Wednesday, 27 April 2016

Five 'Tiny Huts' coming to New Brighton

Five small-scale, playful installations – named 'Tiny Huts' – will pop-up in various locations in New Brighton's town centre in time for the 2016/17 summer season.

Christchurch City Council, working in partnership with the New Brighton community, has launched a design competition seeking design ideas for the construction of five tiny huts.

'Tiny Huts' is a play on English sea-side beach huts, and the idea of a competition received overwhelming support from the local community when first proposed earlier this year. 'Tiny Huts', each measuring two metres square, are to be placed in New Brighton's town centre to liven up the seaside suburb's public places and showcase activities.

There are three main parts to this project: the competition to design a Tiny Hut which is open to everyone including students, designers, architects, artists and overseas entrants; the build sponsors who will make the winning designs a reality; and the community who will look after the tiny huts and who have already provided some ideas for how they would like to see the tiny huts used.

Carolyn Ingles, Head of Urban Design, Urban Regeneration & Heritage says, "The local community provided the inspiration for the types of community activities that could take place in and around a Tiny Hut, and people were not short on great ideas."

"Ideas include a wedding chapel, a puzzle room, an optical illusion and a reading room. We now have a clear understanding of what is important to New Brighton residents and what they would like to see in their centre. These ideas will help competition entrants focus on including a fun community use in their Tiny Hut designs."

"The five winning designs will each receive $2000 in prize money. We are looking for imaginative designs that pick up on the ideas from the community and reinterpret the idea of a beach hut – with a fresh and interesting purpose," says Ms Ingles.

The New Brighton Tiny Huts Design Competition is open until Tuesday 28 June, with entry forms available online atwww.ccc.govt.nz/tinyhuts.

The full list of the types of community activities that could take place in and around a Tiny Hut are also available online to guide the competition entrants.

Andrea Cummings, Burwood–Pegasus Community Board Chair says, "Tiny Huts will be a striking feature for New Brighton – attracting local and international visitors, and supporting our future."

“This is a great project for New Brighton and we want people to feel motivated to enter and to volunteer to look after these huts. The competition is open to everyone, including overseas entries. You don't have to be a designer or engineer, or have construction skills – we just want see as many inspiring, creative ideas as possible."

The Council is looking for New Brighton groups and individuals who are willing to look after the Tiny Huts and run activities for four months over the summer period from November 2016 – February 2017. Hut 'custodians' will be matched to each of the five winning designs. Expressions of interest in being a custodian can be lodged by sending your contact details totinyhuts@ccc.govt.nz.

Once the design competition closes, people can vote for their favourite design from two categories, Schools and Open, by visiting the New Brighton Tiny Huts exhibition (to be held in New Brighton in July). The design with the greatest number of votes will win the 'public vote'. When voting closes, the top designs that received the most votes will go through to the second round where a judging panel will select one school winner and three open winners.

The Tiny Huts will be in place over the 2016/17 summer season.

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