Shigeru Ban: building cathedrals and quake shelters from paper

“I don’t like waste,” says Shigeru Ban. He reclaims materials others discard — cardboard tubes, beer crates, styrofoam, shipping containers — and turns apparent fragility into structural ingenuity. His projects range from high-end boutiques to housing for refugees, blurring east and west, luxury and the everyday, and challenging ideas about what is temporary or permanent.

“In a big city like Los Angeles or Tokyo,” he adds, “large buildings can just disappear… Whereas a building made of paper can be permanent, as long as people cherish it.” Recently awarded the 2026 American Institute of Architects Gold Medal and due to lecture in London, Ban continues to focus on improving people’s lives in disaster and conflict zones.

He is building a hospital in Lviv using cross-laminated timber. “Ukraine has one of the biggest laminated timber factories in eastern Europe,” he notes, and the material now finds local use after export routes closed.

Ukraine, Lviv

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