Shigeru Ban. Complete Works 1985Today

A valuable insight into the works and mind of Japanese architect Shigeru Ban. After 8 years, author Philip Jodidio explores long anticipated completed buildings, new projects, and a future outlook of the studio Shigeru Ban after TASCHEN has followed his career from the beginning. This updated XXL-monograph is a journey through the years and evolution of an architect who made a name for himself with true architectural marvels which cannot be surpassed in innovation, elegance, and sensibility. Next to early buildings deploying paper tubes as structural elements and such iconic houses as the Curtain Wall House in Tokyo, we see recent projects such as the Swatch/Omega Campus in Switzerland, a two-story penthouse on top of a 140-year-old New York City Landmark cast-iron house, and the Seine Musicale, a concert hall inserted into an overall master plan conceived by Jean Nouvel for the island Ile Séguin in France. Bans work is characterized by a quest to understand buildings and a commitment to save and use otherwise discarded materials, which led him to inventive solutions and to claim the material paper as the staple for several of his projects. Along with this ambition, Ban gave a face to Japanese architecture while staying in touch with his unique architectural handwriting, allowing him to create a magnitude of projects worldwide. The Pritzker-prize-winning architect's notoriety hasn't kept him from devoting his talent and innovative ideas to those needing help. He has built shelters for refugees in Rwanda and Sri Lanka, and utilized his paper tube structures to quickly erect emergency accommodations in Fukushima and Ukraine in times of crisis. With his problem-solving, generous, and elegant approach, Shigeru Ban coins humanitarian architecture and keeps pushing the boundaries of his trade.Also available as an Art Edition with a sketch by Shigeru Ban and a wooden custom-built 3D laser cut cover, limited to 200 copies and signed by the architect.