Shigeru Ban

Shigeru Ban (born August 5, 1957, Tokyo, Japan) is a Japanese architect who is known for his pioneering use of recycled paper in building construction and for his efforts in disaster relief around the globe. In 2014 he was awarded the Pritzker Prize. In its citation the Pritzker jury noted his creatively designed structures, such as temporary shelters, for areas devastated by natural disasters. “When tragedy strikes, he is often there from the beginning.”

Education and early career

Ban was born in Tokyo and later studied at the Southern California Institute of Architecture, Los Angeles, from 1977 to 1980. That year, wanting to study under architect John Hejduk, Ban transferred to Cooper Union in New York City. After taking a break from his studies to work for Japanese architect Arata Isozaki, Ban returned to Cooper Union and received a bachelor’s degree in architecture in 1984. The following year he opened his own practice in Tokyo.

Paper architecture

Ban developed a style known for its blend of traditional Japanese architecture with elements of American Modernism. He first gained recognition for using recycled paper as a construction material in the mid-1980s, when he designed galleries for exhibitions on such architects as Emilio Ambasz and Alvaro Aalto.

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Humanitarian architecture

In 1994, amid the refugee crisis spurred by Rwanda genocide when as many as two million Rwandans fled the country, Ban proposed building shelters made from paper tubing. The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) subsequently made Ban a consultant to the agency in 1995. That same year the versatility and value of the inexpensive tubes were proved following the January 17 earthquake that devastated the Kōbe area in west-central Japan. Ban went to the city in February, and by the end of the summer his relief work had brought 22 paper-tube cabins to shelter some of those who had lost their homes. He also constructed a community center to temporarily replace a ruined Roman Catholic church that had been leveled by the earthquake. The building was made from recycled, durable, strong, and environment-friendly paper material and could be easily constructed and dismantled. Meanwhile, in 1998 50 of his paper shelters were constructed to shelter Rwandan refugees.

Later architecture

Ban continued to use paper to create structures such as the Paper Arch, a decorative lattice built in 2000 and displayed in the gardens of New York City’s Museum of Modern Art. He later designed (with Jean de Gastines of France) the Pompidou Centre—Metz, a regional branch of the famed arts center. The distinctive building, which opened in 2010, features an undulating roof that was inspired by a Chinese bamboo hat. Ban also designed a wooden-lattice-framed glass building for the Aspen Art Museum (2014) in Colorado. He continued designing humanitarian architecture, including a proposed surgical wing for the largest hospital in Lviv, Ukraine. The hospital has experienced an increase in the number of patients since Russia invaded the country in early 2022.

Professorships and additional honors

In addition to his architecture work, Ban held a number of professorships, including those at Yokohama National University (1995–99) and Keiō University (2001–08) in Tokyo. From 2006 to 2009 he served on the jury of the annual Pritzker Prize. In 2024 Ban was awarded the Praemium Imperiale in architecture and the following year he became a member of the Japan Art Academy.