taschen unpacks shigeru ban's architectural legacy in latest monograph

shigeru ban. complete works 1985-today by taschen

TASCHEN releases a new monograph that surveys the complete works of Pritzker Prize–winning architect Shigeru Ban. Signed by author Philip Jodidio, the publication takes us on a journey from 1985 to the present day, unpacking a valuable insight into the mind of the Japanese visionary and exploring long anticipated completed buildings, new projects, and a future outlook of studio Shigeru Ban after TASCHEN has followed his career from the beginning. Discover below the altruistic practice of the Japanese architect, who is lauded for his ‘curiosity, commitment, endless innovation, infallible eye, and acute sensibility.’

Shigeru Ban. Complete Works 1985–Today | hardcover, 30.8 x 39 cm, 6.85 kg, 696 pages

image: Simose Otake, Hiroshima, Japan, 2023 | © TASCHEN

a monograph surveying ban’s humanitarian & versatile legacy

Shigeru Ban (born in 1957) attended the SCI-Arc in California and the Cooper Union School of Architecture in New York. A member of the Voluntary Architects Network and winner of the Pritzker Prize in 2014, the architect‘s innovative use of recycled materials has supported humanitarian efforts around the world. Next to his Paper Tube Emergency Shelters and his Nomadic Museum built with containers, as well as houses that challenge as fundamental an idea as walls, like the Curtain Wall House in Tokyo and the Wall-Less House in Nagano’s countryside, the TASCHEN monograph sees plenty of recent versatile projects by Shigeru Ban: a two-story penthouse on top of a 140-year-old New York City landmark cast-iron house, the Swatch/Omega Campus in Switzerland, and the Seine Musicale, a concert hall inserted into an overall master plan conceived by Jean Nouvel for the island Île Seguin in France.

Mount Fuji World Heritage Center, Fujinomiya, Shizuoka, Japan, 2017 | image © Hiroyuki Hirai

Ban’s work is characterized by a quest to understand buildings and a commitment to save and use otherwise discarded materials, which led him to inventive solutions and to claim the material paper as the staple for several of his projects. Along with this ambition, Ban gave a face to Japanese architecture while staying in touch with his unique architectural handwriting, allowing him to create a magnitude of projects worldwide. The Pritzker Prize-winning architect’s notoriety hasn’t kept him from devoting his talent and innovative ideas to those needing help. He has built shelters for refugees in Rwanda and Sri Lanka, and utilized his paper tube structures to quickly erect emergency accommodations in Fukushima and Ukraine in times of crisis. With his problem-solving, generous, and elegant approach, Shigeru Ban coins humanitarian architecture and keeps pushing the boundaries of his trade. The architect is currently based in his native Tokyo, Paris, and New York.

Centre Pompidou-Metz, France, 2010 | image © Didier Boy de la Tou

The Shigeru Ban. Complete Works 1985-Today monograph is also available as an Art Edition (No. 1–200), with a signed print of a sketch by the architect and a wooden custom-built 3D laser-cut cover. The author, Philip Jodidio, is a long-time collaborator with TASCHEN; his published books include the Architecture Now! series and monographs on numerous major architects, including Norman Foster, Tadao Ando, Renzo Piano, Jean Nouvel, and Zaha Hadid.

Cardboard Cathedral, Christchurch, New Zealand, 2013 | image © Steven Goodenough