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\u25b6 the city has converted ruined buildings into art galleries of sorts<\/p><\/div>\n
The epicenter was near Lyttelton, 10 kilometers south-east of Christchurch\u2019s central business district, consequently, commerce in the city took a hit with many retail department stores collapsing.<\/p>\n
The quake broke down the infrastructure but not the city\u2019s spirit, with work on rehabilitation starting within days. Christchurch is also considered to be New Zealand\u2019s creative epicenter \u2013 with a vibrant art and cultural vibe. So the city has picked up the pieces, with panache.<\/p>\n
There\u2019s no \u2018playing the victim\u2019 here, no sob stories on display.\u00a0 When we visited in March 2015, the city had used art to transform ruined buildings into scenic murals that have started to attract the tourists.<\/p>\n
What struck us the most, was the Re:Start mall. This mall is made entirely of discarded shipping containers. The brainchild of the city\u2019s Property and Building Owners group, the makeshift mall was operational in October 2011, a mere seven months after the quake. To counter the long wait for full structure buildings for retail and commercial space, the administrators wanted to encourage store owners and traders back into the CBD and ensure minimal impact on trade and commerce.<\/p>\n
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\u25b6 The entire container mall was up within seven months after the earthquake devastation<\/p><\/div>\n
The mall started with 27 stores and has grown to over 50 businesses today. It is one of the most striking features of the city\u2019s renewal. It is thoughtfully designed, with open space flanked by pubs and gastro-restaurants \u2013 inviting customers to linger on a warm spring weekend, and take in a rugby match or two. Market stalls, street performers and buskers too add to the lure.While the use of containers for all sorts of purposes is now commonplace in Christchurch, the idea was a wildcard when Re:START was first conceived. Use of containers meant that retail activity was re-established in the CBD several years before it would have otherwise taken place.<\/p>\n
Similar developments<\/strong><\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Puma City Shipping Container Store: The tri-level, 11,000-square-foot retail store and event space made of 24 refurbished shipping containers, by the popular sportswear brand\u2019s pre-fab initiative, was a portable Puma Store. It made clever re-use of discarded shipping containers and had been traveling around the world as a spokes-structure for both Puma and prefabricated buildings.<\/p>\n
DeKalb Market: Made from 22 discarded shipping containers, the DeKalb Market in Downtown Brooklyn, USA was a flea market and by Urban Space Management that created quite an interest. However, the market closed down under a year to make space for other development projects.<\/p>\n
The Decameron Design shop: Located in Sao Paulo, the Decameron Design shop is a private furniture boutique. Six containers have been stacked two stories high to make a gallery displaying furniture. The ends of the structure are capped in glass, which have been secured by the containers\u2019 hinged doors. Using an array of bright colors, the architects also managed to emphasize the modular appeal of the design.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Re:Start is a cornerstone for the tourist industry in Christchurch and has helped propel the city to number six in the Lonely Planet guide to the \u2018must visit\u2019 places in the world.<\/p>\n
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\u25b6 Yet another example of how art is being used to add cheer to the city<\/p><\/div>\n
Its success has demonstrated that retail is capable of a \u2018never say die\u2019 spirit, \u2013 something for the brick and mortar retailers in India (who are in the midst of their own earthquake called e-tail) to reflect on?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The Re:Start Container Mall at Christchurch, New Zealand, is testimony to the resilience and ingenuity of retail Creativity and resilience together create wonders. We recently witnessed this at the Re:Start Container Mall at Christchurch in New Zealand. In 2010 and… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":30,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[43],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.rai.net.in\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2920"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.rai.net.in\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.rai.net.in\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.rai.net.in\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/30"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.rai.net.in\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2920"}],"version-history":[{"count":22,"href":"http:\/\/blog.rai.net.in\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2920\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3031,"href":"http:\/\/blog.rai.net.in\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2920\/revisions\/3031"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.rai.net.in\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2920"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.rai.net.in\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2920"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.rai.net.in\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2920"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}