re-building Christchurch

http://www.stuff.co.nz/the-press/news/christchurch-earthquake-2011/12-51/the
-future/6416453/An-architects-vision/=

link above to interview with Di Lucas regarding the Peterborough Village workshop - 

key issues / questions

- we need to understand the composition of ground conditions more comprehensively

- we need to take geo tech seriously (and invest in the tests necessary to reveal this critical information)

- we need to think innovatively / creatively about foundation solutions for soft mixed soils 

- lighter buildings are safer in earthquakes, so how could we achieve lighter buildings?

- how can we make earthquake responsive buildings affordable?

key findings / suggestions

- could we re-level buildings after a quake, could this become a new way to build

- prefabrication offers quick response, high quality, affordable solutions

- new timber technologies such as LvL and CLT can provide robust earthquake buildings

- new kinds of land remediation are available

- new kinds of foundation systems are available including hollow timber rounds. 

click-raft addresses all of these issues, since it starts with these critical givens without the baggage of traditional construction, and instead focus' directly on issues of affordability, strength, lightness, speed of assembly, flexibility and adaptability

the challenge is to bring click-raft technology to a broader audience and acceptance. Of course new technologies and solutions such as click-raft or re-levelable buildings that perform differently will look different. So are we open to these strange new solutions? Are we ready for things to look different? Are we ready to build differently?

Perhaps we should be asking a different kind of question - can we afford not to ?

Peterborough Village Workshop, Christchurch

A very big thankyou to Di Lucas, Mark and Rea Mcintyre and the rest of the Peterborough team for inviting me down to Christchurch to help contribute to the Peterborough Village Workshop inviting geotechnical engineers, structural engineers, and architects to come up with innovative solutions to the tough challenges of soft ground re-building after the earthquakes, what a wonderful spirit of hope and resilience in the face of adversity - I take my hat off to you!
I presented click-raft as a super light, super strong, and super cheap and adaptable system which can respond to this challenge.... super fast. .... was that enough super's ;)
Both the expert workshop and the public meeting in the evening were packed with enthusiastic people with a can do attitude, this is just the kick that government and council need to start making things happen, since the challenges here are huge, and the issues of ownership and in particular insurance are really tough to deal with. Once demolition is completed there will be almost no buildings left - it will be like a desert, and this is largely to do with short term economics - so the challenge is to bring a whole range of different and special yet pragmatic solutions to high density, mixed use, low rise development - just the stuff that click-raft was always intended to address - city on a roof, and fusionopolis ! (refer http://www.cityonaroof.net/ )

Refer to the Peterborough Village website for more information and the prefabNZ HIVE innovation park opening on April 21/22
 http://www.peterboroughvillage.org.nz/news/

http://www.prefabnz.com/Events/Upcoming-Events/Canterbury-Innovation-Park/

HIVE

PUKE ARIKI 'COTTAGE TO CUTTING EDGE' EXHIBITION

In the spirit of MOMA's 'Home Delivery' exhibition, Puke Ariki Museum in New Plymouth New Zealand are hosting 'Cottage to Cutting Edge" together with Wellington's Victoria University Architecture School and PrefabNZ -  to open in December 2012, which is great news as it will allow sufficient time to get click-raft sorted with suppliers and partners on board. Lots to do yet to get this project properly resourced, but we're very much looking forward to producing a beautifully crafted 1:1 click-raft along with a series of 1:10 scale kitset models for kids of all ages to explore, test out and play with - it would be really nice to entice people to invent their own, perhaps even launch a competition for alternative click-raft designs ... for details see  http://www.prefabnz.com/Events/Upcoming-Events/National-Prefab-Exhibition/

FUTURE SCHOOLS COMPETITION, AUSTRALIA - SUSTAINABILITY AWARD

CMA+U and team have just won a special award for Sustainability in the Future Proofing Schools Competition in Australia - based on the click-raft. This is both a huge surprize and very exciting news. Competition panel images are included. It was an awesome team effort including Jaap Dankert, Luke Engleback and his team at Studio Engleback, Patrick Arnold and his team at eCubed, we also had wonderful advice from Matt Jackson, Liz Kingsford, and Chris Winwood including an intense crit session with Chris at the end to give the submission the necessary kick in the butt - which clearly made an important difference - thanks and congratulations everyone ! Next stop is the ceremony in Melbourne on 12th December to receive the Award and also the opening of the exhibition.   A full list of the winners can be found on  www.msdincubator.com/gallery       

   

2.5m Cube in Friesland

Jaap has been exploring new prototype developments in his 2.5m cube pavilion which is being tested on the beautiful lake edge in Friesland

Hum Salon Coffee Kiosk

While Jaap is recovering from his self build workshop in the netherlands (see new mini prototype post below), I've been continuing to work on a 10m2 click-raft outdoor coffee kiosk we have been asked to do for Hum Salon, a new rather cool and different kind of community centre / cafe / meet and greet space for creatives located in an old villa right next to Grafton Bridge in Auckland between the hospital and universities. We are doing this project together with Gary and Emile from Stanley Modular see http://www.stanleygroup.co.nz/page/137-modular who are fabricating the project in their Mata Mata factory (checkout their live webcam), the plan is to locate it under the tree on the corner so people can still drop in while the house is being restored. The team at Hum are promoting the project via their website, and are going to make a time-lapse video of the assembly process on site - for more on Hum Salon see http://www.humsalon.co.nz/

larger structures

click-raft is about how to achieve low cost, super fast alternatives for small scale live/work environments in the minimalist spirit of Thoreau or Citroen 2CV, but its value also lies in its open additive building system approach which is akin to mechano, or current generation Lego assemblies that are so easily added to or adapted... and this approach is also possible for larger scale structures (see below the post on Click-Raft TYPE03 - business/retail unit).
The images above show a two level structure which wraps around two courtyards providing a base building which unites a series of smaller pavilions within, larger buildings above (not shown), a cool densely planted court, and a hard open sunny court. This diversity of environments is woven together into a coherent but fluid synergy of inside and outside spaces which extend and blur the choices and range of comfortable places to be depending on the time of day or changing weather conditions.