Shigeru
Ban: An Architect for Emergencies
by Michel
Quinejure, Director
First Run / Icarus Films, Brooklyn NY,
2006
VHS/DVD. 52 mins., col.
Sales: $390; rental/VHS: $75
Distributor’s website: http://www.frif.com
Reviewed by Roy R. Behrens
Department of
Art
University of Northern Iowa
Website: http://www.bobolinkbooks.com
ballast@netins.net
Japanese architect Shigeru Ban (1957-)
is usually referred to as an "ecological
architect." His reputation has grown
steadily in recent years, not only because
of the heightened concern about global
ecology and the increased practice of
recycling, but also because he is interested
in the development of prefab, low-cost
housing for the victims of natural disasters
and other emergencies, of which there
have been many. This film is a helpful,
inspiring look at Ban’s architectural
philosophy (conveyed through interviews),
his frequently surprising use of inexpensive,
common materials for extraordinary purposes
(such as housing he devised from simple
cardboard tubes, beer cases and plastic-sheet
roofing), and, at the same time, his improvisational
use of everyday components in the construction
of strikingly elegant forms for homes,
churches and pavilions. Unlike so many
buildings in "serious" architecture–designed
to endure as key monuments in the history
of architecture–much of Ban’s
work is temporary, even ephemeral, not
unlike the original plan for the Crystal
Palace. The preeminent goal of his work
is its function. Its lifespan is less
important than is its affordability, rapidity
of construction, and the ease of removing
the structure when it has outlived its
usefulness, at which time the parts are
recycled. Although he addresses immediate
needs, Ban sees architectural forms as
abstractions, somewhat as Frank Lloyd
Wright did because of his childhood experience
with the geometric wooden blocks of Friedrich
Froebel, the originator of kindergarten.
In 2000, Time Magazine chose him
as one of the new century’s leading
innovators. Very likely they were right,
and it would surely be wise to find out
more about this resourceful architect.
(Reprinted by permission from Ballast
Quarterly Review, Volume 21 Number
1, Autumn 2007.)
