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Design Challenge sites announced

Friday 1 July 2011, 4:42PM

By Christchurch City Council

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From left Phil Shaw, Michelle Flanagan, Mike Stevenson and John Marsh from Team ADNZ1.
From left Phil Shaw, Michelle Flanagan, Mike Stevenson and John Marsh from Team ADNZ1. Credit: Christchurch City Council
From left Neo-Metro, Joseph Hampton, Stephen Hogg, Eion Hudson, Susanna Lundberg, Nat Miller and Fabricio Fernandes.
From left Neo-Metro, Joseph Hampton, Stephen Hogg, Eion Hudson, Susanna Lundberg, Nat Miller and Fabricio Fernandes. Credit: Christchurch City Council
From left Tim Mote, Roger Dennis and Bruce Curtain from team ARUP-OPUS 2.
From left Tim Mote, Roger Dennis and Bruce Curtain from team ARUP-OPUS 2. Credit: Christchurch City Council

CHRISTCHURCH

The five Central City sites to be redesigned by more than 100 local and international architects and designers were announced this morning.

The four sites within the Red Zone include the Cathedral Square and BNZ Building; 160 Gloucester Street; the Orion NZ Building at 203 Gloucester Street; and 90 Armagh Street, including the Avon River and Victoria Square. The fifth site, which sits outside the Red Zone, is the former Christchurch Women's Hospital at 885 Colombo Street.

Central City Plan Project Sponsor Mike Theelen says the project briefs for each site include the history of the area and guidelines for what is required in the future, including common themes that have come from the people of Christchurch through Share an Idea.

"We want the participants to have plenty of room for creativity, but we also want to guide them so the outcomes will be tangible examples of what parts of the Central City could look like in the future.

"It might be hard for people to be excited about the Central City Plan we're developing when we won't see the full fruits of it for another 10 to 20 years. This is a chance for us to take a sneak peek at what things could look and be like."

One representative from each team will head into the Central City at noon today for a site visit where they will assess the surrounding area of their site, take photos and start initial planning for their concepts.

Teams were given their briefs at Lincoln University this morning and will stay out there for the next 48 hours, day and night, until their projects are ready to be handed in for judging at noon on Sunday.

Before receiving their briefs, the teams were addressed by Sir Richard Leese, a Manchester City Councillor who oversaw the 10-year regeneration of the city after the IRA bomb of 1996, via video conference from the UK.

Sir Richard talked about the impact of the IRA bomb and its immediate aftermath and the process that followed to re-build Manchester Central City and offered practical lessons for those tasked with rebuilding Christchurch.

Roving experts will be present throughout the Challenge as well as staff working on the draft Central City Plan.

There are 15 teams registered in the Challenge, with seven people in each including engineers, urban designers, architects and landscape architects, as well as one student on each team.

The winning team will be presented the Supreme Award at an Awards Ceremony on Sunday evening. Each participant within the winning team will receive two nights accommodation for four people at Peppers Bluewater Resort in Tekapo. The student from the winning team will win a trip to Melbourne to take part in the City's Landscape Urbanism Three Day Design Challenge from 25 to 30 July. The Melbourne event has helped inspire the Christchurch one taking place this weekend.