Re Christchurch Cathedral: an investigation towards a new Christchurch Cathedral

Abstract

On the 2nd of March 2012 it was announced that the Anglican Christchurch Cathedral was to be demolished due to severe earthquake damage. The Christchurch Cathedral has stood at the centre of Christchurch City for over 130 years and was held to be the ‘heart’ and ‘icon’ of the City. The Cathedral was constructed soon after Christchurch’s settlement with its architecture and urban presence reflecting imported, utopian ideals from the British Empire that was intended to be the central influence to the developing colony.

The demolition of Christchurch Cathedral provides a rare opportunity for Christchurch and New Zealand to create a new, significant, exemplary architecture for a city under major reconstruction. This research investigates this exciting opportunity and proposes a new cathedral design that is sensitive to the past but also looks towards the future speaking of destruction, challenge, identity and reconstruction. The new design does this specifically by testing influence and identity through the original cathedral fabric and associated gothic principles. These influences are re-read, re-interpreted and cannibalised through manual processes such as drawing and modelling.These manual processes allow a critical dialogue between influence and design which is constantly challenged and refined to create a grounded yet original architectural response for the new cathedral.

The Christchurch Cathedral has fallen along with the city around it, over 50% of the buildings in Christchurch CBD have been or will be demolished. The new cathedral will, like its predecessor, set a standard of architecture to aspire to during times of change and reconstruction. It proposes a new, dynamic architecture for Christchurch that provides urban focus, local identity and clarity in a time of radical change and reconstruction.