What happens when it rains?

I wonder just how labor intensive this bridge was to build ... from the article it says that it took a month for 23 architect students to build it, but how many manhours?

The reason is that if this is really a cheap and flexible way to build a bridge, it could be a solution to use in locations where heavy building materials are hard to transport or where they are expensive.

Yeah, that´s pretty cool, but, what happens when it rains?

I just like it for the artistic value, and I think it's just beautiful.

OK, I like the bridge but I dislike hypocritical comments. One paragraph says it must be dismantled for the rainy season and in the very next paragraph the architect states, "paper can be very permanent". Please just say it is experimental and pushing the envelope of ideas instead of unrealistic claims.

"...it opens to the public for six weeks ... before it is dismantled for the rainy season." (from spluch)

Even so, if this building system was mechanised, a bridge could be built very quickly to support more pedestrian traffic in sunny weather... Great idea.

in some of his other permanent paper tube projects they applied a coating to the outside of the tubes for water resistance

eco_friendly and wheelchair friendly also?

What a waste of time, whats the point of building a bridge that can't stand a bit of rain.

If he'd built a wooden bridge it would have been infinitely more usable (more environmentally friendly as they wouldn't have needed the metal framing) and probably a great deal cheaper.

Of course he wouldn't have gotten newspaper coverage or help from Grad Students.

The pont du gard is an aqueduct... which makes the project even more interesting when compared to Shigeru Ban's paper projects.

I'm one of the students who built the paper tube bridge.
To answer your questions : no problems with rain, the paper tubes resist to rain water. But the bridge has to be dismantled because of the rising water of the river. Even a wooden bridge would not resist.

I was lucky to assist to one of his lectures at ASU last year. We were all wondering if this material could resist water and fire. Shigeru Ban pointed out that these paper tubes are waterproof as well as fireproof due to some features of this paper. It is the same material used in many houses and the structure of the tube is strong enough to hold a lot of weight.
So he got it well thought. His architecture and designs are not a waste of time. In fact they are environmentally friendly and well structured designs :D

I would like to know what are the joint gussets made if and what are the type of fixtures.
Thank you.

how the f**** did u build that

"shigeru ban is a pioneer of paper tube structures (PTS),
he investigated the substance and found that not only
could recycled cardboard be molded into load-bearing
columns, bent into beautiful trusses and quickly assembled,
but it could also be made waterproof and fire resistant.
in the space between the paper tubes, self-adhesive
waterproof sponge tape was applied to both sides."

http://www.designboom.com/history/ban_paper.html

I like Shigeru's paper tea house the best
http://japansugoi.com/wordpress/shigeru-bans-paper-teahouse-and-interview/