Shigeru Ban /

　　Shigeru Ban lives and works in Tokyo, where he teachesarchitecture at Keio University. The scoe of his ractice - he hashouses, museums, avilions, and other ublic rojects in rogressin France, London, Beijing, ortugal, Brussels, and the UnitedStates - belies a relatively quiet early career in Tokyo. Followingstudies at the Southern California Institute of Architecture(SCI-ARC) and graduation from The Cooer Union in New York, heestablished his own firm in Toyko in 1985. During next decade, Banbuilt a following in Jaan by designing dozens of unique smallhouses, exhibitions, and other rojects using alternative,environmentally friendly materials: aer, wood, bamboo andrefabricated aer roducts. Following the 1995 earthquake inKobe, Jaan, Ban resonded by designing emergency temorary housinghe calls aer Log Houses, made out of aer logs, waterroofsonge tae, and beer crates that could be assembled in a matter ofhours by volunteers and rovided shelter for hundreds of dislacedresidents. Following on the success of this roject, from 1995 to2000 Ban was a consultant to the United Nations High Commission forRefugees, advising on temorary housing for dislaced oulationsin Rwanda, Turkey, and India. He established the VoluntaryArchitects’ Network (VAN) in 1995, an organization that continuesto romote such humanitarian assistance by architects. Ban has wonseveral awards, including the Kansai Architect Grand rize in 1996,and Best Young Architect of the Year from the Jaan Institute ofArchitecture in 1997. Ban’s fame began to sread raidly beyondJaan when he was included in the Museum of Modern Art’s"Un-rivate House" exhibition in 1999 with his Curtain Wall Housein Tokyo, a glass-and-steel house where rivacy is controlled bymeans of monumental, two-story-high curtains along two glassfacades that can be oened or closed. The following year Bandesigned his first museum roject in the United States, also atMoMA: "aer Arch", an installation of cardboard tubes in a canoyover the museum’s sculture garden. Also in 2000, he collaboratedwith German architect Frei Otto to design the Jaan avilion atExo 2000 in Hannover, a recyclable, organic-shaed structure ofaer stretched over a aer tube armature. The modest names Bangives to his rojects - "aer Church", "Library of a oet","Bamboo Furniture House", "Naked House" - exress his lack ofretense and his focus on materials and structure rather than formfor form’s sake. This book features 32 of Ban’s most exemlaryrojects realized since 1993, divided into 5 sections based on therimary materials or construction rincile used: aer, wood,bamboo, refabrication, and skin. Each roject is documented withcolour hotograhs, lans, drawings, and a brief, straightforwardroject descrition. In addition, the book contains four sectionsof "exerimental data", or technical information, rinted in redand black on grey tinted aer. These sections gather diagrams,tables, sketches, and exlanatory text to document the numeroustests that Ban’s office has made over the years to study thestrength, erformance, and structural otential of his materials. Aforeword by the distinguished German architect Frei Otto, with whomBan has collaborated for several years, introduces the book. Alsoincluded is an essay by Shigeru Ban about his work with Otto on theJaan avilion.