Anglican cathedral made from cardboard
In the city of Christchurch of Wellington, New Zealand Anglican leaders have decided to build a temporary cardboard cathedral to replace the iconic stone Christ-Church Cathedral, which was ruined in the last year’s devastating earthquake that killed 185 people and destroyed much of the town’s center.
Although most of us imagine solid, grand, architectural masterpieces when mentioning the word cathedral, the city leaders hope to bring relief to the community with this temporary solution, which would be used for at least 10 years, until a more permanent replacement is designed and built.
For the creation of this marvelous building is hired the Japanese architect, Shigeru Ban, who has also designed and built a "paper church" used as a community center after the 1995 Kobe earthquake in Japan. According to his plans the cathedral should be 25 meters high and made of 104 cardboard tubes. It will also include traditional structural materials like concrete, wood and steel, as well as a polycarbonate roof. The new cathedral should have capacity for 700 people and will be weatherproof and fire-resistant. Designing and building it would cost up to 5 million New Zealand dollars ($4.1 million).
Anglican leaders have chosen a site for the new innovative and environmentally friendly building in Latimer Square, about 300 meters from the ruins of the current cathedral and near the place where the Canterbury Television building collapsed. The final plans still need to be submitted to city officials, for approval before construction could begin. However, church officials hope construction can begin within about six weeks and be completed by the end of the year.
Source: Associated Press
