27 Apr 2016

Share this story

A play on English sea-side huts will be coming to New Brighton this summer.

Five, small-scale playful installations - called Tiny Huts - are going to pop up in various locations in New Brighton's town centre over the four months of summer. The huts, each measuring just two metres square, will liven up the seaside suburb's public places and be used to showcase actitvities.

A design competition to gather design ideas for the construction of the tiny huts has been launched by Christchurch City Council, in partnership with the New Brighton community.

The design competition is open to everyone, including students, designers, architects, artists and overseas entrants.

Carolyn Ingles, Head of Urban Design, Urban Regeneration & Heritage said there had been lots of great ideas from the community on how the huts could be used.

"Ideas include a wedding chapel, a puzzle room, an optical illusion and a reading room. We now have a clear understanding of what is important to New Brighton residents and what they would like to see in their centre. These ideas will help competition entrants focus on including a fun community use in their Tiny Hut designs.

"The five winning designs will each receive $2000 in prize money. We are looking for imaginative designs that pick up on the ideas from the community and reinterpret the idea of a beach hut – with a fresh and interesting purpose," Ms Ingles said.

The full list of the types of community activities that could take place in and around a Tiny Hut are available online to guide the competition entrants.

Burwood-Pegasus Community Board Chair Andrea Cummings believes the Tiny Huts will be a striking feature for New Brighton and attracting local and international visitors.

"This is a great project for New Brighton and we want people to feel motivated to enter and to volunteer to look after these huts. The competition is open to everyone, including overseas entries. You don't have to be a designer or engineer, or have construction skills – we just want see as many inspiring, creative ideas as possible."

Once the design competition closes, people can vote for their favourite design – from two categories, Schools and Open – by visiting the New Brighton Tiny Huts exhibition, which whill be held in New Brighton in July.  The design with the greatest number of votes will win the 'Public vote'. When voting closes, the top designs that received the most votes will go through to the second round where a judging panel will select one school winner and three open winners.

Find out more about the New Brighton Tiny Huts Design Competition.