Category: Materials

Every space has a note. In a concert hall it is an elegant hush; in a tiled bathroom it is a hysterical ring. In a well designed cardboard dwelling the note sits near 25 hertz, and it is the sound of a purr.

We tune each box by resonant testing: a resident sits inside, begins to purr, and we measure the walls. Cardboard dampens the high frequencies, which is lovely, and amplifies the low rumble, which is better. A properly tuned den feels like being hugged by a very small, very expensive engine. Our test cat, Percival, has reached 28 hertz and is considered a national treasure.

Every school of architecture teaches that light must be sculpted. Ours teaches it must be chased. The red dot, our most versatile fixture, has no mass, no cost and no mercy.

We now use it to establish circulation paths in new builds. Where the dot goes, the cat follows; where the cat follows, there must be a corridor. On the Lindqvist job, a single 90 second dot sequence generated three hallways, a vestibule and a minor injury to a lamp. Light is never merely illumination, as the old masters knew. It is a leash held by something that cannot be caught.

Tape is the confession of the cardboard craftsman. Every strip declares what the board could not hold alone. We refuse to hide it. The seams of our buildings are celebrated in a rich, glossy, slightly crackling beige.

Our house standard is 48 millimetre clear packing tape, applied in an X at each joint, plus one decorative stripe for the sake of the gods. A full dwelling consumes 19 metres. Be warned that the tape also finds its way onto the architect, particularly on the left hind paw, where it provides a sort of unexpected anklet. We call this ‘site hazard,’ and we bill it.

Corrugated board comes in flutes, and the flute is the soul of the wall. B flute, at 3 millimetres, is petite and crisp, a wall that whispers. C flute, at 4, is the friendly generalist of the profession, a wall that purrs.

We specify C for family homes and B for boutique dens, where the scratch quality of the surface matters more than the load. For monumental work, double wall board, the cathedral of cardboard, can bear a seated cat of up to 17 pounds and the weight of his opinions. Samples are available in our library, provided you return them before they are ‘accidentally’ adopted.