Medial Release

1 June 2011

Before After rises again

An urban issues exhibition prompted by the September 2010 earthquake and curtailed by the February 2011 earthquake is to be restaged this month.

The Before After exhibition, supported by the Canterbury branch of the New Zealand Institute of Architects, sets out the key reconstruction challenges facing Christchurch in the areas of heritage and character architecture, urban and residential design, transport and infrastructure, and environmental planning.

Both the exhibition and an accompanying lecture series will be held at Christchurch Polytechnic Institute of Technology (CPIT). The exhibition opens on 9 June and runs until 7 July.

Exhibition organiser Matthew Webby says the exhibition in its first staging had been well attended before it was interrupted on 22 February.

“Many people put a lot of work into Before After and the thinking behind the exhibition is perhaps even more relevant after the second earthquake,” Webby says.

“We want the public to look at the city and its surrounding region and consider the options in front us. Do we set out to replicate past patterns and perhaps repeat past mistakes, or do we turn our disasters into opportunities to improve our environments?’

Webby says the purpose of the Before After exhibitions and lectures is to engage the public in the debate about Christchurch’s future.

“Any architect needs a brief from a client. In this case, all of us are the client and together we have to come up with a brief.”

Comments and feedback from the exhibition and lectures will be collected at the venue and published online at www.beforeafter.co.nz

The Before After exhibition will be staged in CPIT’s Rakaia Centre. Public lectures will be given on Thursdays at 6pm in CPIT’s DL Theatre.

Lecture Schedule:

9 June – Heritage and character

16 June – Urban design

23 June – Residential

30 June – Transport and infrastructure

7 July – Environmental planning

14 July – Jasper van der Lingen, chair, Canterbury branch, NZIA

ENDS

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