IN-PERSON London Heritages. Section A
Abstract
The Canterbury earthquake sequence (2010-2011) that occurred in the city of Christchurch, New Zealand highlighted the vulnerability of historic unreinforced masonry (URM) churches due to inherent construction characteristics such as large open spatial volumes with limited supporting structure, high mass walls, and irregular plan geometry. Since the Canterbury earthquakes, national legislation such as the Building (Earthquake-prone Buildings) Amendment Act 2016 mandated urgent processes of seismic upgrade to be undertaken by building owners including church councils. However, churches in Aotearoa New Zealand are also confronted by falling congregation numbers combined with costly seismic upgrade works to remediate earthquake-prone buildings. There is an emerging global discourse focused on the adaptation of vulnerable and under-utilised churches to also facilitate secular uses (e.g. education, music, exhibitions, as well as commercial and residential reuse). This study presents a literature review of common strategies for adaptive reuse of historic churches with reference to selected international case studies. Qualitative desktop analysis is employed to examine the scope of adaptation interventions in relation to heritage conservation principles such as compatibility and minimal intervention. Regenerative design strategies offer potential for driving more sustainable futures for the built environment and this study will also investigate the application of regenerative ideas for historic church buildings and sites in New Zealand. Conclusions from this study are anticipated to inform criteria for more inclusive decision-making for adaptive reuse by church communities. The study aims to develop awareness and social acceptance of adaptive reuse for historic church properties.
Dr Stacy Vallis is a Lecturer in architecture and emerging technologies at Huri Te Ao Hoahoanga School of Future Environments. Her research, teaching, and practice specialise in sustainable urban transformation including disaster preparedness, retrofit, and adaptive reuse, driven by emerging technologies. She is an Associate Investigator at QuakeCoRE NZ Centre for Earthquake Resilience and is the President of ICOMOS Aotearoa New Zealand, an NGO dedicated to the conservation of places of cultural heritage value.
Dr Imelda Piri is a lecturer in Built Environment Engineering at the School of Future Environments. Imelda’s research interests lie in decarbonisation, communities and built environment resilience to climate change, building skills for tomorrow, and the adoption of digital technologies.
Dr Priscila Besen is a Senior Lecturer in sustainable and regenerative architecture at Auckland University of Technology. Her research, teaching and practice aim to develop better design practices to create regenerative, healthy, liveable built environments for a post-carbon future.
Dr Andrew Burgess is a Senior Lecturer at Huri Te Ao Hoahoanga in the School of Future Environments. Andrew researches in the field of architecture and urbanism with a particular focus on socio-spatial systems.
Associate Professor Ann Morrison uses Interaction Design principles to work with Extreme, Sustainable, Regenerative, Assistive and Speculative HCI Design Perspectives that includes Urban and Pervasive Computing, AR/ MR and interactive cultural environments.
Dr Kevin Walsh is Associate Teaching Professor, Civil and Environmental Engineering and Earth Sciences. He is Principal Investigator in carrying out a seismic risk assessment of over 70 medieval Catholic churches in Italy in collaboration with multiple Italian universities.
Professor Jason Ingham (Deputy Dean, Faculty of Engineering) completed his BE(Hons) and ME(Dist) at The University of Auckland, followed by a PhD at the University of California at San Diego. In 2004, Jason was awarded a $3.75m research grant funded by the NZ Foundation for Research Science and Technology, investigating and developing guidelines for seismic assessment and retrofit of earthquake-prone buildings.
2:15 pm - 3:45 pm
Wednesday 25th June, 2025