Famed Japanese architect to give public lecture

Famed Japanese architect of paper buildings to give public lecture

The architect famed for using cardboard tubes to create houses for disaster victims will deliver a public lecture as part of a University of Auckland architecture series.

Shigeru Ban is an acclaimed Japanese architect whose innovative work with paper, particularly cardboard paper tubes, has earned him international respect. His so-called “DIY refugee shelters” were used in Japan after the Kobe earthquake, in Turkey, Rwanda and around the world and have proven to be highly effective for low-cost disaster relief-housing.

Ban’s key early projects were a series of innovative houses, many employing unusual structural solutions such as the use of furniture as load-bearing structure. These include his Curtain Wall House (1995), in which an urban house was given a façade of tent-like cloth. Recent and current projects include housing in France, the United States and Sri Lanka; a flagship store for Swatch in Ginza, Japan; and the new Centre Pompidou in Metz, France, due for completion next year.

A strong sense of humanitarianism also informs Ban’s work, and he is particularly attracted to sustainable, ecological architecture and materials, such as paper, that produce very little waste. Ban was the first architect in Japan to construct a building primarily out of paper, a medium he is attracted to because it is low-cost, recyclable and can be replaced.

Shigeru Ban will deliver a public lecture on Thursday 17 September as part of The University of Auckland’s Fast Forward lecture series, hosted by the School of Architecture and Planning. Lectures are open to the public, and those other than Shigeru Ban are free entry. Attendance at each lecture earns 10 NZIA CPD points

The Fast Forward ’09 progamme is detailed below.

Wednesday 16th September, 6:00pm
Marc Günnewig & Jan Kampshoff / Modulorbeat / Germany
Engineering Lecture Theatre 1.439, 20 Symonds St., The University of Auckland

Thursday 17th September, 6:00pm
Shigeru Ban / Shigeru Ban Architects / Japan
Auckland Town Hall Concert Chamber, Queen St., Auckland City
$10 Bookings: www.the-edge.co.nz or 09 357 3355 (booking fee may apply)

Wednesday September 23rd, 6:00pm
Chris Kelly / Architecture Workshop
Engineering Lecture Theatre 1.439, 20 Symonds St., The University of Auckland

Wednesday 30th September, 6:00pm
Ernst Zöllner / New Zealand Transport Agency
Engineering Lecture Theatre 1.439, 20 Symonds St., The University of Auckland

Wednesday 7th October, 6:00pm
Richard Naish / RTA Studio
Engineering Lecture Theatre 1.439, 20 Symonds St., The University of Auckland

Wednesday 14th October, 6:00pm
Sir Miles Warren / Warren & Mahoney
Engineering Lecture Theatre 1.439, 20 Symonds St., The University of Auckland

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