Shigeru Ban is Now Officially 'Architecture's First Responder'

Japanese "starchitect of the people" and 2014 Pritzker winner Shigeru Ban is the only architect on Foreign Policy magazine's annual list of "100 Leading Global Thinkers." The honor, a fairly big deal in political and economic circles, notes Ban's "commitment to cheap, recyclable materials" like paper tubes and cardboard, and the fact that he has designed not only major art museums (with tortoise-related PR problems), but also cardboard cathedrals, paper nursery schools, and other shelters for natural disaster survivors.

Oddly, the commendation also mentions that Ban's old professor, architect Peter Eisenman, refers to him as Sugar Bear, and that his mother, a dressmaker in Tokyo, designs all his clothes.

· The 2014 Global Thinkers: Shigeru Ban [Foreign Policy]
· 14 Buildings Proving the Chops of Pritzker Winner Shigeru Ban [Curbed National]
· All Shigeru Ban Wire posts [Curbed National]