Project Snapshot: Hanging Out A Temporary Architectural Installation (See Temporal Topographies portfolio for an in-depth project review)
‘Hanging Out’ | Introduction
Food & Architecture in Christchurch, New Zealand Reflection by Charlotte M
For two years in a row, devastating earthquakes struck the city of Christchurch and its surrounding areas. A magnitude 7.1 earthquake occurred in September 2010, followed by several tremors ranging from magnitude 5.3 to 6.3 occurring in February, June and December of 2011. Fast forward to October 2018, and the impact of the earthquakes can still be seen and felt across the cityscape. Within the central city area, the streets appear deserted, as irreparable buildings and infrastructure are slowly demolished and cleared. The barrenness creates an eerie atmosphere that confronts you on almost every street corner. Despite this, there are glimpses of hope and resilience among the residents and businesses that remain. Local artists, performers and others who are passionate about rebuilding their city have taken advantage of the cleared spaces and transformed them into temporary sites for events, performances and street murals.
In a further effort of regeneration, the Festival of Transitional Architecture (FESTA), aims to capitalise on and celebrate the opportunities to rebuild the city of Christchurch. The 2018 programme follows the theme of feasting and gathering in public spaces, exploring the relationship between food and urbanism. The festival is described as a community street party featuring over 50 pop-up events, live entertainment and various food vendors. The organisers presented the challenge to design students and professionals across Australia and New Zealand, to re-imagine the city of Christchurch for one night only. As a participant from Swinburne University, in Australia, we had the opportunity to design an architectural contribution to the headline event. The proposals focused on creating innovative and sustainable structures to form an urban picnic area, where visitors would enjoy local food and entertainment on the night. 2
‘Hanging Out’ | Completed Project
Project Hanging Out, utilised coat hangers to form a striking canopy over the stage area. The team was on-site to coordinate and construct the installation, which was then cleared and recycled after the event concluded. This project was a memorable celebration of architecture, design, food and the city of Christchurch. It is one of many examples of how architecture and design can rebuild a community and also revitalise spaces after tragedy and destruction. - Photographs during the festival
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‘Hanging Out’ | Event Information
FESTA 2018
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Contents 1. FESTA 2018: A public festival of architecture, design & food 2. The headline event: FEASTA! A spectacular celebration of architecture, community and food. 3. The Wider Programme FESTA 2018: A public festival of architecture, design & food FESTA, the biennial weekend celebration of urban creativity returned to Christchurch Labour Weekend, 19–22 October 2018! Thousands of Cantabrians as well as visitors imagined and experienced how the city could be different through a headline event that was live for one night only (and brought 12,000-14,000 people back into the city), and through projects and live events presented as part of the associate programme over the course of Labour Weekend. Our 2018 programme comprised 50 plus events that explored the connections between food and the city. The headline event: FEASTA! A spectacular celebration of architecture, community and food. Christchurch has always had a powerful relationship with food and to celebrate this ongoing love FESTA threw a street party – a public feast of architecture, design and food. On Saturday 20 October artists, musicians, community groups, businesses, over 130 architecture students from across Australasia, as well as design and architecture professionals, came together to create a spectacular celebration of food and city-making, live for one night only. This collective reimagining of Christchurch took place in the city’s new public spaces. FEASTA! fired up appetites and imaginations with installations, artists, performers, family activities, musicians, community groups, businesses, and lots of wonderful things to eat and drink. This was a free, public event – open to all. The Wider Programme The associate programme built on the theme of feasting, exploring the interconnections between food and urbanism through workshops, talks, pop-up projects, family events, tours, live performance, artworks and more. These ranged in scope from Dates with Plates to Food to Thought and took place at 27 different venues in the city over the weekend, beginning Friday (19 October) morning at 9am, and ending Monday night (22 October). Food connects places, people and ideas and is an integral part of the urban fabric. From the domestic sphere to the workplace, from street scape to public space, it shapes our urban environment and has the capacity to enrich it. The food system (growth, distribution, consumption, waste) interacts with, and impacts, a range of areas: health, land, water, transport, economy, waste, identity, culture, environment, amenity, employment and equality to a name a few. It presents us many challenges in the twenty-first century, but also many opportunities – it is a great connector. FESTA is a crowd-created festival – it was through the contributions of many that we were able to put on an urban-scale festival for Christchurch. Our programme explored the following: Its role in smart cities How it shapes the urban environment (now/historically) The way we interact with the built environment through food Its influence/reflection on different areas and architectures (from mall and food desert to urban farms, picnic spots and farmers’ markets) Food resilience and food ecologies Sustainability https://festa.org.nz/feasta-a-spectacular-celebration-of-architecture-community-food/
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‘Hanging Out’ | Collaboration
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Studio 20002 (Swinburne University of Technology, School of Design) ShengYe Yu (Sean), Nathan Flynn, Sebastian Rylander, Claudia Siric, Jason Trajkovski, Aaron Stillitano, Jordan Veniamakis, Anes Abdou, Jacinta Princi, Nick aylward, Eddie Jameler De Leon, Amy Nuccio, Ralph Santos, Charlotte Mwaba, Tirth Nayak & Rohit Nair Swinburne students are creating various infrastructures to support public picnicking at the festival.
Date: September 22, 2018
FESTA 2018
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Sign up for FESTA newsletter Studio 20002 (Swinburne University of Technology, School of Design) Email Address* ShengYe Yu (Sean), Nathan Flynn, Sebastian Rylander, Claudia Siric, Jason Trajkovski, Aaron Stillitano, Jordan Veniamakis, Anes Abdou, Jacinta Princi, Nick aylward, Eddie Jameler De Leon, Amy Nuccio, Ralph Santos, Charlotte Mwaba, Tirth Nayak & Rohit Nair
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Swinburne students are creating various infrastructures to support public picnicking at the festival.
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Date: September 22, 2018
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