- Craig Dixon’s Bryndwr home, influenced by Shigeru Ban, is now listed for sale.
- Ban offered to design Dixon’s house free, but his U-shaped sketches influenced its final design.
- The four-bedroom home features solar-assisted heating, ventilation, sunlight-filled spaces and adaptable indoor-outdoor living.
The Anglican priest who brought the Cardboard Cathedral to Christchurch has a rather unusual claim to fame as a homeowner: the cathedral’s creator, Japanese architect Shigeru Ban, once offered to design his house for free.
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Reverend Craig Dixon declined the offer, but Ban still visited his friend’s Bryndwr section, sketched out his ideas, and gave the finished home his seal of approval when he visited. That same home has now been listed for sale.
Dixon is well known both in Christchurch and the wider architectural community as the man who brought the Transitional Cathedral to life after the 2011 earthquakes, approaching Ban with the idea of creating a temporary place of worship while the original cathedral was out of action.
Ban was already known for his innovative use of paper tubes in disaster zones, and the resulting Christchurch building became one of the city’s most recognisable landmarks.
Japanese architect Shigeru Ban designed the Transitional “Cardboard” Cathedral for Christchurch. Photo / NZME
Reverend Craig Dixon in 2012 checking the cardboard tubes that would be used in Ban’s build. Photo / NZME
Dixon, who was the cathedral’s marketing and development manager at the time of the earthquakes, came across Ban’s unusual work in a design magazine his wife had given him.
“I really like design,” Dixon told OneRoof. “So I went back to the staff, and Dean Peter Beck said, ‘Hey, why don’t we build a cardboard cathedral? Let’s get in touch with this guy’.”
Dixon did that and Ban was in New Zealand within six weeks.
Dixon ended up looking after Ban during the 30-odd visits to Christchurch. “It was a pretty amazing journey,” he said.
The journey also shaped how the Dixons designed and built their own home on the 994sqm section at 40B Brookside Terrace.
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Ban visited the site during one of his trips. “He actually offered to design me a house for free, and I thought, ‘Oh wow’. But I said no because I thought, ‘Well, I’m not an emergency’.”
Ban did, however, sketch some ideas for a U-shaped house, which influenced the final design. “He said the most important thing about a house is that it has to be good for people to live in.”
Ban visited the four-bedroom home once it was complete “He is very critical,” Dixon said. “He speaks his mind. If he thought it was rubbish, he’d say: ‘No, I think your house is rubbish’. But he thought it was great.”
The Cardboard Cathedral experience also reinforced Dixon’s long-held interest in the way New Zealand builds houses.
The U-shaped house at 40B Brookside Terrace won Shigeru Ban’s approval. Photo / Supplied
The design makes the most of the sun, with the house bathed in light during the day. Photo / Supplied
After leaving the cathedral, he volunteered with construction company Naylor Love on a social housing project to produce affordable, highly functional homes. The company eventually twisted Dixon’s arm to suspend his retirement and join the staff. He spent several years involved in the project.
“I learned a lot,” he told OneRoof. Those lessons are evident in his own home, where the emphasis is on making the house comfortable, warm and practical.
For Dixon, however, the technology is ultimately about the people living in the house.
“Shigeru said it doesn’t matter so much what a house is made of, or even necessarily what it looks like,” he said. “The most important thing about a house is that it has to be good for people to live in.”
40B Brookside Terrace has expansive spaces, and the technology and design features aren’t particularly complicated or expensive additions. “It doesn’t cost a lot more to heat it, and it feels so much better to live in.”
A stained glass artwork that echoes the design of the Transitional Cathedral sits on the Dixons’ cardboard mantelpiece. Photo / Supplied
The design also makes the most of the sun, with multiple spaces offering different places to enjoy it throughout the day. The gallery entrance is a particular favourite thanks to all-day sun.
The open-plan kitchen and dining area connects to the deck and garden, with doors that can be opened wide in good weather.
The entire floor is heated with hot water through two heat pumps, while the solar panels contribute energy to the system. A balanced air exchange ventilation system constantly brings fresh air into the house while extracting stale air, moisture and CO₂.
Now, after a decade in the home, it is time for the Dixons to move on.
“I’m 71 now, and at some stage we thought we’d downsize, so we’re downsizing,” he said. “Our four kids have gone, it’s just Kate and I.”
There is no hint of retirement from building, though. Dixon said he is planning his next project. “I really love building, and I’d like to build again,” he said. “I’d like to try and prove through the next build that you can build something that’s high performance, low cost, and great for people.
“I want to have a shot at that and be able to say, ‘Hey look, this house works really well, and yet it didn’t cost the earth’.
“I think in New Zealand we pay an awful lot of money – too much money – for a substandard product.”
Bayleys listing agent Belinda Ellis told OneRoof that she had been familiar with the home for several years because her office was a stone’s throw away, and that she would happily buy it herself. She loves its single-level design and the way it can open up or close down, depending on how it is being used.
“It’s just the most amazing home,” she said. “Someone will be a very lucky owner. Tucked away down a back driveway, the house is so private and hidden that you would hardly know it was there. And then the sanctuary unfolds. It’s just gorgeous.”
She pointed out that the home had a Cardboard Cathedral-style stained glass artwork, sitting on a cardboard side-board, although the couple will be taking those with them when they leave.
Dixon said: “It’s a fantastic house to live in. We love it.”
- 40B Brookside Terrace, Bryndwr, Christchurch, goes to auction on September 10
