Could this be Christchurch's new rugby stadium?

A proposal for a sports stadium in Lyttelton. Bull/O'Sullivan Architecture Limited

A leading New Zealand architect has described the proposed 25,000 stadium for Christchurch as "ungenerous and short-sighted", saying too that the central city site lacks the appropriate energy for a sporting and entertainment centre.

Auckland-based Michael O'Sullivan said in the interests of starting a full and frank debate about the facility which he said was crucial to the development of the city following the earthquakes, he is proposing that the stadium should be built in the port of Lyttelton.

His plan was based on a stadium of 50,000 which would be accessed by light rail through the Port Hills tunnel, a facility that would also be used for cruise ship passengers, a place too that he said would have real presence on an under-used harbour.

A recent feasibility report has found that the preferred option for a new covered stadium in the city was one with a 25,000-seat capacity with a retractable pitch and which would cost nearly half a billion dollars.

It would be built on land across three blocks on Barbados Street in the city.

O'Sullivan, who owns a property in Lyttelton and has been involved in more than 300 re-build projects in Christchurch following the earthquakes, said other options should be considered because a stadium with a capacity of 25,000 was "ungenerous and shortsighted.

"If the purchased land is still inside the Barbados street 'sporting precinct' then the siting of the proposed stadium is sorely lacking when you consider the words, 'suspense', 'anticipation', 'drama' and 'theatre'.

"These words you must be able to imagine standing on the land without the stadium in place.

"In other words... the land has not the energy for the proposed precinct.

"The timing is perfect to advocate that architects should be determining the positions and inevitably the design of these critical buildings, not planners and politicians."

Dunedin's popular Forsyth-Barr Stadium is built near the city's harbour, with the same applying to Wellington's Westpac Stadium. The favourite location for a possible new stadium in Auckland is also a water-front site.

"Christchurch pioneered architecture in this country from 1860-1970 - so far the rebuild has failed to reach the grandeur the city was once known for," O'Sullivan said.

"The simple nature of this gladiatorial arena is advocated by the fact the all the actions inside the stadium are on the 'edge'; the edge of the entrance to the whole of the South Island, namely Lyttelton Harbour which is steeped in history.

"Lyttelton is where Canterbury started for Anglo-Saxon New Zealand, where the four ships landed... Maori were close by in Rapaki, they advised against building on the swamp that is now Christchurch.

"Light rail to the city and airport would attend to the anticipated thousands that will arrive during the cruise ship seasons and conversely when punters want to go to a game-event at the stadium from the city.

"It is envisaged that this proposal start the very important discussion that the stadium needs to happen sooner rather than later and that all options are canvassed."

The clock is already ticking, and in particular for the Crusaders, the new Super Rugby Champions, and New Zealand Rugby.

Due to the lack of an appropriate stadium, Christchurch was not awarded an All Blacks test this year and won't get one next year or the year after, with Nelson being awarded one next year instead, the first to be held in the city.

AMI Stadium in Addington, the current home of the Crusaders, was built within 100 days in 2011 following the February earthquake of that year, and is coming to the end of its natural life without plans for a replacement in place.