Shigeru Ban's Paper Shelters

What is permanent? What is temporary? Even a building

made of paper can be permanent as long as people love it.

~ Shigeru Ban

In the simplest of cardboard tubes, Japanese architect Shigeru Ban saw a solution to providing temporary housing in disaster-struck countries. Listen as he describes how he hit upon his idea, as far back as 1986, to create low-cost emergency shelters of paper, which are both water- and fire-proofed.

See more of Ban's unusual and beautiful paper tube structures. Among his extraordinary disaster-relief projects are the shelters he has built for Rwandan refugees and survivors of catastrophic events in Japan, Taiwan, China, Dominican Republic, Haiti, Turkey, India, and Sri Lanka. One of his designs, Christchurch Cardboard Cathedral in New Zealand, is still standing after 10 years.

Ban, who is the recipient of many awards for this designs, including the Architectural Institute of Japan Prize, teaches at Kyoto University of Art and Design.