Christchurch, New Zealand -- Construction of Christchurch's cardboard cathedral will resume early in January, 3D News NZ reports.
The six-storey A-frame construction will form a temporary home for the cathedral's congregation while the city's historic cathedral is demolished and rebuilt, following its destruction in earthquakes in 2010.
The "transitional cathedral," which will hold about 700 people, is being built with massive cardboard tubes made from recycled paper, treated with flame retardant and coated with polyurethane.
The Japanese architect for the project, Shigeru Ban, has made temporary paper structures in other earthquake-damaged regions. Cardboard is strong, yet flexible to resist earthquake damage.
Almost all the 64 tubes, 83 cm in diameter and up to 22 m long, which will make up the new cathedral are now made and will be moved to the building site in January 2013, 3D News NZ said.
