A large-scale solo exhibition by renowned architect Shigeru Ban, 62, is being held at a museum in Oita City until July 5.
While working on large-scale public buildings around the world -- including the venue of the exhibition, the Oita Prefectural Art Museum --, Ban has also been involved in efforts for 35 years to support refugees and victims of disasters. Visitors can experience the trajectory of his socially serving architecture through life-size models of his works, their photographs and movies.
After studying architecture at a university in the United States and working for Arata Isozaki & Associates, Ban opened his own design office in Tokyo in 1985. He is known for his unique architecture using paper and wood, and won the Pritzker Architecture Prize in 2014. Last year, he also won the Yomiuri International Cooperation Prize.
Paper tubes, made of recycled paper, line the entrance of the exhibition hall as if creating a wall. These tubes are a typical material used in Ban's architecture. He increases their strength by adjusting the pressure, angle and glue used to roll the recycled paper.
One of his best known works using paper tubes was the Japanese pavilion at the Expo 2000 in Hannover, Germany, a 1/15th scale model of which can be seen at the exhibition. The building was made using a latticework of paper tubes in the shape of a tunnel arch, which gives the appearance of a soft bamboo basket.
He was inspired to use paper as an architectural material when he held an exhibition using cloth. Ban said that thinking it would be a waste to throw away the paper core that the cloth was wrapped around, he took it home with him.
He sees paper as "advanced timber" for its low-cost and easiness to process, such as waterproofing, as well as from a viewpoint of protecting the global environment,
Ban has also focused on wood, which had been considered unsuitable for large buildings, and has created public buildings with innovative designs with it. The Mt. Fuji World Heritage Centre, completed in 2017, is one of them. Visitors can see life-size re-created sections of the center's exterior wall.
The building has a distinctive shape based on the image of "Sakasa Fuji," or upside-down Mt. Fuji, with a gently curved surface. The shape was created by making a latticework of lumber sawn with gradual curves. The lumber was harvested from Fuji and Fujinomiya cities at the foot of the tallest mountain in Japan.
While many architects now use computers to make blueprints, Ban uses hand-drawn diagrams for all of his designs. In one corner of the exhibition hall, 784 of his diagrams are displayed on a wall.
The reason he insists on drawing these plans by hand, he said, is that a "computer is directly connected to the brain, but the hand is connected to the heart. It's the heart, not the brain, that moves people in architectural design."
On the other hand, his efforts to support disaster-hit areas, which he has been doing since 1994, are being introduced in a free exhibition space, so that they "can be known by as many people as possible."
He has always tried to create things that anyone can make with accessible materials, he said. His Paper Log House, for example, was made of paper tubes with beer cases used as the foundation. This structure was actually used as temporary housing for victims of the 1995 Great Hanshin Earthquake.
Ban also designed an ingenious and inexpensive partition system to help protect the privacy of evacuees. The partitions consist of pillars and beams made of paper tubes and cloth that is hung like a curtain to create private spaces each measuring the width and length of 2 meters each. Since the 2004 Niigata Prefecture Chuetsu Earthquake, the partitions have been used by disaster evacuees of the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake and the 2016 Kumamoto Earthquake.
This partition system may also prove effective in fighting the spread of infectious diseases. The Kanagawa prefectural government, for example, has stockpiled 95 new sets.
Ban said his contributions to assisting disaster relief started with his asking himself, "Are we architects contributing to the society?" He said the common belief in all his buildings, including large ones, is that "people are at the heart of architecture," and he always focuses on the comfort of the users.
"Even a temporary building can become permanent if people love it. I want to continue to create architecture that people love."
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