Beautiful examples of cardboard architecture

No, these are no fly-ash bricks or regular polished bricks for that matter; these are cardboard blocks adroitly arranged to form a Cardboard Cafe. The remarkable yet sustainable designconceived by b3 designers, was showcased at the London Design Festival, 2008. Other than the walls, the table, chairs and the glasses are also composed from cardboard blocks. The blocks are held in position by hot glue guns to form the solid facades. Ultimately the functionality of the cafe is quite evident, as it also doubles up as a bar in the late hours.

We all know (or at least should know) about of the subtle impact of Japanese tea ceremonies on the Japanese culture, and clearly alluding to this great tradition, eminent architect Shigeru Ban has contrived the Paper Tea House along with its furniture, composed entirely from recycled cardboard rectangular tubes. The spatial element also incorporates a main room and a waiting area (with a customary bench).

What better way to market sustainable products than showcasing them in a sustainable environment? And that is exactly what designer Pedro Campos Costa has come up with in his interesting conception called the LOW, which is a combination of a store (used only for sale of recycled products) and a bar. The store shelf and furniture is wholly made up from paperboard without any gluing. Now, who said there can't be any 'green' consciousness on the business side of affairs?

Comprehensively proving the fact that housing can be constructed fully from recyclable and low cost materials, Stutchbury and Pape, in collaboration with the Ian Buchan Fell Housing Research Unit at University of Sydney has designed the The Cardboard House. Composed entirely from cardboard planks, the easily movable dwelling can used for living comfortably albeit temporarily, especially in cases of emergency housing conditions.

Other than its fire retarding qualities, corrugated cardboard also has sound mitigation attributes. And utilizing this specially convenient quality, Helsinki-based architects Martti Kalliala, Esa Ruskeepää and Martin Lukasczyk has created the ultimate sustainable sound proof room. Featuring an irregular cocoon like cavity inside, the whole structure doesn't make use of any adhesive.

Now moving to outdoors, cardboards have once again proven their adaptability infused with dollops of strength. Again designed by Shigeru Ban, the bridge was made of 281 cardboard tubes, weighs around 20 tones and could carry 20 people at a time. Each tube was four inches in diameter and 0.46 inches thick, while the steps were composed of recycled paper and plastic, and the foundations of sand-filled wooden boxes. Though the whole structure was temporary and had to be dismantled before rainy season, but in a clear allusion to history it was just located at around half a mile from the fascinating Pont du Gard, an old Roman stone bridge.

At a first glance it may look like we are examining one of the wondrously intricate pillars ofDilwara Temples, but in reality it is a mesmerizing conception, fastidiously conceived entirely from cardboard, by Michael Hansmeyer. Touted to be one of the world's most complex architectural piece, Hansmeyer’s column stands nine feet tall, weighs about 2000 pounds, and is made out of 2700 1mm-thin slices of cardboard stacked on top of wooden cores. According to Hansmeyer, the 8 to 16 ornamental polygonal faces are even too complex for a 3D printer to handle!.

Fusing the elaborate forms of art and architecture, this uniquely semi-spherical shapedpavilion is designed by ETH Zurich students Min‐Chieh Chen, Dominik Zausinger and Michele Leidi. Made from 409 circular cardboard pieces connected together with ties, the pieces used here are actually derived from recycled common corrugated cardboards.

Another intriguingly designed pavilion, and this time it is from the students of the University of New South Wales. They utilized plywood sheets and cut holes in the wood for void structural forms, into which 2,000 pieces of cardboard tubes were inserted. The foundation was made from wooden planks, while the final structure culminated in two half circular forms. Located in front of the Sydney Customs House aim of this design was to showcase the ability and potential of recycled components to be used as building materials.

How naturalistic one can really get? Designed by the eminent architectural firm SeARCH in collaboration with Christian Müller architects, the bigger conception is actually a full fledged villa that actually has been carved out of a mountain facade. Now inside this villa is a cabin with falsely vaulted roofing defined by lightweight cardboard sandwich cut-outs. These cutouts extend conveniently to the floor in a regular pattern to form cardboard shelves and closets.