Construction will soon begin on a cardboard cathedral to temporarily replace Christ Church Cathedral.

The designer, Japanese architect Shigeru Ban, will turn the soil on the cathedral's planned site on the former parish of St John's, on the corner of Hereford St and Madras St, next week.

It is expected the 700-person-capacity structure will be completed by December.

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Eleven year old Ben made this replica of Christchurch Cathedral in corrugated iron for the Festival of Flowers in Christchurch.  It took him three weeks to complete.

The Festival of Flowers is being held from 17 February to 4 March 2012.

ChristChurch Cathedral has lost three-quarters of its west wall, including the ornate rose window, in the latest aftershocks, writes Anglican Taonga.

The destruction of the rose window - which Bishop Victoria Matthews describes as "the icon of the icon " - will inevitably influence thinking about whether the cathedral can or should be restored.

The "twisted and shattered" Christ Church Cathedral is more damaged than first thought and the timing of its rebuild uncertain, the Stuff website reports.

The February 22 earthquake cracked pillars, twisted walls, shattered stained glass, collapsed buttresses, fractured masonry and toppled the tower.