Cardboard cathedral planned in New Zealand
This undated artist rendering shows the cardboard cathedral unveiled April 16, 2012, by the Anglican diocese of Christchurch. The church will serve as a temporary replacement until the iconic Christchurch Cathedral can be rebuilt following last year’s earthquake.
A cathedral made of cardboard? What may sound like a flimsy idea is becoming a reality in earthquake-prone New Zealand.
On Monday, the country's Anglican church announced plans to build an 82-foot-high cathedral with 104 tubes of cardboard. The structure will be a temporary replacement for the iconic stone ChristChurch Cathedral, which was ruined last year in an earthquake that killed 185 people and destroyed much of the downtown, The Associated Press reported.
"The Transitional Cathedral is a symbol of hope for the future of this city as well as being sustainable and affordable," church spokesman Richard Gray told Reuters.
The temporary cathedral will seat 700 people, cost up to $4.1 million, and be used for 10 years while a permanent replacement is designed and built, church spokesman the Rev. Craig Dixon told the AP.
The A-frame structure was designed by Japanese architect Shigeru Ban, who created a similar "paper church" after the 1995 Kobe earthquake in Japan, according to Reuters.
New Zealand church leaders said they hope construction can begin within about six weeks and be completed by Christmas.