GROWING UP, NOT OUT: A REVIEW OF OPEN CHRISTCHURCH
I’ve always dreamed of having a key to enter any building I desire. While I remain keyless, my aspirations were lived out through the festival of exceptional architecture – Open Christchurch. In any other city, this would seem to be an event of architectural provocation but not for Ōtautahi, a city shaken by 13,000-plus earthquakes. Open Christchurch provided visual evidence of progression and response to 10 years of post-disaster construction. Numerous site visits of multi-residential and revived commercial buildings unveiled a lens: witnessing the urban densification of a city once deemed desolate.
On 15 and 16 May, Christchurch opened more than 40 of its doors to its
