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/// DESIGN STORIES / Interview with Shigeru Ban Interview with Shigeru Ban / DESIGN STORIES ///

You've been called the "emergency architect". Do you agree Don't they risk collapsing or being blown away in a storm?
with this nickname?
S. B.: No. Tube structures are rigorously designed to guarantee
Shigeru Ban: The names people give me aren't important; it's stability and safety with the appropriate maintenance.
what I do. I work on humanitarian architectural projects and I They undergo special treatments to make them fireproof and
SHIGERU BAN bring aid solutions in the wake of increasingly complex natural waterproof.
and human disasters.
Essential How did you discover that cardboard could be used successfully Temporary but lasting. Is that compatible?
in architecture? What are its main qualities? S. B.: Of course. Even a permanent building will fall into ruin
if it's not loved. On the contrary, a temporary construction can
ARCHITECT S. B.: It all began in 1986, when I first used carton tubes for the become long-lasting if the occupants and population at large
staging
Alvar
designer
are proud of it. This happens with some of my designs, like the
Aalto.
the
exhibition
of an
to
dedicated
big
enough
budget
a
I
didn't
have
to
wood.
It
paper school in Chengdu, China, which has withstood a number
in
do
the
decor
was
realized
he
I
was
started
and
constructed in 1995 in Kobe, Japan; then bequeathed to Taiwan
indispensable
it.
material who suggested carton tubes. Today, it is how solid the of earthquakes over the past decade; and the Catholic church
studying
when building temporary homes and bringing aid to countries hit where it still stands today.
by natural and human disasters like Haiti, Rwanda and Japan.
The tubes are cheap, recyclable, easy to assemble and available
across the globe. It's hard to find fault with them.
A MILLION MILES AWAY FROM FETED "EMPHATIC
BUILDER" ARCHITECTS, SHIGERU BAN IS VERY
DISCREET FOR A WINNER OF THE PRITZKER
PRIZE (FONDLY CALLED THE "NOBEL PRIZE FOR
ARCHITECTURE - HE WON THE 2014 EDITION).
NOW A MASTER IN THE DESIGN OF INNOVATIVE
STRUCTURES, HE PROPOSES PROJECTS IN 100%
RECYCLABLE ORGANIC MATERIALS. WOOD, PAPER,
CARDBOARD… A USEFUL DISRUPTION IN CITIES THAT
ARE STILL TOO OFTEN RULED BY AN EMPIRE OF
22 STEEL AND CONCRETE. 23
Paper Taliesin
Born in Tokyo in 1957, Shigeru Ban has always designed projects with
the sensitive eye with which he observes his nearby world, that of
the overpopulated Asian megacities. Inspired by traditional Japanese
houses, with their modular paper partitions, he injects movement into
spaces. He creates mobile, demountable, often ephemeral structures,
open to the outdoors, highlighting a poetic notion of fluidity.
He designed the Japan Pavilion at Expo 2000 in Hanover, composed of
recycled-paper tubes crowned by a ceiling of wooden arches. He has
built numerous "emergency shelters" in Asia and Africa, from organic Paper Taliesin
materials, either found on-site or recycled, to bring aid to victims of Cardboard Cathedral, Christchurch Paper Concert Hall, l'Aquila
climate disasters or political refugees. In France, he designed the
famous roof of the Centre Pompidou-Metz and partnered architect
Jean de Gastines in the restoration of the Île Seguin, with its glowing
new flagship "La Seine Musicale", a model of eco-friendly construction
in the western suburbs of Paris.
As the planet groans and beseeches Homo economicus to reduce
his environmental footprint, Shigeru Ban's buildings are endowing
architecture with a virtuous, responsible and humanist logic. An
"essential" architecture.