by James Ruggia
Last updated: 1:00 AM ET, Thu December 11, 2014
PHOTO: Christchurch's Ferrier Fountain. (Courtesy of Thinkstock)
The 2011 earthquake that hit Christchurch New Zealand, the second in one five month period, destroyed some 40 percent of the city's historic buildings. Almost four years later, they have a blueprint in hand that will essentially completely rebuild the devastated downtown area in into a completely new city of low-rise buildings framed by green spaces, that's described by planners as a "city in a garden."
The blueprint received a ringing endorsement when it received an Urban Design - Future Projects prize at the World Architecture News (WAN) Awards, a London-based international architectural awards program.
A consortium of architects and designers from Warren and Mahoney, landscape architects Boffa Miskell, Populous, architects Woods Bagot, RCP, and Sheppard and Rout, known collectively as Blueprint 100 spent 100 days creating the blueprint, which includes a library, transport hub, stadium, a new convention center and 12 other "anchor projects."
Recently, the InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG) agreed to develop and manage a 200-room Crowne Plaza Christchurch that will open in the central business district in 2017 across from the planned new Christchurch Convention Centre also due in 2017.
The blueprint puts the Avon River into a much more important relationship with the city than it had before the quakes. The Avon is home to one of Christchurch's signature experiences as locals and tourists alike often take rides on punters crafts, polling (punting) along by punters. Now the Christchurch Coastal Pathway group hopes its new $20 million, four mile track will become popular with tourists. Completed in 2010, the eight-mile Plymouth Coastal Walkway attracts a million visitors a year.
Regional tourism officials see the rebuild of the city as a chance to rebuild the tourism in a way that distinguishes it from other New Zealand regions, seeking a more relaxed engagement with nature than the jet-boating and bungee jumping associated with Queenstown. Cycling and walking tracks that give tourists a chance to take in the area's bird life will be accentuated in a city where the banks of the Avon sport a ribbon of parks with ample seating areas.
Don't wait for the new city to visit go now, while the people are in this mode of creative defiance. Since the quakes they've planted gardens in the footprints of demolished buildings, erected an ingenious cardboard cathedral to replace the collapsed original and more.
In January, the New York Times' Justin Bergman extolled the city's Gap Filler program, which responded to the quake with, in Bergman's words, "an open-air performance space made of blue pallets, a dance floor with coin-operated music and lights, and even a nine-hole mini-golf course in vacant lots across the city."
The latest creative concept in Christchurch comes from JUCY Snooze, a builder of short stay pod hotels. JUCT Snooze in Christchurch is adding another 282 beds to the city. The pods are close to both the airport and shopping. Opening in early 2016, these lodging pods will be good for tourists looking to stay for short periods, between international flights or overnight.
The rooms won't have TVs; visitors will be encouraged to come together in general use lounges where desks for casual web browsing will be available. Guests will be able to "self-check in" and there will be an option for short stays in which tourists who just want a few hours' sleep between connecting flights will not have to pay for a full day. The primary target markets are youth backpackers, low-cost travelers, families and even retired couples.
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