"I have always wanted to use my knowledge for the benefit of the general public," said Japanese architect
Shigeru Ban at the beginning of a lecture he gave at
Japan House São Paulo on May 2, 2025. Winner of the
Pritzker Prize in 2014 (the most important architecture award in the world), he is known for creating an innovative construction system, utilizing
cardboard tubes and
wooden structures that have been primarily applied in his numerous contributions to disaster victims worldwide.
"People suffer a lot during the reconstruction of a city that has faced a disaster. It is the architect's responsibility to provide better living conditions for these people," he said. Based on this explanation, Shigeru Ban began his presentation to an attentive physical and digital audience, who had the privilege of immersing themselves with the architect into his main projects. The architect started with emblematic projects created for large companies and institutions, but later presented his initiatives designed for the benefit of society in general and how they have been applied in conflict scenarios, earthquakes, and during the pandemic. Check out the main highlights below! Nomadic Museum | New York, United States
Designed in 2005 and built at Pier 57 in Manhattan, along the banks of the Hudson River, the Nomadic Museum is a temporary structure for a traveling museum, originally created to host the exhibition Ashes and Snow by Canadian photographer Gregory Colbert. Constructed with 148 containers rented from the area and recycled cardboard tubes measuring 10.3 meters in height, the museum was designed to be easily constructed and reassembled in other cities worldwide. After New York, the traveling museum has already gone to Santa Monica and Tokyo. Villa Vista | Weligama, Sri Lanka
Built on top of a hill facing the sea in Sri Lanka, the floor, walls, and roof of this house frame three different views. The first is the ocean view contemplated in the jungle of the valley, framed perpendicularly by the external corridor. The next is the horizontal ocean landscape seen from the top of the hill, framed by the large roof supported by 22 m spans and the floor. The last is the cliff view, which shines a bright red during sunset. A highlight of the design, the roof is covered with light cement slabs and then with a material made from coconut leaves. The ceiling is made of teak wood, with a width of 80 mm and a thickness of 3 mm, woven in an enlarged wicker pattern. Ovaless House | Fukushima, Japan
Situated on an urban lot, this house in Fukushima, Japan, does not have particularly special exterior views to capture. Therefore, the volume of the four-pitched roof is extended to the perimeter of the lot, and an inner courtyard was created to enhance the integration between the interior and the exterior. Shigeru chose the shape of an elliptical courtyard to achieve a fluid continuity of the internal spaces. Swatch Omega Factory | Bienna, Switzerland
This project involves two brands — Omega and Swatch — with distinct design concepts for the buildings, according to the characteristics of each. Freedom and joy for Swatch and precision and accuracy for the Omega factory, besides integrating the personalities of both in the
Cité du Temps. Shigeru's goal was to give all three buildings something in common related to the local context. The
wood was the ideal choice from a construction perspective as it is the best structural material, allowing for a fast and silent assembly process while being a renewable raw material. Furthermore, Bienna, the city where the project is located, is known for its wood engineering school, which leads the use of this technology in Switzerland. The total volume of wood used in this project is 4,600 m³, which corresponds to 10 hours of growth of whole trees in Switzerland.
Oita Prefectural Art Museum | Oita, Japan
To accommodate the various events, functions, and installations to be conducted in this museum, Shigeru designed folding horizontal doors and movable exhibition walls to create a flexible and adaptable space. Additionally, instead of a closed box, the museum was created as an open projects, connecting visitors to the internal activities. The main street can also be converted into an exhibition space, transforming the entire neighborhood into a large event area. The exterior is a laminated wood façade overlaid on solid cedar supports, evoking a pattern reminiscent of Oita's traditional bamboo craftsmanship. Paper Temporary Studio | Metz, France
Winning the competition for the new Centre Pompidou in Metz, France, resulted in permission to build a temporary studio on the terrace of the 6th floor of the current Centre Pompidou in Paris. This privileged location allowed the architects to properly supervise the construction of the new building while museum visitors could follow the design process. Haesley Nine Bridges Golf Clubhouse | Yeoju-gun, South Korea
The Nine Bridges Golf Clubhouse is a 16,000 square meter facility with a basement and three floors above. The atrium and the upper part of the main building feature wooden columns and a glass wall, while the base is made of stone. The wooden area includes the reception, a members' lounge, and a party hall. The unusually tree-shaped wooden columns in the atrium reach a height of three stories. La seine musicale | Paris, France
This is a complex of music rooms — with a multipurpose room, a classical music room, and a school — located on Seguin Island, in the suburbs of Paris. According to the master plan of Jean Nouvel for the island, a concrete wall defines the perimeter of the site along the water's edge. Inside this wall, there is a large hall surrounded by green landscape. As the perimeter wall diminishes towards the main edge, the hexagonal wooden structure shaped like a shell emerges. Around it is a large movable triangular sail made of solar panels. Tainan Art Museum | Tainan, Taiwan
With an intriguing design, this project explores a construction typology where the museum and park activities are not separated but rather integrated. Galleries of various sizes, displaced and stacked on top of each other, create covers that become interconnected spaces, while the entrances of the museum are located between the individual galleries. Since Tainan is a sunny city year-round, Shigeru Ban developed a feature called Fractal Shading to create shading throughout the building. Additionally, the existing building was renovated to accommodate new gallery spaces, administrative offices, and a food court.
Simose Art Museum + Simose Art Garden Villa | Hiroshima, Japan
Located on a lot facing the sea, this project consists of a museum, 10 accommodations, and a restaurant. Parallel to the coast, a mirrored glass wall creates a visual effect that duplicates the landscape through reflection. In front of this wall, there is a shallow lake where eight mobile galleries are arranged, each covered with differently colored glass, designed to create a composition that resembles the islands' landscape in the region. These galleries float on barges and can be moved by just two people, allowing the layout to be changed according to the exhibition. Blue Ocean Dome | Osaka, Japan
Among the materials that Shigeru Ban used to construct the Blue Ocean Dome pavilion at the
Expo 2025 Osaka are cardboard tubes and
laminated bamboo, in addition to plastic tubes reinforced with carbon fiber. Created to highlight the importance of oceans in the world, the project features a large central pavilion flanked by two smaller domes, unified by a polycarbonate skin. The trio of structures was designed to be lightweight and ensure ease of disassembly after the event and minimize waste.
Shigeru Ban's humanitarian projects
Projeto de Shigeru Ban foi reproduzido no Brasil pelos alunos da FAUUSP, ETEC Itaquera IIs e Escola da Cidade (Thiago Minoru/CASACOR)
"I hate throwing things away. I had a bunch of cardboard tubes in my office, used in fax rolls, and I thought it would be a good idea to reuse them. I started testing them," revealed architect Shigeru Ban at the beginning of his lecture about how his research with cardboard began in the 1980s. From these tests, the material became a hallmark of the architect's work. Known for the innovative use of materials and also for his humanitarian approach in his projects, he was a founder of the Voluntary Architects Network. The extensive knowledge of recyclable materials he acquired during his research process resulted in high-quality constructions that are low-cost shelters for disaster victims worldwide, such as the Paper Log, which was exhibited at Japan House São Paulo. Rwanda, Haiti, Turkey, and Japan are some of the countries that have received his projects.
