Paper and cardboard are being used on a small scale in the building industry. One of the most common products is wallpaper, less well known are honeycomb door cores and cellulose insulation panels. Some architects use the material for an advanced agenda and more professionally: Shigeru Ban uses cardboard tubes for construction purposes and there are various projects in the realm of temporary housing.

This text describes the building of a cardboard house: it describes the current understanding of cardboard as a player in the building industry and the knowledge still missing.

Is a house made of cardboard feasible? Why would you want to use a cardboard house? In order to give a – temporary – answer, a few thoughts have been written down.

Summarized: in the foundation the only application is that of building-aid; constructively, tubes are a proven application. Connections in cardboard are still rather tricky, mainly because of failure at concentrated loads.

Thanks to water we have cardboard, and despite water it will have to remain in tact. Building components of cardboard separating the inside from the outside – whereby the material must be water-repellent and the many seams which exist in a building must be sealed – at the moment seem to be far from day-to-day use.

Cardboard is recyclable, cheap, lightweight, foldable and printable. Which of these properties is a real addition to the existing traditional assortment of building materials? A newcomer must be equal to the existing materials in the existing marketplace and to stand out in order to acquire a place in the building industry.

Ecology (recycling, short life-span, light weight) seems to be its greatest advantage. But, considering the thoughts afore mentioned, the application of the materials will often only be feasible in a combined shape, as composites.