

So this basis leads us to the fun part from now on, looking at different temporary urban design that has been put in place worldwide, what it has achieved and in some cases even future ideas for temporary urban design! 

P.S. I promise this will start getting more colour and interest on the blog and I am working on learning my HTML to make the template more exciting!