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A Gothic Library for Christchurch

Christchurch, the oldest city in New Zealand, was known for its gothic cathedral before the February 2011 earthquake destroyed its spire. Modern architects, as voracious a species as ever existed, descended upon the city like a plague, declaring that everything traditional must be demolished and hideous glass hulks raised instead. They succeeded in convincing the city’s Anglican authorities to deconsecrate the cathedral (despite remaining mostly intact) and plans for its future remain vague.

Local architectural designer & engineer James Carr has come up with a proposal to build a central library for Christchurch on Cathedral Square. The design complements the gothic cathedral (or whats left of it) and would be a handsome addition to the city.

More whimsical perhaps is Mr Carr’s idea to build a gothic rugby stadium in Christchurch.

Published at 1:45 pm on Thursday 25 February 2016. Categories: Architecture Tags: , .
Comments

What an excellent design and what a graceful piercing of the bubble of contemporary architectural ideology this architect has executed. I recommend reading his proposal in full: a civilised, intelligent and throroughly modern counterblast to the befuddled anachronism of the neo-modernist pabulum we have been fed for so long. The man makes one want to use up a full month’s quota of adjectives in a single comment – a very good sign. More power to his pencil.

— Atticus 27 Feb 2016 12:30 pm

Too daring, transgressive and anticonformistic…

— maurizio 30 Mar 2016 7:23 pm
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