Te Pūtahi Releases Programme For The Festival Of Architectural Excellence, Open Christchurch 2025

20 March, 2025

Open Christchurch 2025 celebrates Ōtautahi’s most exceptional architecture and design, which contribute to its rich sense of place and makes for a vibrant city.

This year’s festival, presented by Te Pūtahi Centre for Architecture and City-Making, takes place 2-4 May. Fifty-one buildings, two designed landscapes, five guided walks and over forty activities make up its largest programme to date.

From the largest building, Te Kaha Stadium, to the tiniest treasure, Bull O’Sullivan Architecture’s Chapel of St Thérèse of Lisieux, the programme spans a rich variety of buildings, landscapes and experiences. Open Christchurch 2025’s themes include design excellence in performance spaces and the works of pre-eminent local Gothic Revival architect, Benjamin Mountfort, in commemoration of the bicentenary of his birth.

Special architectural encounters include being among the first to experience the latest addition to the city’s culturescape, The Court Theatre; an evening considering the enduring power of the wharenui and great hall; youth-led tours of the mixed-use centre, the Youth Hub; being hosted by whānau at Rāpaki School, Church and the Korako Whānau Papakāinga; and exploring the flamboyant and iconic Peter Beavan design, Chateau on the Park, with an architectural historian.

The festival is also serving up several one-off and special access experiences, such as the chance to get behind the hoardings during construction on a tour of Te Kaha Stadium, heading into the archives at the Macmillan Brown Library to view Mounfort’s original drawings with expert Dr Ian Lochhead, and getting behind closed doors at private residences and the Former Wellington Woollen Mills Manufacturing Company, now the stunning hybrid hotel, The Drifter Christchurch.

People are invited to explore the city in different ways, whether that be experiencing the much-loved Tākaro ā Poi Margaret Mahy Family Playground in full swing; exploring the joyful Cathedral Grammar Junior School on an architectural or engineering tour; discovering East Frame residential projects or taking in the exhibition, Mountfort and the Canterbury Museum, at Tūranga.

A range of whānau based activities are on offer - from an architecture treasure hunt and craft workshops to a youth-based design workshop. These are just some of the highlights to appear in the annual one-weekend-only festival of architectural excellence.

Open Christchurch begins with a special evening speaker event in the Great Hall at Te Matatiki Toi Ora The Arts Centre on Friday 2 May, featuring Professor Deidre Brown who takes us through the two great traditions of the wharenui and great hall, while our other invited speakers explore what these gathering spaces mean to them.

The full programme continues on Saturday and Sunday with 51 buildings of different ages, styles and uses open for the public to experience for free, apart from a handful of limited entry experiences that require a small booking fee.

The Saturday night event offers different ways of thinking about Christchurch’s built legacy. At ‘Children of the Christchurch Modernists’, children of prominent Christchurch Modern architects share their thoughts about growing up with the distinctive buildings of the era and their designers, considering both anew as they look back

Five guided walks explore different ways of seeing our city, while two designed landscapes offer other ways of considering our urban spaces. Audio-described, mobility friendly and New Zealand Sign Language tours are on offer at the Court Theatre.

Old favourites include behind-closed-doors access to the Observatory Hotel at the Arts Centre and university hall of residence College House. Over 40 activities, such as talks, tours, exhibitions and workshops, provide additional ways to learn about the city’s architecture.

Te Pūtahi director Jessica Halliday says, “Open Christchurch is a simple invitation: come and explore these great buildings, you don’t need a special reason or a personal invitation - doors are open, please come on in. It’s an annual celebration of free access to Ōtautahi’s best buildings, aiming to make Christchurch more open, accessible and inclusive. Our city has so many fascinating buildings - so be nosy, satisfy your curiosity and feel welcome to explore your city through architecture over Open Christchurch weekend.”

Event organisers encourage residents and visitors to study the programme and website to create their own itinerary of highlights so that they can discover the city in new ways.

Buildings are open at different times across the weekend, bookable activities are timetabled and a handful of buildings require advance bookings.

Open Christchurch celebrates our special places and local architecture, and the story of the city over time.

Visit openchch.nz for bookings, building-specific accessibility and more information.

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