Lost Property

Abstract

Four devastating earthquakes and countless aftershocks has transformed New Zealand’s oldest city to ruins. In the aftermath of the disaster much of Christchurch's historic building fabric has been erased. As the wrecking ball recedes and the builders move in, how will we remember the former city? Christchurch must reconstruct herself and her identity. The local church, local bank, and local corner store are three building typologies which were strong threads in the original fabric of our towns. These building blocks are of equal significance to the lauded monuments and civic structures. Not only did they represent the architectural ideals of their creators, they were also important markers of community function. Through population growth and technology the initial function and purpose of these structures has become void. In post-earthquake Christchurch these once important buildings were deemed unsuitable for preservation. As a result of their demolition, an element of fear has crept into the hearts of local people; that both their buildings and community ideals will be forgotten. To preserve these memories, concepts of ruins and second-hand exchange were explored and synthesized into a singular building. The intent of this resultant architecture, a junk shop, is that Christchurch would gain a physical reflection of the past which would continue memory. Replacing previous static attempts at memorialisation with an architecture that propagates physical ever-changing human traces. The ambition for the thesis outcome is that it would present an alternative precedent for the reconstruction of Christchurch.