Description

The earthquake in Kobe in early 1995 destroyed large parts of Nagata, one of the poorer quarters of the city. Among the buildings that burned down was a timber Catholic church used primarily by Vietnamese immigrants. Within six months the Paper Church had been erected in its place. As the architect – who has since gone on to push forward the boundaries of lightweight construction – embarked on the design, he was aware that the church needed to be built at low cost and as quickly as possible. In addition, it needed to be easy to transport, to dismantle and assemble. The materials and construction would therefore need to be such that the building could be erected by volunteers without professional skills.

Despite its apparent simplicity, it is an architecture of exquisite proportions. Measuring 15.3 by 11.1 by 5 metres, the proportions of its length, breadth and height are exactly 3:2:1. The building consists of a box that encloses an elliptical cylinder. The tension between the rectangular and the curvilinear give the building a form that is at once classical and baroque.

A standardised industrial product is used for the main construction: 58 tubes of 15 millimetre thick brown laminated cardboard, each with a height of 5 metres and a diameter of 33 centimetres. The columns are simply slotted over a footing, a base made of a wooden disc and cross. Each column is topped with a second disc as stopper. To protect against water, the tubes are painted with a polyurethane coating. The paper columns offer half the load-bearing capacity of timber columns, easily sufficient to support the membrane roof. The white textile roof has a teflon coating to protect it against fire. A system of rods and cables give the tensile roof rigidity and form, lending it the qualities of an umbrella or parasol.

On the south face and half of each of the narrow side faces, the outer wall gives way to a series of finely ridged double doors. Made of polycarbonate sheeting and aluminium, the doors span the full-height from floor to ceiling. They serve not only as ventilation but can also be opened fully so that a church service can be followed by those standing outside. The closed and open sides of the building are reflected in the spacing of the columns, which stand further apart to the south and closer together behind the altar. Leaving aside the ambulatory between the structural columns and outer skin, the church offers sufficient space for 90 persons. The translucent materials used for the roof and outer skin ensure the building is always light during the day.

To the right of the church stands a statue of the figure of Christ, the only remaining artefact from the previous church. The Paper Church was always envisaged as a temporary solution and stood on this spot for ten years. In 2005 it was dismantled and re-erected on a site in Taiwan.

The Architectural Review, no. 9/1996, pp. 20- and no. 12/1999, p. 71 | L’Architecture d’Aujourd’hui, no. 306/1996, pp. 40- | Shigeru Ban, New York 2001, pp. 100- | Cargill Thompson, Jessica: 40 Architects under 40, Cologne 2000, pp. 93- | Constantinopoulos, Vivian (Ed.): 10 x 10. 10 Critics 100 Architects, London 2000, p. 70 | Deutsche Bauzeitschrift, no. 6/1997, pp. 33- | Ecclesia, no. 5/1996, pp. 64- | Heathcote, Edwin, Moffatt, Laura: Contemporary Church Architecture, Chichester 2007, pp. 150- | The Japan Architect, no. 30/1998, pp. 86- and no. 42/2001, pp. 50- | McQuaid, Matilda: Shigeru Ban, London 2003, pp. 42-, p. 235 | Richardson, Phyllis: New Sacred Architecture, London 2004, pp. 202-

---

Originally published in: Rudolf Stegers, Sacred Buildings: A Design Manual, Birkhäuser, 2008.