The Canterbury region surrounding the city of Christchurch is a sunny, semi-arid coastal plain located between the Pacific Ocean to its east and the dramatic Southern Alps to the west. Fed by glacial melt, the landscape of the plains was once crisscrossed with streams feeding into the Avon River, forming vast wetlands interspersed with stands of Totara forest. The environment provided ideal conditions for wildlife; such as birds, eels and plants, and great foraging for ‘kai’ (food) for the indigenous Maori population. With the advent of European settlement, the plains were cleared and drained. An abundance of crops and fertile grazing pasture funded the growth of Christchurch City as a political and economic force in the development of early New Zealand.
A campaign team was led by Jane Quigley, Lin Roberts, Rex Verity and Jurg Honger of Viva, along with Jasmax urban designer Tim Robinson, landscape permaculture expert Gary Marshall and Jerome Partington to develop a project designed to the Living Building Challenge standards.
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a government-led ‘Christchurch Central Recovery Plan’ for zoned ‘activity districts,’ and a focus on improved seismic solutions. Though both local council and the wider community aspire to create a modern green and sustainable city, there is no formal mandate for this, and a tepid commercial market for ‘green’ buildings and green infrastructure is frustrating the aspirations locals have for a new and better ‘garden city.’
Furthermore, a degree of tension exists between the top-down planners and the community over the rebuild, from which the ‘Viva Project’—a grassroots collective—emerged with a strong vision “to create a vibrant urban village, an innovative and inspiring example of sustainable design and connected community.” To kick start the venture, Viva organized a comChristchurch is New Zealand’s ‘Garden’ city, planned munity-led workshop to design a sustainable village, and built along the banks of the enchanting Avon attracting over 100 people. Jasmax helped facilitate the River. Its leafy suburbs and academic and commer- day, and introduced the Living Building Challenge as cial institutions reflect the modern settler’s English a measure of creative sustainable opportunities. origins. Like many global cities over the last decades, Christchurch has inefficiently sprawled due to the ad- Late in 2012, the city council and government jointly vent of the car, average quality developments and free released ‘Breathe,’ an international design competition market expansion. to create a ‘new place for living in the City.’ It called for sustainable, replicable and affordable housing proposIn February 2011, following an earthquake the year be- als informed by best practice urban design. fore, a truly devastating second quake struck the city. Although the seismic risk to the Canterbury region In a radical move for New Zealand development, had been largely overlooked, the geotechnical makeup Jasmax asked the community group Viva to be both of the soils provided the perfect conditions for magni- collaborator and client, and jointly deliver a ‘Breathe’ fying damage from a shallow earthquake. The city es- entry. The goal of the project was not simply to provide caped the first shake with minor damage, but the ground a development with ‘green’ credentials, but a sustainand buildings were left weakened. February’s event able village that might restore the integrity of the landoccurred in the middle of a busy working day and laid scape and heal its dispirited community. waste to the city. Over two hundred people died and 80% of the business district was damaged beyond re- The team agreed on key goals and tested a range of ideas; pair; it has now been demolished, along with many including options for the mix of housing/retail and workacres of housing. space, orientation, urban form and infrastructure solutions. This project attempts to imagine how real people Two years and 40 billion dollars (NZ) later, re- might create community spirit as inhabitants of building efforts are now underway, directed by a ‘Living Village.’
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