Shigeru Ban

坂茂　/　ばんしげる

Pritzker Prize-winning architect known for paper-tube structures and disaster-relief design

August 5, 1957 (age 68)　・　Tokyo, Japan

From Tokyo
Architect
Conservator

My Take

Okay, an architect who builds with paper tubes? That's the kind of thing that sounds like a gimmick until you actually look at it and realize Shigeru Ban means it. Cardboard, recycled stuff, the cheap and the disposable turned into something that holds a roof over your head with real elegance. What gets me, though, is where he points all that ingenuity: after earthquakes and disasters, he's the guy showing up to throw together dignified shelters for people who lost everything. He won the Pritzker in 2014, the architecture world's big trophy, but you get the sense he'd trade the medal for a better refugee partition any day. Pompidou-Metz, the Nomadic Museum, that swooping wooden roof work, it's all light and humane. An architect with a conscience and a sense of humor about materials. I really like this man.

Overview

Shigeru Ban is a Japanese architect and conservator born on August 5, 1957, in Tokyo. He studied at the Tokyo University of the Arts and built an international reputation for his innovative use of unconventional materials, most notably paper tubes, in structural architecture. Ban was awarded the Pritzker Architecture Prize in 2014, the field's highest honor, along with the Asahi Prize the same year, and has also received multiple French national decorations including the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres (Chevalier and Commandeur) and the Ordre national du Merite (Officier). He is widely recognized for his humanitarian work designing temporary shelters for communities displaced by natural disasters.

1. Profile

Name (English): Shigeru Ban
Name (Japanese): 坂茂
Reading: ばんしげる
Born: August 5, 1957 (age 68)
Zodiac / Chinese zodiac: Leo / Rooster (酉)
Origin: Tokyo, Japan
Blood type: Private
Height: Private
Agency: Private
Active years: Unknown
Occupation: Architect / Conservator

2. Background

Elementary school: Private
Junior high: Private
High school: Private
University: Tokyo University of the Arts
Debut: Unknown

Awards & achievements

2014 — Pritzker Architecture Prize
2014 — Asahi Prize
Unknown year — Ordre des Arts et des Lettres, Chevalier (France)
2017 — Ordre des Arts et des Lettres, Commandeur (France)
2011 — Ordre national du Merite, Officier (France)

3. Relationships

Spouse: Private
Children: Private
Parents: Private
Siblings: Private

4. Personality

Motto

Private

5. Works & records

Category	Title	Role	Year
Notable Work	Centre Pompidou-Metz	—	Unknown
Notable Work	Nomadic Museum	—	Unknown

6. Links

Official sitehttp://www.shigerubanarchitects.com
Wikipedia (Japanese)https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E5%9D%82%E8%8C%82