Shigeru Ban | TEDxTokyo 2013
Shigeru Ban’s practical philosophy of architecture involves nothing less than redefining aesthetics, space, materials and structure. His unusual modular shelter design using recycled paper and cardboard shipping tubes, for example, provided evacuees with sturdy havens after the Great East Japan Earthquake. Shigeru graduated from Cooper Union’s Irwin S. Chanin School of Architecture, worked at Arata Isozaki’s atelier, and in 1985 founded Shigeru Ban Architects. His notable works include Curtain Wall House, the Japanese Pavilion at Expo 2000 in Hannover, Germany, and the Centre Pompidou-Metz museum of modern and contemporary arts in France. Shigeru has received a wealth of awards, including the Architectural Institute of Japan Prize, Auguste Perret Prize, and the Ministry of Education’s Award for Fine Arts. Currently on the faculty at the Kyoto University of Art and Design, he has also taught at Harvard, Cornell and Keio University.