Dive Brief:

• A cathedral that opened this month in Christchurch, New Zealand, uses paper tubes as the supporting element of the A-frame worship space.
• The tubes are anchored at the base to shipping containers that are anchored to a concrete base.
• Japanese architect Shigeru Ban designed the tube structure to temporarily replace the city's Anglican cathedral that was damaged beyond repair in February 2011.

Brief Insight:

Ban has designed other paper-tube structures, but this is his biggest at 8,611 square feet and 79 feet high near the altar. The walls/roof of the A-frame use 98 tubes, which were made in New Zealand, are reinforced with wooden inserts sourced locally and are covered by translucent panels.