Pegasus Post: November 08, 2016

6
Tuesday November 8 2016
Our People
PEGASUS POST
Architect helps rebuild communities
Entrepreneur Camia Young, 42, settled here
in the aftermath of the February 22, 2011,
earthquake. Fraser Walker-Pearce talks to
the American architect about her passion
for rebuilding the city
Tell me what you were doing
when you first arrived in New
Zealand?
I arrived five years ago and
was teaching architecture at the
University of Auckland. During
that time, we brought more than
1000 students to Christchurch to
help with the rebuild and I did
that until about a year or so ago.
I was flying from Christchurch
to Auckland on a Monday and
coming back on the Wednesday.
I would do that every week and I
got super tired. I loved teaching,
it was such a good time.
During your time at the university,
were you still involved
with Christchurch?
In the middle of that teaching
we did Gap Filler’s pallet pavilion,
which took place over the
course of a summer and winter.
It was up for two years, so that
was a treasure of a project. And
during setting that up, I caught
a bug – it was a good bug, but a
bug nonetheless. The bug taught
me about building communities
through building buildings. It
wasn’t about the pavilion it was
about the community around
the pavilion that made it work.
It was about a healing place for
the community to gather around
after the earthquakes.
And what after that?
Then I started a project called
Exchange Christchurch, XCHC.
X stands for exchange and CHC
is Christchurch’s airport code.
And we will be doing Exchange
Auckland, which will be XAKL
and Exchange Wellington which
will be XWLG. So there are other
initiatives coming as well. It
provides a place for people that
have lost a lot in the earthquakes,
a place to create and produce
their creative work and develop
their creative practice.
Great, so what can people see
at XCHC at the moment?
At the moment we have a
jeweller, a painter, a composer,
a few photographers, an
architectural designer and art
exhibitions that change weekly.
So would you say you’ve been
quite involved with the rebuild
of the city?
I’ve been more involved in the
social side of the rebuild more
than anything. What I’ve been
doing is learning by doing while
I’m here. This will absolutely
be a 21st century city where it’s
not so much about the next big
icon, but where the people will
come first and the buildings will
be a by-product of that. I have
confidence in the people.
Right, and where in the city
are you based?
I’m mostly at the exchange
in the central city, but I own
a place out in Lyttelton. I love
Lyttelton, but I also love Sumner,
New Brighton, places with a
cool community feel. I much
prefer the speed of small than
the big city stuff, you can get
so much more done in small
communities. I actually live up in
Mt Pleasant and I quite like that.
And you have a slight accent
there – is it American?
Yes. I was born in Colorado
and those mountains still call
to me. I’m from Aspen. It’s the
Rocky Mountains that get me.
New Zealand has a really strong
connection with nature as well.
I left when I was younger and
lived in Europe for 11 years,
studied in London, then worked
in Rotterdam (Netherlands),
Paris (France), Madrid (Spain)
and Basel (Switzerland). It was
great, I was practicing there as an
architect.
There must have been some
incredible projects in the likes
of Paris?
There was one project in Paris
– it’s the only time I’ve ever cried
ENTREPRENEUR: Camia Young moved to Christchurch to
use her skills as an architect to help rebuild the city after the
earthquakes.
when we lost a project. It still
hurts to this day. I fell in love
with it. It’s where I learned to
dream with the intent to realise
the dream. It’s easy to come up
with an idea, it’s expensive to
execute them.
I’d imagine it would be. Have
you been anywhere other than
America, Europe and New
Zealand?
I’m also a Brazilian resident.
My father lives there. I spend
a bit of time there and I speak
Portuguese as well. He lives in
northern Brazil. He built a selfsustaining
home in the middle
of the sand dunes. He’s lived
without electricity for the last 25
years and now has solar power.
He’s a hippy in the middle of a
desert. So he’s my inspiration for
a lot of things.
That’s pretty incredible. Do
you have a project that, once
completed, you’ll be happy to
retire and put your feet up?
No. I don’t really have an
end-game. I love seeing positive
change. And I think we’re all
inherently creative, to see that
work done is the road and the
end for me.
Where did you spend your
school years?
Up through secondary I
was in Aspen, elementary and
high school. Then I did my
undergraduate at University
of Colorado and graduated
as valedictorian and went
on to get a masters in Los
Angeles at SCIARC, the
Southern California Institute of
Architecture. In three years, I got
two masters degrees, rather than
two and a half for one masters,
which it could’ve been. Then I
practiced architecture in Europe
for 11 years across the board
there.
Do you have any family over
here in Christchurch?
No, no family here, I fly solo.
I have lots of love, I miss them,
miss the mountains, too. But
some family has come out while
I’m here, though. Mum and dad
have been out. My sister uses
the old ‘if you don’t eat your
vegetables, you won’t be able to
go visit Aunty Camia’ on her two
kids. They’re super-excited to
visit as well.
Was it always an intention of
yours to come to Christchurch?
Not at all. I was looking for
change from working in a
corporate office. As much as I
loved my life in Europe, I wanted
to find somewhere I could do
my own thing. A friend of mine
who is a Kiwi offered to bring me
in to teach at the University of
Auckland, which was about three
months before the February
22, 2011, earthquake. Then
that entire year course became
focused on the earthquake and
on Christchurch. I had never
taught and I had never been to
Christchurch, but I was looking
for a new home and so I came
a month before the course
was due to start and I walked
Christchurch for that month and
then went up to teach the course.
I knew in that month that I
would stay here. I was looking
at a couple of other countries
around the world – Brazil,
Canada – but I couldn’t do it.
What are some of your
first memories stepping into
Christchurch post-earthquake?
It was late 2011, so it was
post-apocalyptic. I thought
immediately I was in way over
my head and I thought I was
naive in the fact that I thought
I could make a difference. But
after phoning my dad about it,
I decided I would stay. I started
really walking the city and
learning as much as I possibly
could about it. I ended up getting
my visa through the job in
Auckland and now I’m here. But
that month, it was really scary
for me because I had never seen
a crisis on that scale before and I
didn’t know what to do.
Must have been pretty
terrifying. Had you experienced
an earthquake before that?
I think I remember maybe one
earthquake when I was in Aspen,
but when I was in LA there was
a few. But nothing compared
to when I came here, and they
happened so often back then.
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