Christchurch New Zealand will be the home of one of the world's most bizarre building projects of 2012, a Cathedral made from cardboard. According to Church official website, work will start next week on a US$ 4.1 million temporary "Cardboard Cathedral" in Christchurch city center to replace the cathedral which was irreversibly damaged in last year's earthquake. The Cathedral will be fashioned from cardboard tubes, as well as timber beams and structural steel, and is expected to last 20 years. It is the largest "emergency structure" to be designed by Shigeru Ban who, with the support of associate architect Yoshie Narimatsu, has contributed his time free of charge and gifted the building's design to the cathedral, Anglican Diocese and city. Ban, known as "an emergency architect" who has built temporary houses in post-disaster centers, including Japan, Turkey, China, Italy, and Haiti said cardboard was the ideal building product for the new cathedral. "The strength of the building has nothing to do with the strength of the material," he said. Even concrete buildings can be destroyed by earthquakes very easily. But paper buildings cannot be destroyed by earthquakes. It's also consistently low-cost. Normally after disasters the price of building materials goes higher, but since this is not a traditional building material, it's very easy to get. Holmes Consulting structural engineer Jamie McGregor is pleased to be taking part in the construction. "It's not hard to motivate yourself. It's very exciting too to be involved in something like this, it's a great building it's going to be really cool. This thing's 25 meter high and it's very light so there are a lot of issues to work through, in terms of the construction method," Mr McGregor says. "It's going to take everything we've got I think." As for the old cathedral, it's still sitting half torn down in the city center. The High Court's due to make a decision on its fate next month. The Christchurch cardboard Cathedral is in inventive and inspirational project which has the potential to become an iconic landmark for Christchurch's imminent recovery.

When I. M. Pei's glass pyramid opened at the Louvre more than 20 years ago, many argued that this 21.3 meters tall structure had destroyed the classical beauty of one of the world's great museums. But today, as crowds wait on long lines outside the pyramid, which serves as the Louvre's main entrance, what once seemed audacious has become as accepted a part of the city's visual landscape as the Eiffel Tower or the Arc de Triomphe. Now the museum is again risking the public's wrath as it introduces the most radical architectural intervention since the pyramid in 1989. Designed to house new galleries for Islamic art, it consists of ground- and lower-ground-level interior spaces topped by a golden, undulating roof that seems to float within the neo-Classical Visconti Courtyard in the middle of the Louvre's south wing, right below the museum's most popular galleries, where the Mona Lisa and Veronese's "Wedding Feast of Cana" are hung. This deftly engineered design is the work of two architects, the Italian Mario Bellini and the Frenchman Rudy Ricciotti, who won an international competition to create the new wing in 2005. Seven years in the making, the US$ 125 million project, which opened on September 22. When the plans were first unveiled, the architects said, the roof resembled "a scarf floating within the space" - a somewhat loaded description, perhaps, considering that last year the French officially banned full veils in public places. The museum's "luminous veil," or "flying carpet" as it has also been called, covers some 2790 square meters of gallery space on the ground and lower floors. The new galleries, roughly four times as large as the space previously devoted to Islamic art at the Louvre, house a collection spanning 1,200 years of history, from the 7th through the 19th centuries, and includes glass works, ceramics, metalwork, books, manuscripts, textiles and carpets. The roof is actually constructed of a free-form lattice composed of 8,000 steel tubes and glass covered by gilded metal. The undulating canopy contains the open floor plan gallery space where objects are displayed in glass cabinets. A large staircase descends to the lower level where natural daylight seeps in around the edges. A significant amount of work for the project required the team to excavate down 12 meters without disturbing the palace's original foundation. The result is a cavernous space reminiscent of a tent illuminated with a soft golden light.

The expression ''timber top'' is taking on a new meaning in the building industry as the world's tallest wooden apartment tower nears completion. The company "Lend Lease" two weeks ago hoisted the final panel of cross-laminate timber (CLT) in place on the 10th story of its innovative new "Forte" building in Docklands. Victoria Harbour. About his plans "Lend Lease" announced 4 months ago and now the building is already ready. The US$ 11 million project makes use of the lightweight CLT building material, commonly used in Europe, which has a structural strength similar to concrete and steel. The company maintains it will have cut ordinary construction times by 30 percent once the internal fit out of the 32-meter tall, 10-storey apartment is finished in November. Being the first of its kind in Australia, and the highest in the world when it opens its doors "Forte" will be a test case for residential property buyers unfamiliar with wooden building materials. Lend Lease made a deliberate decision not to sell apartments in the building until it was complete, said head of operations development Daryl Patterson. It wanted to avoid misconceptions that "Forte" was like a timber-frame house. ''It's very important for people to be able to come and touch and feel the product and understand that it's as solid as any other apartment,'' he said. The company also treated "Forte" like a pilot project, learning while building. It discovered just how effective modular components were in CLT construction. Forte's modular bathrooms were manufactured in Brisbane and trucked to the site. ''The toilets are in. The taps are in. The shower screens are in. The mirrors are up on the wall,'' Mr Patterson said. Once complete, Forte will house 23 boutique residential apartments and 4 townhouses with prices ranging from US$ 430 - US$ 795 thousand. Currently one of the highest modern wooden buildings is in London. Called the Stadthaus, Murray Grove, it's a nine-story residential building that stands at just less than 30 meters (98 feet). Even the lift shafts and stairwells are made from wood. Architect Michael Green, one of three principals at McFarlane Green Biggar Architecture + Design (MGB), also has plans for a 30-story wooden skyscraper in Vancouver.

Greece 's Hellenic Republic Asset Development Fund has identified 40 uninhabited islands and islets that could be leased for as long as 50 years to reduce debt as pressure grows on the country to revive an asset-sales plan key to receiving international aid, reported Bloomberg. The fund reviewed 562 of the estimated 6 thousand islands and islets under Greek sovereignty. Finally the shortlist includes islands ranging in size from 500 thousand square meters to 3 million square meters, and which can be developed into high-end integrated tourist resorts under leases lasting 30 years to 50 years. As stated Andreas Taprantzis, the fund's executive director for real estate, they identified locations that have good terrain, are close to the mainland and have a well-developed infrastructure and, at the same time, pose no threat to national security. He also added that current legislation doesn't allow them to sell outright and they don't want too. The fund is charged with raising 50 billion euros (US$ 64 billion) from state assets by 2020 to meet conditions tied to pledges of 240 billion euros in foreign aid. As international inspectors in Athens scrutinize the country's fitness to receive the latest aid payment, Prime Minister Antonis Samaras has said commercial exploitation of some islands could generate the revenue lenders need to see to continue funding the country. At the beginning of this year, Greece Government also announced, that they put the ancient sites for rent. Archaeological treasures including the temple of Delphi, the most popular site after the Acropolis, will be available as backdrops for filming and photographic shoots. But Greece isn't the only struggling European country looking for profit from historic sites, and island. A Few months ago Italy's government has unveiled a fire sale of some real gems of the country's heritage due to difficult economic situation in country.

Russian "Itera" group has completed the erection of the monolithic frame of high-rise residential complex "Sail", which is situated in the center of Minsk. According to holding's press realize Belarus first skyscraper will be completed in 2013. To date the height of the building is 118.1 meters, which is already height record for high-rises in Belarus. Earlier was reported, that the building, which includes 204 apartments, will reach 133 meters in height with spire. The residential high-rise "Sail" is a part of multifunctional complex on Maxim Tank Street. The first 4 floors of the building will occupy administrative and commercial premises. The last 4 floors will occupy four duplex penthouses. The "Sail" also provide apartments, offices, sport center and underground parking. Apartment floor areas will range from 61 to179 square meters with 3 meters ceiling height. "Itera" holding consists of dozen companies from CIS, Baltic States, Western Europe Asia countries and from USA. Company's main line is the gas-business. Company's other strategic directions are real estate development, gas chemistry and energy.