PRESS RELEASE

7 June 2011

BEFORE AFTER rises again

BEFORE AFTER: Let’s build a better Canterbury, an exhibition and discussion series exploring the opportunities for rebuilding Canterbury, is being restaged this month following the interruption of the February 2011 Earthquake.

The exhibition, initiated by the Canterbury Branch of the New Zealand Institute of Architects (NZIA), sets out the key reconstruction challenges facing Canterbury in the areas of Heritage and Character, Urban and Residential Design, Transport and Infrastructure, and Environmental Planning.

Any architect needs a brief from a client and in this case, all of us are the client and together we have to come up with a brief for how we want to rebuild our region. The purpose of BEFORE AFTER: Let’s build a better Canterbury is to engage the public in the debate about Canterbury’s future.

Both the exhibition and an accompanying discussion series are being held at the Christchurch Polytechnic Institute of Technology (CPIT). The exhibition opens in the Rakaia Centre on 9 June and runs until 7 July. It is also available to be viewed and commented on online at www.beforeafter.co.nz.

When the exhibition first opened a week before the 22 February Earthquake it quickly became one of the key attractions at the Christchurch Art Gallery. It is hoped that the re-staging of the exhibition and discussion series will continue this informed engagement and open dialogue of ideas with the community.

One of the exhibition organisers, Matthew Webby, commented that “there was a strong desire to get the exhibition up and running again as the issues about how we rebuild have become even more relevant following the 22 February Earthquake. We want the public to look at the city and its surrounding region and consider the options in front of 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 region?”

BEFORE AFTER: Let’s build a better Canterbury reopens to the public this Thursday 9 June in the Rakaia Centre at CPIT. A free discussion series will occur each Thursday where a panel of experts debate the issues at hand with a public audience. The first in the series will be a discussion on the future of Heritage and Character buildings in our region, this Thursday at 6pm in the DL Lecture Theatre at CPIT.

Discussion Schedule:

9 June 2011, 6pm – Heritage and Character

16 June 2011, 6pm – Urban Design

23 June 2011, 6pm – Residential

30 June 2011, 6pm – Transport and Infrastructure

7 July 2011, 6pm – Environmental Planning

14 July 2011, 6pm – Where to from here? Jasper van der Lingen, Chair, Canterbury branch, NZIA

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

Attached image: Public engaging with the Before After: Let’s build a better Canterbury exhibition when it first opened at the Christchurch Art Gallery in February 2011. Credit: Ekin Sakin

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