Knowra Shigeru Ban Shigeru Ban Shigeru Ban is a Japanese architect known for inventive structures using materials such as paper tubes and for designing disaster-relief shelters. He received the 2014 Pritzker Architecture Prize.
Paper Tube Structure : A structural system that uses cylindrical paper tubes as load-bearing elements. Ban developed paper tubes into practical structural components for buildings and shelters.
Paper Log House : A low-cost emergency shelter designed by Ban with paper-tube walls and a simple roof. It is a compact example of his use of paper tubes for post-disaster housing.
Pritzker Architecture Prize : An annual international award recognizing a living architect’s significant contributions to architecture. Ban received the prize in 2014, bringing wider attention to his work.
Cooper Union : A private college in New York City known for education in architecture, art, and engineering. Ban studied architecture at Cooper Union, where he encountered a different design culture.
Humanitarian architecture : Architectural work that addresses human needs in crises, displacement, and conditions of vulnerability. Ban helped make emergency shelter a sustained part of a prominent architect’s practice.
Cardboard Cathedral : A Christchurch cathedral designed by Ban, built with cardboard tubes, timber, and shipping containers. It demonstrates how his paper-tube construction can serve a major civic building.
Kobe Paper Log House : A temporary shelter built by Ban for people displaced by the 1995 Kobe earthquake. This early deployment established a model for his later disaster-relief projects.
Jean de Gastines : A French architect who has collaborated with Shigeru Ban on major projects, including Centre Pompidou-Metz. Their partnership produced one of Ban’s best-known permanent museum buildings.
John Hejduk : An American architect, artist, and educator who served as dean of Cooper Union’s School of Architecture. Hejduk’s teaching shaped the architectural education Ban received at Cooper Union.
Recycled paper : Paper made partly or wholly from recovered paper fibers rather than only virgin pulp. His paper-tube buildings challenged assumptions that paper products cannot serve as serious construction materials.
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