Architecture
By ALEXANDRA A. SENO

Japan's Shigeru Ban has shaken up the world of architecture with innovations that include paper buildings to provide fast shelter after earthquakes -- what lies ahead for his field?Shigeru Ban made a name for himself through his architecture and his humanitarian work. His temporary paper-tube structures have provided housing, schoolrooms and even a concert hall for earthquake survivors around the world. He speaks to WSJ.

In an age of mega-architectural firms that seek larger and larger projects, Mr. Ban has moved the other way. Rather than grow his practice to hundreds of designers, he's kept his staff to a manageable few dozen. And his company, Shigeru Ban Architects, which has offices in Tokyo, New York and Paris, works on a limited number of projects -- each of which he has a hand in, be it a private home or an office building.

There are "too many big projects everywhere," says Mr. Ban, who is 52 years old. "The quality of projects is getting lower and lower. I am trying to be strict with myself so I don't get into that trap. Instead of making my practice bigger, I want to limit it to keep good quality on each project."



In May, his much-awaited Centre Pompidou-Metz, a new contemporary art museum in northeastern France, will open. The design, which Mr. Ban began six years ago, features a roof of woven steel and plywood, covered with a translucent lattice membrane.

Mr. Ban first created temporary shelters in disaster zones from paper tubes in 1995, building short-term housing for earthquake survivors in Kobe, Japan. Since then, he has used tubes to build schools in Sichuan, China (after the earthquake there in 2008), and a music hall in L'Aquila, Italy (following an earthquake last year). Though he uses the tubes -- in various thicknesses and diameters, round or square -- primarily for interim structures, some stay up for years. Mr. Ban has employed tubes as load-bearing columns and even created arches with them. They can be made waterproof and fire-resistant, and with self-adhesive waterproof sponge tape applied to both sides, are quickly assembled.

The architect, who studied at the New York design school the Cooper Union, was recently in Hong Kong to inaugurate a paper-tube pavilion he created for the Hong Kong & Shenzhen Bi-City Biennale of UrbanismArchitecture in West Kowloon. This structure is truly temporary; it is permitted to stand only until the end of February, when the event closes.

From Tokyo, where he is based, Mr. Ban spoke with Weekend Journal Asia about his work, his interests and what he believes will define meaningful architecture in the future.



What materials are you interested in at the moment?

I'm very interested in conventional materials like concrete, steel, wood. I try to use the most appropriate material for a particular project.

What is the concept of the new Centre Pompidou-Metz?

View Full ImageSamantha Sin for The Wall Street Journal

The architect in West Kowloon standing underneath the paper-tube pavilion he created for the Hong Kong & Shenzhen Bi-City Biennale of UrbanismArchitecture.

Whats Next

After the success of the Guggenheim in Bilbao [Spain], people have been talking about the so-called "Bilbao Effect," the effect of a sculptural building helping a small town. I wanted to design a museum that is monumental but also functional as a museum.



What is the challenge in achieving that?

Many museums are very sculptural, monumental and normal [but] people have never been in because they think modern art is a bit difficult to understand....The museum is almost screening people and only admitting people who think they understand contemporary art. I think the museum has to be more welcoming of people who may not be interested in art.

How do you solve this problem?

I think a museum should be a gathering place. The exhibition should be seen in the public area so that they may be interested in coming into the galleries. I first asked the landscape architect [of Centre Pompidou-Metz] to design the garden. Then I put a big roof on top. The inside space is an extension of the exterior. That is the idea, based on a Chinese traditional bamboo hat.

Where did you find this hat?

In Paris, in an antique shop. I found it almost 10 years ago. I thought it was very architectonic.

What do you do for fun?

I like reading [Japanese] historical stories. It has nothing to do with my work.

What kind of music do you like?

I like classic, jazz. When I was in New York as a student I was always listening to jazz.

What performers do you like?

When I was a student I liked Michael Franks. I still listen to music but I'm not collecting CDs anymore. Now I listen to the radio.

How do you work?

I work anywhere. I make many sketches on a train or airplane.

Why do you take on so many humanitarian projects?

Sometimes working for the privileged makes me tired because they are very demanding. I'm now working in Italy where there was an earthquake. The orchestra has nowhere to play so I decided to make a temporary concert hall.

Is it better to work on big or small projects?

Many of the architects I respect in the 20th century -- [Alvar] Aalto, [Mies] Van der Rohe, [Louis] Kahn, Frank Lloyd Wright -- they kept designing houses until they died. Now many big architects after they start designing buildings, stop designing houses because it not interesting commercially. The effort is so big but the profit is so small.

Designing office buildings is much easier than a house. You design for an average. But for a house, it is a particular request for each client and there is no repetition of rooms.

What's next for architecture?

Historically, architects worked for privileged people, religious groups, noblemen. Now architects are working for big corporations, governments, rich people trying to display their power and money by monumental architecture. It is the same.

What would you like to see happen in your field?

When people lose their houses after an earthquake we don't see architects there because they are too busy working for the privileged. I think we have to include them in working in disaster areas. Also, we [architects] are responsible for disasters. After an earthquake, when a building collapses and people are killed, it is not because of earthquake itself but because of the structure of the building. That is the responsibility of an architect.
—Alexandra A. Seno is a writer based in Hong Kong.