Cardboard Cathedral Planned In New Zealand

ef worker walks past the earthquake-damaged Christchurch Cathedral in Christchurch, New Zealand. The iconic downtown cathedral in central Christchurch will be deconsecrated and partially demolished due to earthquake damage earlier this year. The safety measure will allow authorities to decide whether to retain any portion of the city's most well-known building. (AP Photo/Mark Baker, File)

WELLINGTON, New Zealand — The world's great cathedrals are known for their architectural statements: flying buttresses, soaring domes, Gothic grandeur. Not for their cardboard.

In the city of Christchurch, Anglican leaders are hoping to change that. On Monday, they announced plans to build a soaring 25-meter (82-foot) high cathedral with 104 tubes of cardboard as a temporary replacement for the iconic stone ChristChurch Cathedral, which was destroyed last year in an earthquake that killed 185 people.

The temporary cathedral will cost about 5 million New Zealand dollars ($4.1 million). It will include traditional structural materials like concrete and steel, as well as a polycarbonate roof.

The Rev. Craig Dixon said it will be weatherproof and fire-resistant.

Comments

[Zriv123]

01:17 PM on 04/17/2012

Again, starving children in africa < 5million dollar church made of paper...

[freedom1947]

10:55 AM on 04/17/2012

Cardboard? Like american churches, maybe they're sending the majority of their collections to Swiss banks?

[Killermolls44]

12:35 AM on 04/17/2012

And that would crumble like graham crackers in a bad storm or another quake.

[Beccs]

10:57 PM on 04/16/2012

And just think how much help those $NZ5 million could be to the people of Christchurch who have lost their livelihood and homes . . .

[Asal Cliste]

06:43 PM on 04/16/2012

Why not, the whole of the religion is built of flimsy material.

[Killermolls44]

12:36 AM on 04/17/2012

LOL

[VinZenTexaN]

06:10 PM on 04/16/2012

Cool then we can light it on fire because that is the ONLY way a church can illuminate

[john bruno]

03:21 PM on 04/16/2012

Sounds like a sure waste of $4.1 million dollars to me.

But what do we know...it is their money.

[Killermolls44]

12:36 AM on 04/17/2012

Really $4.1 million for a bunch of cardboard?!
What a ripoff.

[smp276dp]

02:08 PM on 04/16/2012

What happens when it rains?

[elarciel]

11:34 PM on 04/16/2012

Polycarb roof. Personally, I swear by brush-on Minwax polycrylic. For a cathedral you'd probably want to go with the satin rather than high gloss, as it's less showy, therefore showing less hubris. This is the Anglicans, after all, not the Catholics. For a Catholic cathedral you'd want Behr Pearlescent (gold veil), then the polycrylic.

[smp276dp]

11:37 PM on 04/16/2012

I guess tha explains it hahahaha

[Jon Geiser]

04:49 AM on 04/17/2012

hahahahahahahahahahahaha...thanks

[charlesrfd2003]

01:58 PM on 04/16/2012

I wonder how many years a temporary structure like this will last. Maybe we could build sports arenas the same way. The way NBA teams want new arenas this may be a solution. Tell the Maloofs and Mayor Johnson in Sacramento.

[baydolphins]

01:27 PM on 04/16/2012

this makes me so proud to be a kiwi...I wish the US had done this when 9/11 ocurred. just to say FU to the muslims

[gustavoike]

01:47 PM on 04/16/2012

As a New Yorker Im not quite sure how putting up a cardboard skyscraper would say FU to anybody. No, here we take our time, think argue things out, sue eachother if need be , and finally come up with a Freedom Tower that looks amazing to all who gaze at it. NOW we can say FU to anyone who is in our face.

[baydolphins]

05:22 PM on 04/16/2012

I agree...I guess you kind of have to be a kiwi to get it. I'm really sad about the new world trade center though...I went there and found that the new one is REALLY depressing. The best part is those days they shoot the lights into the sky that look like the old buildings. This new thing and that gaping hole in the floor memorial pool is painful to look at.

[gustavoike]

07:15 PM on 04/16/2012

You need to come back to our city then! With the reflecting pool and the freedom tower and what will be done in the next few years, New York will properly remember the victims and move on. We are a city that moves on. That is who we are.

[Hanover Fiste]

01:04 PM on 04/16/2012

My first thought was Utah.

[mktmaven]

12:56 PM on 04/16/2012

A real house of cards.

[elarciel]

11:45 PM on 04/16/2012

Oooh, you are bad. Bad bad mktmaven. No treat, no walkies.

[firstamendment3]

12:56 PM on 04/16/2012

Finally, a church that admits that it is made from nothing more than toilet paper roles.

[Retired E-9]

01:06 PM on 04/16/2012

And what "roles" has toilet paper played? I've never heard of a movie starring toilet paper.

[crazyryou]

12:42 PM on 04/16/2012

five million on a temporary fix....That 5 million would be a good start toward a permanent structure. If the congregation is already meeting elsewhere, why not continue until the church is built the way it is supposed to be. You don't really need a 'church' to serve God and to listen to The Word, a place to congregate is all you need.

[Catherine Mitchell]

12:19 PM on 04/16/2012

Waste of money, but I don't live in New Zealand, therefore, I don't care!