The future of Christchurch’s Cardboard Cathedral is suddenly looking uncertain. Options could include sale or deconstruction, reports say. Questions about the cathedral’s fate arose over the weekend when the parish it belongs to agreed to dissolve. Christchurch’s Anglican Bishop Peter Carrell says this agreement enables options for the parish’s property to be considered. The property Read more
Christchurch’s cardboard cathedral has become a permanent fixture for the city after the Anglican church was granted last-minute permission to keep the building. The $5.3 million Transitional Cathedral was built in 2012 and 2013 under emergency legislation as a temporary replacement for the earthquake-wrecked Christ Church Cathedral. That legislation allowed consents lasting until June 30 Read more
Two church fires broke out in Christchurch early Monday morning and authorities are treating the circumstances behind the blazes as suspicious. A cafe in New Brighton also caught fire at about 5.30am. Fire crews were first called to the Kingdom Hall of Jehovah’s Witnesses in Burwood just after 3 am. Less than half an hour Read more
One of architecture’s most prestigious international awards has been given to the man behind Christchurch’s cardboard cathedral. Shigeru Banhas been named the winner of the 2014 Pritzker Architecture Prize. The 56-year-old Tokyo-born architect is known for his elegant, innovative and resourceful approach to design, as well as his humanitarian efforts. Ban will be given the Read more
After a five-year engagement and months of busking to raise funds, a Lyttelton couple have become the first to be wed in the Transitional Cardboard Cathedral. Jill Jefferies and James Dobinson, who both have Down syndrome, married on Saturday before about 100 well-wishers, family and friends. The couple had busked at the Lyttelton Farmers Market Read more
Cardboard cathedral architect Shigeru Ban says reaction to the transitional building has been “unexpectedly big” after it broke the prejudice that it would be either humble or cheap. Ban, from Japan, has designed buildings all over the world and is noted for his innovation with paper-based designs. He was in Christchurch to see the cathedral Read more
First it was February, then Easter, then July, but now it looks like August. The so-called Cardboard Cathedral has turned out to be a normal building project, the Anglican church says, but should be open for services by the end of the next month. The temporary Anglican cathedral, designed by Japanese architect Shigeru Ban and Read more
Construction of the transitional cardboard cathedral in Christchurch is due to get under way in earnest today. The temporary church will be built on St John’s Latimer Square, which before the earthquake had been home to the city’s earliest stone church. The concrete foundation was being poured at the site on Monday. Continue reading
Contractors began digging the foundations for the Anglican Church’s new base in Christchurch, popularly known as the cardboard cathedral, on Tuesday. A spokesperson for the earthquake-damaged Christ Church Cathedral, Reverend Craig Dixon, says he heard on Monday building consent for the foundations of the temporary replacement had been granted. Rev Dixon says work on the Read more
Christchurch’s interim cardboard cathedral should be good to go by December. Of course it’s not all cardboard and may well last over 50 years but that’s not the point. It’s the sense of impermanence that has promise. Cathedrals tend to play down impermanence, opting instead for solid and imposing, but they’ve always had a more ethereal and Read more