Cardboard Cathedral - CathNews New Zealand

Christchurch Cardboard Cathedral may be sold or deconstructed

Juliet Palmer — Thu, 14 Sep 2023 06:01:06 +0000

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 includes the Cardboard Cathedral and the land it stands on.

Whatever happens, the Anglican community will continue to use the Cardboard Cathedral (formally called the Transitional Cathedral} until 2027, the bishop says. That's when the earthquake-damaged Christ Church Cathedral is set to reopen for worship.

He clarified that it won't be possible for both cathedrals to function at the same time.

The Transitional Cathedral opened opposite Latimer Square in 2013 as a temporary place of worship. The unique, award-winning building soon became popular with locals and tourists alike.

Carrell said he understands many Cantabrians have become attached to the building. He knows they don't want it sold or demolished. Their feelings would be factored into the final decision, he said.

Sadness and loss

Many Cantabrians are alarmed and concerned about the Cardboard Cathedral's future.

They don't want it sold or put to secular use - such as a pub.

But the structure is on prime piece of real estate which is "screaming out" for redevelopment, says Christchurch real estate agent Mark O'Loughlin. He knows the site well.

"That site there is 4,000 square metres of land ... [it]... could sell for between $1500 to possibly $1800 a square metre," he told 1News.

Such comments have seen those concerned for the cathedral's future speak out.

The Reverend Craig Dixon is one who has made his views clear. He led the Cardboard Cathedral project after the 2011 earthquake.

"It seems to be a quick way to grab some cash to throw at the cathedral at the square," he says.

"I think that's an unfortunate response.

"It's a publicly significant building for Christchurch and for New Zealand and was the first public building to be constructed post-earthquakes.

"There are people in Christchurch very attached to the transitional cathedral and some of them were present in our synod and spoke up in favour of it being retained as a building.

"It is an amazing building and so our consideration of future possible uses will look into how it might still remain as a building, it won't be our cathedral."

Options open

Carrell says the diocese is not committed to selling the Cardboard Cathedral site, but is exploring various options.

"The Synod was very clear that for some Cantabrians, there is a strong attachment ... it is an award winning, iconic building...

"How the building might be retained and who might take responsibility for its future maintenance and insurance costs is something we will be looking into," he says.

A working group will explore potential futures for the land and buildings on the corner of Madras and Hereford Streets, and report to the Anglican synod in 2024.

Source

Christchurch Cardboard Cathedral may be sold or deconstructed

Cardboard cathedral is allowed to stay after rush to secure consent

Juliet Palmer — Mon, 27 Sep 2021 06:52:02 +0000

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 this year, 10 years after the quakes.

The cardboard cathedral was designed by award-winning Japanese architect Shigeru Ban, who specialises in disaster recovery architecture.

With the consent expiry approaching, the Church Property Trustees applied to the city council for resource consent to allow the building to remain. The consent was granted a few weeks ago. Read more

Cardboard cathedral is allowed to stay after rush to secure consent

Two church fires in Christchurch suspicious

denisohagan — Mon, 07 Sep 2020 08:02:59 +0000

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 later, at 3.30 am, fire crews were called to the Cardboard Cathedral, on Hereford St, after an automatic alarm went off - triggering an alert to fire authorities.

There was a small fire in a backroom.

A third fire occurred at the Beach Road Cafe in New Brighton early Monday morning.

Fire and Emergency say the large Kingdom Hall of Jehovah's Witness building has extensive damage, and three crews were needed to put it out.

A resident who lives opposite the Kingdom Hall of Jehovah's Witnesses said she and her family woke to see large flames and fire and police crews.

She was worried the blaze would spread to the houses beside the church.

"I'm surprised that there's so much [of the church] left," she said.

Southern fire communications said the fire at the Cardboard Cathedral was out by the time staff arrived at the scene.

A Fire and Emergency New Zealand spokesperson said it was unusual to have two church fires within half an hour of one another.

In a statement, police said they are seeking information on three suspicious fires in Christchurch in the early hours of the morning.

"Police were alerted to three separate fires at the Kingdom Hall of Jehovah's Witnesses in Parklands, the Christchurch Transitional Cathedral (Cardboard Cathedral) on Hereford Street and the Beach Road Cafe in New Brighton."

Police and Fire and Emergency staff attended all scenes on Monday morning to conduct scene examinations.

Source

Two church fires in Christchurch suspicious

Cardboard cathedral designer wins top prize

admin — Thu, 27 Mar 2014 18:06:11 +0000

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 distinguished award at a ceremony at Amsterdam's Rijksmuseum on June 13, recognising his work creating community buildings for disaster victims around the work. Continue reading

Cardboard cathedral designer wins top prize

First wedding in Cardboard Cathedral

admin — Mon, 11 Nov 2013 18:06:28 +0000

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 to raise money for the wedding, with Dobinson playing keyboard while Jefferies danced. Continue reading

First wedding in Cardboard Cathedral

Cardboard cathedral crushes 'prejudice'

admin — Mon, 02 Sep 2013 19:06:52 +0000

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 officially opened last night.

"I am very happy, especially when I hear some good impressions from the general public." Continue reading

Cardboard cathedral crushes ‘prejudice'

Cardboard cathedral to open August

admin — Thu, 18 Jul 2013 19:06:23 +0000

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 incorporating 98 beams incased in cardboard, had been subject to normal construction delays, said Anglican church spokesman Jason Rhodes. Continue reading

Cardboard cathedral to open August

Foundation work begins at cardboard cathedral

admin — Mon, 24 Sep 2012 19:30:50 +0000

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.

Foundation work begins at cardboard cathedral

Cardboard Cathedral in use by Christmas

admin — Thu, 26 Jul 2012 19:30:27 +0000

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 foundations of the transitional cathedral began on Tuesday morning.

He says it was originally thought the foundations would cost $150,000, but as details of the design emerged it became apparent the cost will be closer to $600,000.

Rev Dixon says fundraising for about $1.2 million will be necessary for the entire building, in addition to the $4m already set aside.

He says help is coming from as far away as Adelaide and Britain, and he is confident the transitional cathedral will be standing by Christmas.

Continue reading

Cardboard Cathedral in use by Christmas

Impermanence of cardboard cathedral has promise

admin — Mon, 23 Apr 2012 19:34:27 +0000

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 symbolic function. In medieval times they represented paradise. Even their huge wooden doors formed part of the illusion, drawing worshippers into heavenly realms. To step across the threshold was to enter the dwelling place of God, an idea connected back to the Jewish story of the Ten Commandments.

God gives Moses the commandments etched on two stone tablets. They travel in a box known as the Ark of the Covenant, becoming a powerful symbol of God's presence. Once the people settled and built the Jerusalem temple the ark rested in the holy of holies, a place only accessible once a year by the high priest.

Change being the only certainty, world politics intervened in 586 BCE . King Nebuchadnezzar invaded, destroyed the temple and the ark disappeared. When the temple was rebuilt, all that was left in the holy of holies was space. The symbol of God's presence had become a great emptiness. A bit like the ruin that Christchurch Cathedral is now.

The shattering of a religious symbol disturbs more than the physical ground on which we stand. Perhaps because they hover in an inexplicable way on the fault lines of the soul, the places where what matters is most fragile.

Whilst an architect may be the actual designer of a cathedral, they are formed out of much more than one person's creative imaginings. There's the long religious tradition that stretches back beyond Christianity and the diverse spiritual mix of the surrounding community complete with their troubles, joys, hopes and dreams. It's complicated.

All of this comes together in a building with a religious purpose that unexpectedly means more than people anticipate, whatever their beliefs or lack of them. It's hard to explain or even talk about as one woman discovered when she called Christchurch Cathedral 'a dear, dear, wee thing'. An awkward phrase but she's expressing an intimate and deeply felt connection to the whole package, seen and unseen.

At their best, within the security of its walls and its religious rituals, cathedrals offer space; to be vulnerable, to not know in a world that values certainty, to entertain more questions than answers and to hold all-comers in the fragility and impermanence of that unknowing.

These strange, towering edifices, whether cardboard or concrete, hold a much more significant place in people's hearts than we often realise. With their processions, costumes, music, art and drama there's a sense that even if you've given up God, someone is minding the space, the great emptiness of God's presence. May it continue to be so for Christchurch.

Sources

Sande Ramage in Vaughan Park
Image: inhabit

Impermanence of cardboard cathedral has promise

No public money for new cathedral says ex mayor

admin — Thu, 19 Apr 2012 05:56:34 +0000

A former Christchurch mayor, Garry Moore, says the Christchurch City Council should refuse provide public money for new cathedral to be built in the city.

The temporary cathedral, to be built on the corner of the Hereford and Madras streets where the demolished St John's Church once stood, is expected to cost about $5m.

Insurance money is expected to cover about $4m, and fundraising will cover the shortfall.

The Anglican Church received $240,000 a year for the running of the quake-damaged ChristChurch Cathedral up until July last year.

It's now seeking the same amount for the new temporary cathedral Fairfax Media reports.

The application will be considered by councillors in July, however Garry Moore says the council should turn down the request, as the church did not involve the public in the decision to demolish the iconic Christchurch Cathedral.

No public money for new cathedral says ex mayor

Anglicans get temporary Cathedral - Silence over Catholic Basilica

admin — Sun, 15 Apr 2012 19:30:38 +0000

On Monday 16 April the Anglican Church announced plans for the "transitional" cathedral designed by a top Japanese "paper architect".

While public debate continues to rage over the decision by the Anglican Diocese of Christchurch to demolish Cathedral in the Square, columnist Jane Bowron notes there has been relative silence over the future of the Catholic Basilica in Babados St. She asks why the Catholics have been "allowed to get on with their decision- making processes in relative peace, while the Anglicans have to fight it out in the streets and letters to the editor pages of The Press?"

"I suspect there remains in Christchurch the notion of old that the Catholics are still regarded as peripheral, parked over on the edge of town in an area back in the day that was next to the gas works that turned the cathedral a nicotine yellow." she says

Source

Anglicans get temporary Cathedral - Silence over Catholic Basilica