The original Christchurch City Reservoir was built in 1952, and opened in 1954 by the Mayor Robert Mafeking Macfarlane, a Labour politician, who was the MP for Christchurch South/Central for over 30 years.
The reinforced concrete structure held 35,000m3 of water (35 million litres). A perfect storage for the south side of Christchurch, built for the growing demand of the post-WWll population. Measuring 77m by 63m with a 7.5m depth of water, the flat roof was held up by 99 square columns inside, and originally had a grass /soil covered roof. Locals joked about it being the only flat bit of grass on the hill for football, and kids were regularly told to hop off!
On the 22nd February 2011, the seismic behaviour of the lower parts of the hill meant the land rolled and rose in this area, and the middle of the reservoir was right above a previously unknown ‘shear zone’, which ran in northwest/southeast direction. With lots of 20-50mm cracks in its floor, the water it contained simply drained away into the fissures of the hill in a matter of hours.
In the investigation afterwards extensive bore holes were dug; it became clear that it would be impossible to reinstate the reservoir as it once was, so instead the plan chosen was to re-use the two most undamaged and uncompromised corners, and build two separate reservoirs.
The southwest corner reservoir was completed in December 2011, and the northeast corner reservoir was completed in December 2012. The work took 50,000 hours and 3500m3 of ‘new’ poured concrete to put in the new walls, tying these into the existing outer walls, floor and roof that were retained. The resulting pair of smaller reservoirs now have storage for a total of 14,000m3 (14 million litres).
You can read more about the reservoir here.
The OneNZ telecom cabinet
As part of the CCC City Beautification Programme, to liven up our streets and discourage tagging, the tangled patterned design chosen for this box was based on the inside of the reservoir.
Of course a little bit of artistic licence has been taken, with the columns a lot more decorative, and hopefully the columns inside are not covered in the various foliage that I have painted twirling around the 10 Ionic-style columns either! However with all the native planting that has gone on by volunteer groups to replace the much bigger trees and shrubs that originally stood beside this telecom box, I hope that in a few years the box and the native shrubs all blend in together, and as you walk/cycle/jog/drive past it brings a smile.
For those interested in the design: the artwork is drawn following the Zentangle Method, a way for producing stylised patterns through simple strokes. This gives the artist freedom of expression, but done with simple to follow steps, so you can stay focused on producing the patterns, in your style without worrying about the outcome. I have used various different named ‘tangles’ on the four sides. Feel free to check out the rest of my website to see what it is all about.
Tangles used: Icanthis, Flux, Damsel Leaf, Fescu, Muehlenz, Wist, Zinger, Poke Leaf, Essalot, 123 O’Leary, Ibex, Printemps, Coil and Boulder Builder.
My other cabinets can be found here