Cardboard Cathedral architect wins equivalent of Nobel Prize
“Cardboard Cathedral” architect wins equivalent
of Nobel Prize for
architecture
Shigeru Ban, architect of Christchurch’s Transitional (“Cardboard”) Cathedral, has won the Pritzker Prize. Ban is a world-class architect and expert in disaster-zone building. The new Cathedral is his largest post-disaster structure to date.
“The Pritzker Prize is the equivalent of the Nobel Prize for architecture, being awarded for lifetime contribution to the advancement of the art of architecture globally,” says Dr Andrew Barrie, professor at the University of Auckland’s School of Architecture & Planning and author of the forthcoming Shigeru Ban: Cardboard Cathedral (Auckland University Press).
“The Cardboard
Cathedral now has the unique status as New Zealand's only
building by a Pritzker-Prize-winning architect, cementing
its position as among the most significant buildings in New
Zealand’s architectural history.”
Built
in Christchurch’s inner city, the Cardboard Cathedral
stands in for the historic building devastated by the
earthquakes of September 2010 and February 2011. Signalling
the beginnings of renewal in the CBD, the Cathedral is the
first new civic building completed since the quake and is
built to last forever.
“Our book, Shigeru Ban: Cardboard Cathedral, captures the dramatic process of the design and construction of the Cathedral, and it will be great to share the story of this now even more significant building with the world,” Barrie says.
Shigeru Ban was born in Tokyo in 1957. He trained at the Southern California Institute of Architecture in Los Angeles and the Cooper Union in New York before establishing his own firm in Tokyo, which now has offices in Tokyo, Paris and New York. He has taught at Yokohama National University, Keio University and Harvard University.
Ban’s career now spans 30 years and has been characterized by both consistently innovative and adventurous design, and a concern for those who normally don't have access to such architecture – the dispossessed and traumatized victims of disasters.
“A temporary building that is loved by people – even one built with mere paper – can become permanent,” says Shigeru Ban.
“I sense that this monument in Christchurch will be loved and used by the citizens of New Zealand for a long time to come.”
Shigeru Ban: Cardboard Cathedral will be
published by Auckland University Press in August 2014. In
essays, building plans and specially commissioned
photography, Shigeru Ban: Cardboard Cathedral tells
the story of a remarkable feat. Originally conceived as a
temporary building, its construction involved design
challenges, structural innovations and community
involvement; and the finished, now permanent structure seems
set to become an enduring symbol of Christchurch’s
revival.
-ENDS-