The Transitional Cathedral on Latimer Square is the building that made the world pay attention to Christchurch's rebuilding. Japanese architect Shigeru Ban — who specialises in using unconventional materials in disaster contexts — designed it from 98 cardboard tubes, a steel frame, and a polycarbonate roof that admits light like a lantern. It seats 700 people, it is used as an active Anglican church, and Ban designed it to last at least fifty years, by which time the word "transitional" will need some explaining.
Inside, the cardboard tubes run floor to ceiling in ranks, and the east window is a geometric mosaic of coloured glass assembled from materials salvaged from Canterbury churches. The effect is genuinely beautiful — warm, calm, and structurally unlike anything else you are likely to see. It is open to visitors outside service times. Latimer Square itself is worth a walk; the square was used as a triage zone in the immediate aftermath of the earthquake and a small memorial marks what happened here.