Video: A sustainable vision for emergency shelters

Architect Shigeru Ban creates buildings made from sustainable materials like cardboard tubes. His diverse body of work includes emergency shelters, houses, cathedrals and art galleries. In this video for the World Economic Forum, Ban talks about his unique approach, and why he’s spent much of the last twenty years in disaster zones. He introduces some of his projects from around the world, and questions the notion of what makes a structure temporary or permanent.

On building for good

“I was quite disappointed by my profession. We are mainly working for privileged people. Money and power is invisible, and people hire architects to visualise their power and money by huge monumental buildings. I thought we should use our experience and knowledge not only for privilege, but also for people who have lost their buildings from natural disasters. I think that we can make even temporary housing better, more comfortable, more beautiful.”

“1994 Rwanda – two tribes – hutu and tutsi fight each and other over two million people became refugees. When I saw the photo I was quite shocked. I thought Africa was a warm country but they were freezing with a blanket. And I read an article that during rainy season, people couldn’t stand the rainy, cold weather, because they only had a plastic sheet. I thought we had to provide them with better shelter, otherwise the medical care won’t help them.

“So I wrote a letter to the United Nation High Commissioner for Refugees, but got no reply. So I had to go there by myself without any appointment, and I was lucky to meet a German architect who is responsible for shelter construction and he accepted me as a consultant.”

On Sustainability

“The first time I used recycled paper was because I couldn’t afford timber. Before people started talking about recycling, ecology and sustainability, I started because I didn’t want to waste material.”

“This is a typical UN shelter in Africa. They just provide a plastic sheet and the refugees have to cut the trees by themselves to make a frame. Over two million people cut down trees and this used to be the forest, but all the trees are gone. This became a very serious deforestation, environmental problem.”

“The UN started to provide aluminium pipes, but aluminium is very expensive material over there, so people started to sell them for money and started to cut trees again. That’s why aluminium pipes didn’t work as an alternative material. So I proposed to use recycled paper tubes for the structure, and that’s why I was hired as a consultant to develop this further.”

On privacy and dignity

“Then 2011 in Japan we had a big earthquake, Tsunami and nuclear problem. This is a typical evacuation facilities. They have to stay there until the temporary housing is built. But there’s no privacy between families, and privacy is very important for people. So I went to make a partition out of paper tube with a fabric curtain. Something flexible to open and close that can be easily made by volunteers. We built 1,800 units with volunteers in 50 facilities, all over the damaged area.”

Author: Shigeru Ban is a Japanese architect, known for his innovative work with paper, particularly recycled cardboard tubes used to quickly and efficiently house disaster victims.

Image: Residents wait at a makeshift shelter after Hurricane Odile hit La Paz.  REUTERS/Alejandro Acuna.