CPIT showcases students’ innovative interiors

CPIT showcases students’ innovative interiors

CPIT Interior Living students will showcase their innovative décor design for Christchurch Fan Zone bar ‘The Zephyr’ in a display which details their project from conception to implementation. The display of their work will be available for the public to view from Friday October 28 until November 4 in the Rakaia Centre at CPIT’s Madras Street Campus.

The display outlines the major project completed by students in the Certificate of Interior Décor this year. They were tasked with creating a complete interior look and atmosphere for the Zephyr Bar, housed inside a dome in the Christchurch Fan Zone. The students fitted out the Zephyr Bar for the Rugby World Cup and it will remain in use in the Fan Zone until February 2012. Visitors to the display at CPIT will be able to view not only the conceptual elements behind the design, but also elements from the bar including some of the floral arrangements and furniture.

The temporary nature of the bar provided a new learning opportunity for students completing the project this year. “It was a great new experience for students who usually work in residential spaces for their assessments. There was a lot of scope for them to be creative in a temporary space,” CPIT Interior Design Technician Denise Grant said.

Students themed the bar around the iconic Christchurch inner city bar scene with hints towards the earthquake damage which is now the reality for most of the city. They included blackboards with images of earthquake damage and painted the floor with white phrases that describe the Christchurch CBD. “It was an opportunity for them to recreate the essence of some of their favourite places which are still within the cordon,” Grant said.

The Zephyr Bar project challenged students, who had only a month to fulfil a brief from a real client on a very minimal budget. Forced to think outside the square, they sourced old furniture from around Canterbury and created some of their own, including cable reels used as coffee tables and coffee sacks made into cushions. “They were truly innovative,” Grant said.

ENDS