On Sunday the 5th of May between 11am and 2pm, the Puaka-James Hight building which houses the Undercroft, Central Library, and Te Pātaka student services hub, will be joining a number of other UC buildings featuring in the annual city-wide architectural event, Open Christchurch! 

Open Christchurch is a free, one-weekend-only festival of exceptional architecture, run by Te Pūtahi, Centre for Architecture and City Making. It is open to everyone in Ōtautahi Christchurch from 3-5 May (Puaka-James Hight is participating on Sunday 5 May only). Find out more about the Open Christchurch festival here.

What’s happening in Puaka-James Hight?

The building will be open from 11am – 2pm on Sunday 5 May for people to explore our 53-metre-tall beacon of brutalism.
We will have staff on hand taking guided tours of the building.

A display showcasing the architecture, construction, and library history, featuring archival material from our Macmillan Brown Library, will be up in the space between the lifts on level 2 (main entry) of the library.

Pick up one of our Puaka-James Hight postcards or bookmarks (featuring badges and stickers made in our Te Rua Makerspace) as a souvenir of the event.

Can’t make it to the event?

Our display will be up for some time after the event. You can also check out our online collection of Puaka-James Hight themed items from our archives on Kā kohika, our art and archives catalogue.

Ngā mihi,                                                                                                                              UC Library