Making a spectacle of Christchurch demos

Architect sets up space to watch demos JOELLE DALLY

DEMOLITION CITY: YouTube membernzplattsuploaded this central Christchurch flyover video showing the extent of the demolitions and the rebuild.

An internationally renowned visiting architect wants to make a "spectacle" of central Christchurch demolitions by giving the public a place to watch them.

Venezuelan artist and architect Alejandro Haiek Coll, an artist-in-residence based at The Physics Room, set up a viewing platform beside Centennial Pool in a one-day experiment yesterday.

Using a relocatable grandstand borrowed from Gap Filler, he and volunteers erected it on council car parks, facing the pool, and watched as more of the complex was pulled down.

They used parking meters to pay for use of the car parks - $8 in total - and placed the ticket on the grandstand trailer.

''He [Haiek Coll] has been observing the way people stop and gather on footpaths to watch demolitions. He wanted to create a more formal place for people to watch,'' Gap Filler creative director Coralie Winn said.

Haiek Coll tested the idea at Centennial Pool as it was a ''significant'' demolition, she said.

The Armagh St facility will make way for the new Margaret Mahy Family Playground, despite opposition from the community.

Gap Filler plans to use the grandstand in spring and summer for ''pop-up'' sporting events.

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Making a spectacle of Christchurch demos