Handsome book published to mark first anniversary of opening of Christchurch's cardboard cathedral

Shigeru Ban: Cardboard Cathedral

Andrew Barrie

 Auckland University Press

Hardback, 235 x 165mm, 252 pages

978 1 86940 767 4

Pub. date  12 August 2014, $59.99

Publishing for the one-year anniversary of the opening of the ‘Cardboard Cathedral’ in Christchurch – this book tells the story of this innovative and symbolic structure designed by Pritzker Prize-winning architect Shigeru Ban.

An expert in disaster-zone building, Shigeru Ban has been exploring questions about humanitarian and post-disaster responses for decades. Shigeru Ban: Cardboard Cathedral backgrounds his remarkable story and documents the construction of the cathedral – his largest post-disaster structure to date – in essays, architectural drawings and specially commissioned photographs. Shigeru Ban has given his time pro-bono to this project, visiting Christchurch post-earthquake, on average, every six weeks.

Originally conceived as a temporary building, the cathedral’s construction involved design challenges, structural innovations and help from the community; and the finished, now permanent structure seems set to become an enduring symbol of Christchurch’s revival. This book offers profound insights into great architecture and its social role – vital reading for anyone interested in contemporary architecture and for all those looking to what the future might hold for Christchurch.

Includes a foreword by the Very Reverend Lynda Patterson, Dean of Christchurch Cathedral; an introduction by Shigeru Ban; an essay by Professor of Design Andrew Barrie; architectural drawings by Yoshie Narimatsu and Shigeru Ban Architects; documentary photographs by Bridgit Anderson; full-colour plates by Stephen Goodenough; and an afterward by David Mitchell.

Shigeru Ban’s career now spans 30 years and has been characterized by both consistently innovative and adventurous design, and a concern for those who normally don't have access to such architecture – the dispossessed and traumatized victims of disasters.

Author Dr Andrew Barrie is a designer, leading scholar of Japanese architecture and professor in the School of Architecture at the University of Auckland. He is one of the few foreigners to have worked in the office of leading architect Toyo Ito and worked for Pip Cheshire in Auckland before joining the university.