Ravenscar House Museum

A virtual attraction for now, in fact a real carpark. Shortly to become a diamond amongst the rubble when a cutting edge design museum rises here thanks to the generosity of a Christchurch couple, the dynamism of the city's earthquake rebuild process and the sheer mysterious force of change brought about by the quakes.
The Ravenscar Collection, featuring significant New Zealand Artworks, is to be housed in this planned Museum, being built by the very owners of the Collection, Mr Jim and Dr Susan Wakefield. They will donate the new facility to the Canterbury Museum, for exhibiting design themed collections as well as the Ravenscar Collections, which will remain in a Trust. Enhancing of the beauty of the philanthropy is that the Wakefields had long intended to pass the collection and a facility for displaying it into public hands, but their Scarborough homestead was destroyed in the earthquakes. Four years later they came up with a plan to go without a home instead collaborating with the Museum, Council and Andrew Patterson architect to bring the Collection to town in very grand style.

Patterson, who has played a lead role in the development of Christchurch before and after the 2011 quakes, wowed New Zealand with his impressions of the project in September 2015. There was expected to be little opposition to the Council handing over the current car parking site to the Canterbury Museum. The Rolleston Ave location is central to the Botanic Gardens, the slowly regenerating Arts Centre, historic Christ's College and the main Canterbury Museum.

Image Credit: Patterson Architects