20 Oct 2016

Christchurch’s city centre will be transformed this weekend into a dazzling array of colour and light as the Festival of Transitional Architecture (FESTA) returns to the city.

Held every two years, FESTA celebrates the unique urban environment of Christchurch and the creative urban regeneration that has emerged here since the earthquakes.

FESTA is set to transform Christchurch's inner city vacant spaces.

FESTA's 2014 headline event, CityUps. Photo: Peanut Productions.

This year’s festival has the theme ‘We Have the Means’ and focuses on citizen-initiated urban regeneration and sustainability through the reuse of waste materials in design.

Vacant inner city spaces will be transformed with imaginative installations fabricated from reused waste materials for the headline event of the festival, Lean Means, which runs from 5 to 11pm on Saturday night. The installations are the work of students from seven leading design and architecture schools from across Australasia.

Lean Means will also have a night market where people can buy second-hand and up-cycled items, food stalls, live entertainment and a wearable art parade for children, starting at 5.15pm. The Christchurch Art Gallery and CoCA will also be staying open late for night viewings of their exhibitions.

If it is raining on Saturday, Lean Means will be held on Sunday night instead.

Other events happening over the four days of FESTA include a foraging tour in the Lyttelton Harbour basin, a creative junk workshop, an urban farm open day and home garden workshop, and a SuperWow Disco on the city’s much-loved outdoor Dance-O-Mat.

You can find out more about these events and check out the full FESTA programme at festa.org.nz.