Plan Sharing of Constructing the Cathedral Church

The Dean of the Christchurch Cathedral, The Very Reverend Dean Peter Beck, paid a visit to Fo Guang Shan (FGS) South Island in the afternoon of August 31 welcomed by Buddha’s Light International Association (BLIA) South Island President, Almeric Cheng, Fo Guang Yuan (FGY) Art Gallery Christchurch Artistic Coordinator, See-Shen Lee, together with the directors and members of the BLIA, Gina Chen, Louisa Kuo, Benny Wong and Ding Lihson. With an extremely tight schedule in recovering churches after the 2011 February 22 earthquake, the Dean still make up time in concerning FGS South Island and exchanging attainments.

Since the historical Cathedral Church was built in 1864, it became the icon and a famous landmark for Christchurch. Major repairs would surely take time as another big aftershock in June followed after the February 22 earthquake. With a feasibility study, world-renowned architect, Shigeru Ban, which worked in many earthquake-hit cities, has been invited. One of his most well-known projects was a church that he designed for Kobe, Japan after the 1995 earthquake and current project of reconstructing Japan that was hit by the major tsunami on March 11 this year.

Different from the traditional buildings built by bricks and concrete, this Japanese architect build with cardboard which are readily available, recyclable and surprisingly strong. The brief was to design a building that would be sustainable, environmentally friendly, safe, durable, beautiful, innovative and versatile. The “Cardboard Cathedral” will be weatherproof, fire resistant, secure, and could last for 15 years; which is long enough to sustain while the Cathedral Church in the Cathedral Square is reconstructing. If it does proceed, a building could be completed and in place by 22 February 2012, one year after Canterbury's second large earthquake.

After the Dean shared the plan, he was invited for lunch at the Water Drop Cafe where food and tea were praised to be delicious and healthy. The Dean wishes to come back for more, to be closer with the community and to have more cultural exchange.