Shigeru Ban's disaster relief structures take spotlight in new exhibition

You can now see, in person, two emergency shelters designed by Shigeru Ban, the Pritzer Prize-winning Japanese architect known for creating makeshift structures out of cardboard and other inexpensive materials.

On view now at the Sherman Contemporary Art Foundation (SCAF) in Sydney, Ban’s first Australian project features two of his signature disaster relief shelters: one of his first, constructed from cardboard tubes and designed in response to the earthquake in Kobe in 1995, and the latest, created from green bamboo to address the earthquake in Ecuador last year.

These two structures are installed in the Courtyard Garden, while the interior gallery highlights key moments from the architect’s career, including the Japan Pavilion in Hannover, Germany, from 2000, and the famous Cardboard Cathedral in Christchurch, New Zealand, from 2013.

A master of temporary architecture and often called “Architecture's First Responder,” Ban has been designing simple structures built from cheap, locally-sourced materials, providing relief to victims of mass displacement and disasters, both natural and manmade, for over 20 years.

Via: Wallpaper, Designboom