The Inventive Work of Shigeru Ban

Temporary architecture, in disaster zones, is Shigeru Ban’s calling card. For over 20 years the 2014 winner of the Pritzker Prize, architecture’s Nobel, has best been known for his humanitarian work. From Rwanda to Japan to Nepal he has turned cheap, locally sourced materials - sometimes even debris - into disaster-relief housing that “house both the body and spirit”.

On April 16, Ecuador was hit by an earthquake with a magnitude of 7.8. The death toll rose to 663 and 28,775 people were displaced from their homes. Shigeru Ban Architects planned to start by providing 20 relief shelters to the community, with the overall goal being to build 100 shelters in total. The shelters were built by local volunteers consisting of architectural students and architects. 

In 1995, the coast of Japan was hit by a 6.9 magnitude earthquake, with the major port city of Kobe as its epicentre. Over 6,000 people were killed, and 200,000 lost their homes. Shigeru Ban responded to the urgent need for temporary relief shelters by designing the Kobe paper log house, which housed thousands of displaced residents. 

SCAF's interior gallery presentation highlighted key ‘stepping stones’ from Shigeru Ban Architects’ oeuvre, including a 1:15 scale model of the 2000 Japan Pavilion in Hannover, Germany, a 1:15 scale model of the 2011 Paper Partition System and model joint details from a range of projects.