understorey [tuarua]

understorey [tuarua] is an active project from The Green Lab: a community, events, co-working, and collaboration space in the heart of Ōtautahi Christchurch. 

With generous support from The Terrace, we are located at Level 1, 80 Hereford Street.  We have created a social space where people can come together in the central city, with a sliding access scale ranging from free to pay it forward rates. We invite creatives, change organisations, community groups, innovators, small businesses, funders, and entrepreneurs alike. We are particularly interested in sharing space with those interested in sustainability, wellbeing, and place. 

The past couple of years have wrought big changes to the ways we work and connect with each other. This project brings a range of people together, tests ways of sharing space, and hopes to support a flourishing, wellbeing-focused economy.  The multi-function space is equipped with creative furniture that supports connection and collaboration (including our Green Connection Pod), and of course, plenty of plants delivering all the wellbeing benefits that come from being surrounded by them.

“Plants thrive in a complex world by communicating, sharing resources and transforming their environments” (Montgomery, 2021); humans are much the same. In a healthy forest  ecosystem, the understory is the layer between the ground and the canopy. Home to rich biodiversity which nurtures new generations of saplings, the understory makes important contributions to the stability of the ecosystem. At The Green Lab, we see our role as tending to the community understorey in Ōtautahi Christchurch.

We host events, conversations, and opportunities to join community groups, innovators and organisations as they share with us all what they love to do.  With Little Andromeda theatre next door and open for cross-pollination, we have created a lively community in the heart of the city. 

We are open 9am-5pm Monday to Friday, with options for individual after hours access, and events as advertised. We invite you to connect with us as we co-create this new way of coming together in the central city if you’d like to host an event or book space for a work hui. Keep an eye on The Green Lab’s  social media as we share ongoing programming details.

understorey [tuarua] is the second phase of a pilot project; The Green Lab’s dream is to find a permanent home supported by a sustainable business model. This phase is supported by The Terrace, Little Andromeda, and Christchurch City Council.

Visit this page to learn about how you can be part of the understorey community.