‘Retain the Square’

Press, 10 February 1981, Page 3

‘Retain the Square’

i The character of Cathedral [Square must be retained at (any cost, according to Pro- | Lessor Adolph Ciborowski, | who co-ordinated the reconistruction of' the devastated I Polish capital, Warsaw, after the Second World War. Professor Ciborowski, now the deputy Mayor ' of Warsaw and one of Europe’s leading urban planners, said yesterdaj- that the demolition of historic buildings because they were an earthquake risk was “a poor and' bad excuse.” “In my first hour in Christchurch I. was im- ; pressed by the strong cultural character of the cityscape. It is different from the rest of New Zealand, and much more impressive than an expert from Europe would expect to find in such a young country,” he said. Professor Ciborowski was invited to New Zealand to deliver a paper to the Conference on Large Earthquakes, on the anniversary of the Napier disaster of 1931. He is head of the Institute of Urban Design at Warsaw University, and has been asked by the United Nations to work in many earth-

quake-devastated cities, such as Managua, in Nicaragua, where 10,009 died, and Skopje and Montenegro, in Yugoslavia. Professor Ciborowski said that Christchurch was unique among the New Zealand cities he had seen, in that the. story of its cultural and historical development was clearly told by remaining buildings. - “These are not only the obvious buildings such as the Cathedral and the old university, but also the smaller ones in the city centre which document your country’s progress,” he said. These included the old Post Office and library buildings, and many others. Professor Ciborowski said that there appeared to be a fair amount of protection, for the city’s historic buildings, but there was a real risk! that the Square could be surrounded and the Cathedral dwarfed by towering modern structures. Earthquake risk was no excuse for demolishing old buildings, but their preservation was not the sole responsibility of the city council. “These funds should be a

(public, social affair,” said j Professor Ciborowski. After i the war every. Polish citizen had been invited to contribute a small amount towards the reconstruction of historic monuments, he said. Today, the Royal Palace in Warsaw was being reconstructed at a cost of $lOO million, with not a cent in Government aid. Professor Ciborowski said that three medieval towns in southern Yugoslavia, which had been badly damaged by earthquake, were being taken apart piece by piece, and every stone and piece of timber numbered. .“In 10 years they will be back as they were. It-is worth it,” he said. New Zealand, with its low-rise, low-density buildings and mainly single-stor-ey, timber-based houses, did not face the same earth- ! quake . risk as European cities. In Christchurch, the most dangerous areas would be the city centre, industrial zones, and the port. However. New Zealand had very advanced geologic and seismologic services, and the design methods used to earthquake-proof buildings were “excellent.”