On Monday March 24, 2014, the Japanese architect Shigeru Ban was named the winner of this year’s Pritzker Architecture Prize,

For twenty years Ban has traveled to sites of natural and man-made disasters around the world, to work with local citizens, volunteers and students, to design and construct simple, dignified, low-cost, recyclable shelters and community buildings for the disaster victims.

The citation from the Pritzker Prize jury underscores Ban’s experimental approach to common 
materials such as paper tubes and shipping containers, his structural innovations, and creative use 
of unconventional materials such as bamboo, fabric, paper, and composites of recycled paper fiber 
and plastics.

 

Architectural Record review & video

New York Times review

The Pritzker Architecture Prize announcement

Wall Street Journal review

 

Image credit: Shigeru Ban. Photo by Shigeru Ban Architects.