Thursday, 29 April 2021, 2:11 pm
Explore the nooks and crannies of Jack, James, Ernest,
Beatrice and parts of the original city campus including the
new ‘Old Chemistry’, as the 147-year-old University of
Canterbury (UC) opens its architecturally designed doors for
Open Christchurch weekend, 15-16 May.
Open
Christchurch is a one-weekend-only festival of exceptional
architecture. It’s for everyone to experience great
building design from the inside, for free.
Jack Erskine
building (UC Ilam campus)
ARCHITECT:
Architectus, Cook Hitchcock Sargeson & Perry Royal,
1994
This refined, cellular structure is a
contemporary salute to modernist architectural history. It
was designed to house the University of Canterbury’s
Gerard Smyth/Frank Film
Original Christchurch Town Hall architect Sir Miles Warren tours the restored Christchurch Town Hall ahead of its reopening. (Video first published February 2019) There will also be guided tours, children’s workshops, expert tours, guided walks, and exhibitions. The festival is being run by Te Pūtahi – the Centre for Architecture and City Making, a non-profit independent group formed after the earthquakes. Director Jessica Halliday said the festival weekend would be a celebration of the city’s architecture and organisers hoped the event would have “something for everyone”.
Supplied/Stuff
College House hall of residence in Ilam.
MEDIAWORKS
This high-end build on Grand Designs NZ was one of the most talked-about projects of the last series. Designed by architect Michael O’Sullivan, the house has a long, curved form, and is clad completely in copper.
What was probably the most exciting build on
Grand Designs NZ last year will be open to the public on Saturday, May 15, 2021.
The Cass Bay copper house near Lyttelton, designed by architect Michael O Sullivan, was a somewhat controversial build, due to its strong, sculptural form and copper cladding and roofing. But it received the highest praise possible by
Grand Designs presenter Chris Moller who gave O’Sullivan the ultimate accolade, comparing him to legendary greats Frank Lloyd Wright and Alvar Aalto.
DAVID WALKER/The Press
Students at Waimairi School hit the dance floor at the Dance-o-Mat in Gloucester St to bust some moves. (Video first published in July 2015) Initially the Transitional was made up of like-minded gardeners and artists spontaneously coming together for modest and temporary projects on suddenly vacant land. They were mostly in their 20s and 30s, well-educated, artistic, and voluntary. But they were good at getting help – anyone got 3000 pallets and the skills to turn them into a fully consented building with power, toilets and a liquor licence? Later, they formalised into charities with boards of directors and fundraisers.