Style: January 05, 2018

STYLE | architecture 23
Now the holidays are here
we have the opportunity to
venture in from the suburbs
and check out the progress.
And there has been a
significant amount.
ANZ Centre covered atrium
well as the restaurant and bar precinct at
The Terrace.
Each of these developments has
architecture of merit and interesting outdoor
spaces, be it laneways or small squares for
public enjoyment and convenience. The
centre of the BNZ development opens up to
form a “hidden” public square linked through
from Cashel Mall to Hereford Street. The
colourful façades facing the square add an
element of surprise, while contrasting with
the building’s more austere black and white
street frontages.
This internal square is a great way to get
better use out of our (relatively) large city
blocks. While building owners may lose
rentable building space, much of this area
is of less retail value because of its distance
from the street. However, a connected public
opening in the middle of the site creates
more shopfronts, which of course can be
rented at a higher dollar value than a space
far back into the depths of a building. This
is a common theme in all of the abovementioned
developments, although the ANZ
Centre does this via a covered atrium space.
The central square is a proven successful
city form in Christchurch. Think of the quads
in the Arts Centre, the central court of the
old provincial council buildings, or even the
University of Canterbury. The open square
allows sun in, protection from the easterly
wind and a communal sense of enclosure.
The new central city developments have
brought with them to Christchurch new
retail brands not available in the suburbs. The
Cashel Mall shopping precinct is once again
true competition for the suburban malls,
which have been taking business away from
the central city long before the earthquakes.
And businesses that were icons of the inner
city, such as Scorpio Books and Kennett
Crafted Jewels, are moving back into town.
For me, the most anticipated development
has been Antony Gough’s “The Terrace”, due
to open early 2018. Before the earthquakes
this was a very successful precinct of bars and
restaurants. It had all of the right ingredients:
CBD location, river views, and sheltered from
the easterly with north‐west sun. It is no
longer just “a strip”, but incorporates a series
of laneways between interesting architecture
leading into a sheltered central square. Brilliant!
While these developments congregate
around Cashel Mall, our main central city
shopping hub, there are plenty of other
pockets of activity in the CBD. Linking all of
these and filling in the gaps will be the final
touches, and perhaps the most difficult to
achieve. But this will eventually happen, and
when it does, the Christchurch CBD will feel
like an integrated town centre again, only
better than before.
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