56-year-old architect Shigeru Ban is the 2014 laureate of the Pritzker Architecture Prize. This prestigious award is granted annually since 1979. Its purpose is to honor the architect whose work is distinguished by its excellence and has a big contribution to humanity and the environment.
Tom Pritzker, the award founder, said:
“Shigeru Ban’s commitment to humanitarian causes through his disaster relief work is an example for all. Innovation is not limited by building type and compassion is not limited by budget. Shigeru has made our world a better place.”
Apart from private commissions, the architect uses his experience to design shelters for victims of natural disasters, and to build these constructions he uses easily available and reusable materials.
In an official statement, the founder says:
“Shigeru Ban, the 2014 laureate, reflects this spirit of the prize to the fullest. He is an outstanding architect who, for twenty years, has been responding with creativity and high quality design to extreme situations caused by devastating natural disasters. His buildings provide shelter, community centers, and spiritual places for those who have suffered tremendous loss and destruction. When tragedy strikes, he is often there from the beginning (…).”
Shigeru Ban is the seventh Japanese who received this prestigious award. The remaining six are: Kenzo Tange, Fumihiko Maki, Tadao Ando, the team of Kazuyo Sejima i Ryue Nishizawa, Toyo Ito.
Shigeru Ban. Photo by Shigeru Ban Architects
Paper Church, 1995, Kobe, Japan. Photo by Hiroyuki Hirai
Paper Refugee Shelters for Rwanda, 1999, Byumba Refugee Camp, Rwanda. Photo by Shigeru Ban Architects
Hualin Temporary Elementary School, 2008, Chengdu, China. Photo by Li Jun
Paper Concert Hall, 2011, L’Aquila, Italy. Photo by Fabio Mantovani
Container Temporary Housing, 2011, Onagawa, Miyagi, Japan. Photo by Hiroyuki Hirai
Cardboard Cathedral, 2013, Christchurch, New Zealand. Photo by Stephen Goodenough
Curtain Wall House, 1995, Tokyo, Japan. Photo by Hiroyuki Hirai
Curtain Wall House, 1995, Tokyo, Japan. Photo by Hiroyuki Hirai
Nine-Square Grid House, 1997, Kanagawa, Japan. Photo by Hiroyuki Hirai
Naked House, 2000, Saitama, Japan. Photo by Hiroyuki Hirai
Centre Pompidou-Metz, 2010, France. Photo by Didier Boy de la Tour
Japan Pavilion, Expo 2000 Hannover, 2000, Germany. Photo by Hiroyuki Hirai
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