A cathedral made from cardboard — the idea might sound flimsy, particularly given that cathedrals tend to be known for their solid presence: the flying buttresses, the soaring domes, the Gothic grandeur. However, in the earthquake-devastated city of Christchurch, New Zealand, Anglican leaders believe it will deliver both a temporary solution and a statement about the city’s recovery.
Yesterday, they announced plans to build a 25m high cathedral constructed 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 Reverend Craig Dixon, a church spokesman, said the temporary cathedral would seat 700 people, cost up to NZ$5 million (US$4.1 million) and would be used for 10 years while a permanent -replacement is designed and built.
The Japanese architect, Shigeru Ban, has used cardboard as a material for other temporary buildings, including a “paper church” that was used as a community center after the 1995 Kobe earthquake in Japan.
Dixon said he hopes construction can begin within about six weeks and be completed by the end of the year.
“I think this building has the potential to become an icon in its own right,” he said. “I think it will be greatly loved for a long time.”
Dixon said the structure would be weatherproof and fire-resistant. He said the plan is to use traditional materials like concrete, steel and wood to provide structural support to the A-frame-style cathedral and an attached annex. Up to two dozen shipping containers inside would provide space for offices, a kitchen and storage, he added, while the roof would be made of an opaque polycarbonate material.
Richard Gray, the chairman of a church group that has been driving the project, said the cathedral would make a statement that Christchurch is moving forward, and that people are finding solutions that are not only innovative, but also environmentally friendly — after all, he says, the cathedral would be recyclable.
Anglican leaders in Christchurch have chosen a site in Latimer Square, about 300m from the ruins of the current cathedral and near where 115 people died when the Canterbury Television (CTV) building collapsed.
“It’s very symbolic that it’s across the road from the CTV building. It’s very poignant,” Gray said.
Anglican leaders have yet to submit their final plans to city officials, who would need to approve them before construction could begin. City officials did not respond to requests for comment yesterday, although Gray said he was confident the church has done its due diligence and the project would be approved.
The Bolivian government on Friday struck a deal with protesting miners, but was still grappling with blockades and demonstrations by other workers across La Paz. Other groups are still blocking access roads into the city, which is also the seat of the government. Police on Thursday prevented the miners from entering the main square by using tear gas, while the demonstrators hurled stones and explosives with slingshots. Protests against the policies of Bolivian President Rodrigo Paz have convulsed the Andean nation since early this month, and roadblocks were choking routes into La Paz throughout Friday, the national road authority said. Miners demanded that Paz
The Philippines said it has asked the country’s Supreme Court to allow it to arrest former Philippine president Rodrigo Duterte’s chief drug war enforcer to stand trial in an international tribunal. The International Criminal Court (ICC) last week unsealed an arrest warrant against Philippine Senator Ronald dela Rosa, accusing him along with Duterte and other “coperpetrators” of the “crime against humanity of murder.” Dela Rosa briefly sought refuge in the Philippine Senate last week while asking the Philippine Supreme Court to stop an ongoing attempt by government agents to arrest him. “By his own conduct, he has placed himself outside the protection of
A ship anchored off the United Arab Emirates (UAE) was seized and taken toward Iran and another — a cargo ship near Oman — sank after being attacked, authorities said on Thursday, as tensions escalated near the Strait of Hormuz. It was not immediately clear who was behind these incidents, but they happened as a senior Iranian official reiterated his country’s claim of control over the waterway and another said it had a right to seize oil tankers connected to the US. The turmoil in the strait has been a sticking point for weeks in talks between the US and Iran to
The researchers in Ireland looked at their computer screen, marveling at a medieval book tracked down in a Roman library. They flipped through its digitized pages and found their sought-after treasure: the oldest surviving English poem. “We were extremely surprised. We were speechless. We couldn’t believe our eyes when we first saw that,” said Elisabetta Magnanti, a visiting research fellow at Trinity College Dublin’s school of English. The poem was also within the main body of Latin text, she said, calling it “extraordinary.” Composed in Old English by a Northumbrian agricultural worker in the 7th century, Caedmon’s Hymn appears within some copies of
RSS