Shigeru Ban on paper architecture and sustainability

From the Corridor of Nations in New Delhi’s Pragati Maidan being demolished in 2017 (45 years after it was constructed) to make method for Bharat Mandapam, and concrete properties being recurrently torn down to get replaced by multistorey buildings, to Crowne Plaza in Chennai being demolished for actual property redevelopment — it’s clear we don’t construct to final. But, an aspirational India continues with conflicting eventualities — stacked stone for partitions and Italian marble for flooring — a yen for longevity.

 Shigeru Ban
| Photograph Credit score:
RITESH

Why is it that, after we come from a tradition of thatched roofs, bamboo fences and dust homes, we crave permanence? Why, when we’re going to tear the home down in 30 years? Once I tackle this to Pritzker Prize-winning architect Shigeru Ban, who was in Mumbai lately to present the keynote tackle at India Design ID 2026, he says, “Even in Japan, buildings over 30 years are thought-about outdated and introduced down.”

Preliminary years

Ban, 69, the one architect on the planet who builds with paper, started his journey within the mid-Nineteen Eighties to create his personal model with substance, rooted in his robust humanitarian beliefs. The clue is in his oft-repeated mantra: he was upset that, in his discipline, architects principally construct for the rich and privileged, and that their major position must also be serving society.

Ban started working in catastrophe aid barely a decade into his profession. He created momentary shelters utilizing his favorite materials — paper tubes, which he discovered the way to simply waterproof and make structurally viable. His design for Paper Log Home in Gujarat after the 2001 earthquake is an ideal instance. However paper will also be everlasting, we discover, as his design for the church in Kobe was meant to final for 3 years however remained for 10.

Centre Pompidou Metz (Metz, France)
| Photograph Credit score:
Didier Boy de la Tour

There’s extra to the story. Ban tells me, “The Church is now in Taiwan, and it’s everlasting.” Paper Church, initially in-built 1995 as a brief church after the Nice Hanshin Earthquake in Kobe, Japan, was disassembled in 2005 and donated to Taomi Village in Taiwan, the place it was reconstructed as a group centre in 2008.

Shigeru Ban’s all-glass rest room that turns opaque as soon as locked from inside.
| Photograph Credit score:
The Tokyo Venture

Light-weight paper tubes and wood constructions produce other benefits, as Ban affirms: “Each prices and labour are significantly much less after we construct with paper. Building efforts are additionally much less demanding.” But we proceed to construct in concrete and metal internationally to fulfill business calls for. Ban’s keynote tackle on the ID Truthful, Balancing Architectural Works and Social Contribution, resonated with its curatorial theme, “The Deep Fathom”, by director Misha Bains, encouraging audiences to transcend surface-level aesthetics. At a time when phrases like sustainability and inexperienced structure are widespread parlance, Ban’s rigorous follow, supported by years of formal testing to fulfill security rules and normal specs, affords reasonable instructions. His lectures are sometimes accompanied by a contact of deadpan humour, particularly when discussing his paper structure: “For those who run out of bathroom paper, you possibly can simply tear some off!”

Christchurch Cardboard Cathedral (Christchurch,New Zealand).
| Photograph Credit score:
Stephen Goodenough

Magnificence in simplicity

Ban enjoys problem-solving. His structural options are hard-earned — a results of the restrictions he has imposed on himself to work with light-weight and repurposed supplies to contribute measurably to sustainability. His concepts of transparency are additionally core to the general public rest room challenge in Tokyo, the place pastel-coloured bogs of glass in Yoyogi Fukamachi Mini Park and the Haru-no-Ogawa Neighborhood Park, are a dialog starter.

Haesley 9 Bridges Golf Membership (Yeoju, Korea).
| Photograph Credit score:
Hiroyuki Hirai

As soon as the consumer enters and latches the door, the glass turns opaque. Once I comment that the bathroom is gorgeous, Ban says, “I don’t search for magnificence. I all the time have a look at the placement, establish the issue and the way the design has to resolve for that.”

What are the best challenges in constructing with paper? Ban’s reply is stunning. “There isn’t any regulation for paper, and so it’s a course of to get permission.” Ban, who has accomplished this constantly, can now use his findings in a number of international locations, like New Zealand, France and Germany.

Mt.Fuji World Heritage Heart (Shizuoka, Japan).
| Photograph Credit score:
Hiroyuki Hirai

When Ban began out, there was hardly anybody speaking about sustainability, whereas at present many architects are engaged with environmental points, which he finds inspiring. The difficulties of working with non-standard supplies don’t hamper him, as he says, “Any materials can be utilized in constructing as long as it could possibly meet the rules.”

The author is a model strategist with a background in design from SAIC and NID.

Printed – October 23, 2026 06:26 pm IST