Friday, 14 April 2017

Week 8 : Japanese architect - Shigeru Ban



Shigeru Ban is a famous Japanese architect who won a lot of awards, known for his creative and innovative work with recycled cardboard paper. It is used for efficiently and able to build houses or shelters quickly for disaster victims in Japan. Cardboard paper is one of the cheapest and sustainable material, it is a recycled material which able to save space in landfill, save energy and water, reduce greenhouse gases and preserving resources. People would think that cardboard paper is a very weak material for construct a building. However, Shigeru Ban got the most prominent prize in modern architecture, with his innovative and creativity in use of material who is not only a role model for our generation, but also an inspiration.

In 2004, a strong earthquake shaked the central in Japan with a magnitude 6.8. This earthquake has injured dozens of people and destroyed dozens of home. There are more than 300 rescue workers were rescuing and searching for people who trapped in collapsed homes. No electric facilities due to the damaged of nuclear power plants.






Due to the limited material availability during any disaster, reconstruction of the buildings, houses or infrastructures are the major concern to the people and involves increased market price. Shigeru Ban came out with this idea of using paper tubing as a building material, not only reduce the cost and very accessible. It is also beneficial  for a building emergency shelters, as the paper tubing frames can prevent theft and helped save money.







The paper tubing shelter is made by white cloth as the partitions, joints were made of plywood and ropes were used for braces. This simply yet useful cardboard sheets provide good insulation and create privacy and border between each family with their neighbor. Shigeru Ban is a smart architect who able to adapt the situation by changing the strut beam structure using paper tubes. Indeed, it is hard to estimate the forecast partition demand, low cost and high speed construction were the priorities during disaster period. Shigeru Ban is wise to use paper tubes as a building material, which is sustainable to the environmental.



References:
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-11-23/magnitude-6.8-quake-hits-central-japan/5911732
http://edition.cnn.com/2014/11/22/world/asia/japan-earthquake/
http://www.shigerubanarchitects.com/works/2016_kumamoto-PPS4/index.html
https://makinguse.artmuseum.pl/en/shigeru-ban/
http://www.designboom.com/architecture/shigeru-ban-emergency-paper-partition-system/

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