Sheep and Dog Buildings, Tirau

The small town of Tirau, New Zealand, has the unofficial title of ‘Corrugated Capital of the World’.

By the late-1980s, Tirau, which had once been a thriving farming community, was in serious decline. A local businessman Henry Clothier, instigated a revival-of-sorts, by using discarded corrugated iron to create sculptures and structures, with the intention of attracting tourists passing by on the nearby highway.

The first building was the ‘Sheep’, constructed in the 1990s, and used to house a wool and craft store, making it a prime example of mimetic architecture. The building comprises a mixture of ground and first-floor showroom space, with a café and kitchen. The shop-owning family live on the first-floor in the self-sufficient mezzanine level.

The ‘Big Dog’ building was also built in the 1990s to house the visitor information centre, while the ‘Ram’ building adjoins the ‘Sheep’ and was completed in 2016 to increase showroom space and amenities.

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