Christchurch Architect

It strikes me that the terms of reference for the CERA earthquake memorial project almost entirely miss the point. http://cera.govt.nz/news/2014/site-confirmed-for-canterbury-earthquake-memorial-12-july-2014 Why are we limiting proposals to the location selected? The riverside site represents a number of quite profound social and architectural deficiencies and lost opportunities for any disaster memorial of international stature. The worst is[…]

  In May 2012, and again in December 2013, I had the privilege of working once more with Sir Miles Warren (I was an employee of his at Warren & Mahoney in the 90’s), and we prepared a model & some images to illustrate his proposed very low cost ($18m) strategy for reinstating the cathedral. In essence,[…]

Be warned, this article is something of a personal rant. I was advised by the Christchurch City Council recently that the processing of a Building Consent application I had lodged for a client could not proceed, because I had filled in a downloaded application form obtained from them in August 2011, when I should have[…]

As an urgent public service response to Christchurch’s recent devastating earthquakes, a good number of Christchurch’s Architects who feel passionately about the city, including some of its most respected and experienced practitioners, have for some months been volunteering their time to consider and work on strategies and ideas for the reconstruction of the central city.[…]

Christchurch Architects were put to the challenge recently, with a design competition to address the earthquake ravaged city centre. Starting at midday on 1st July 2011 and finishing an exhausting but exhilarating 48 hours later, 15 teams comprising over a hundred Architects, architectural designers, landscape architects, urban designers, engineers and students gathered together at Lincoln[…]

Just found some work we did in a joint submission with some landscapers for the Queen’s Wharf architectural competition in 2009. Our scheme disappeared without a trace of course (the first clue that something was going badly wrong!) and as it turned out the entire competition was a shambles – millions were spent by hundreds[…]

(source: http://www.nature.com/news/2010/100708/full/news.2010.342.html) Alla Katsnelson Stress has acquired a bad image as a contributor to disease, but a little stress may be no bad thing. Mice raised in a complex environment providing social interactions, opportunities to learn and increased physical activity are less likely to get cancer, and better at fighting it when they do, a[…]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qbXJJN9ZSFc What more can I say?     Paul King Architect | Christchurch | New Zealand | (03) 383 4592 | www.prime.net.nz

Horror stories about poor construction standards in many new homes have dominated the news in recent years. Popularly known as “leaky-building- syndrome “, this phenomenon has sent shock waves through the New Zealand  building industry and shivers down the spines of many potential new home buyers. These events have brought into question the advisability of[…]

Most of us take “sustainability” to be a pretty compelling and important objective, but what does this term really mean?, and what exactly is required to achieve it? Sadly, “sustainability” is rather an abused and emotionally loaded concept – with many different people using it to serve different and often quite contradictory agendas, and as[…]

Of course another even more feasible option might be to leave the site as a picturesque open air ruin &…

think Brasilia, people

now that I've read the article, yes managers should stick to managing people and situations, that's what they're trained for…

Dear sirs, I'd like to offer my 2c worth with regard to style, that is stylistic…

The iconic Christchurch Cathedral is the image that relaly lingers in my mind of this week's devastation. But I have…

Hi Dave - absolutely!. Only thing to bear in mind is that it is viewable by the public.

hi Paul you have offered this as a discussion site for relevant serious comment ex chatlist is that…

Hi Uli - sadly that is exactly what seems to be happening. All the internal interests within Council (planners, traffic…

If architects do not have the expertise who on earth does? To someone looking from the other side of the…

Thanks! There is certainly an amazing opportunity if all the 'special interests' don't overburden the process