Architecture Blog

Shigeru Ban is a Japanese architect who has found an innovative way to use paper, especially recycled cardboard paper tubes, to build housing for victims of disaster. The cardboard tubes are strong and provide a quick and efficient way to provide fast and efficient structures for disaster victims.

Shigeru Ban was awarded the Thomas Jefferson Medal in Architecture in 2005, at the age of 48. He has also been projected in Time Magazine as a 21st century innovator.

One of the most famous structures that Shigerun Ban has designed is the Takatori Catholic Church in Japan. The church was destroyed by the Great Hanshin Earthquake on January 17, 1995. Later that year, Shigerun Ban designed a temporary church made from paper tubes. The temporary structure stood for almost 11 years.

The structure was deconstructed in 2005 and shipped to Taiwan and used as a place of worship for people who also suffered destruction from an earthquake.

Another famous structure designed by Ban was the Nomadic Museum. The museum was used for Gregory Colbert’s “Ashes and Snow” exhibition. The exhibition was a photography and film display that traveled the world, along with the structure made from shipping containers. The structure and the exibition traveled between 2005-2008 stopping in New York City, Santa Monica, Tokyo, and Mexico City.

Although he spends much of his own money and time on humanitarian efforts, his portfolio is staggering. Condos in Manhattan designed by Ban recently went under contract for a list price of $12.5 million. Shigeru Ban makes no distinction between for-profit projects and disaster relief. It makes no difference to him whether a project is temporary or permanent.

The only thing that matters is that it is challenging.

Frank Lloyd Wright is one of America’s greatest and most celebrated architects. He was also an interior designer, writer, and teacher. Wright designed more than 1,000 projects, of which 500 were built. He wrote 20 books and lectured around the United States. In 1991, Frank Lloyd Wright was crowned “the greatest American architect of all time” by the American Institute of Architects.

Wright was born in Richland Center, Wisconsin in 1867. His parents separated when he was 14 and he never saw his father again. The next year Wright was in Chicago looking for work. By the early 1900’s he had designed four houses which were considered the beginning of the “Prairie style”, meaning they complimented the Chicago landscape.

Wright was also one of the first architects to design and install custom-made electric light fittings, including some of the very first electric floor lamps, and his very early use of the then-novel spherical glass lampshade. This design was previously not possible because of the physical restrictions of gas lighting.

As Wright’s career advanced, glass did as well. Wright thought that glass fit perfect with idea of organic architecture. Glass made it possible for the outdoors to be viewed without coming in contact with the elements. In 1928, Wright wrote a paper  on glass where he likened it to the mirrors of nature.

Wright used glass in his works to string panes along whole walls in an attempt to create light screens and join together solid walls. Wright tried to achieve a balance between the lightness and airiness of the glass and the solid, hard walls. His best-known art glass is that of the Prairie style. The simple geometric shapes that yield to very ornate and intricate windows represent some best ornamentation of his career.

John Lloyd Wright, Frank Lloyd Wright’s son, invented Lincoln Logs in 1918.