Paper Log House by Shigeru Ban face to Philip Johnson's Glass House
27/04/2024.
[New Canaan] USA 15.04 > 15.12.2024
metalocus, ANTONIO CORREDERA
metalocus, ANTONIO CORREDERA
Shigeru Ban Architects teamed with teachers and students from The Irwin S. Chanin School of Architecture of the Cooper Union have built a special prototype “The Paper Log House".
The installation, which honours the 75th anniversary of one of America’s foremost examples of modernism, was opened on April 15th and is on display until December 15th, 2024, at The Glass House, in New Canaan, Connecticut, USA.
Led by SBA’s New York office, the Paper Log House is a construction of a 4.2-meter by 4.2-meter made of paper tubes, wood, and milk crates. The Paper Log House is a prototype to provide temporary housing for victims of disasters worldwide, for 30 years.
The installation, which honours the 75th anniversary of one of America’s foremost examples of modernism, was opened on April 15th and is on display until December 15th, 2024, at The Glass House, in New Canaan, Connecticut, USA.
Led by SBA’s New York office, the Paper Log House is a construction of a 4.2-meter by 4.2-meter made of paper tubes, wood, and milk crates. The Paper Log House is a prototype to provide temporary housing for victims of disasters worldwide, for 30 years.
Paper Log House by Shigeru Ban. Photograph by Michael Biondo
Paper Log House by Shigeru Ban. Photograph by Michael Biondo
Paper Log House by Shigeru Ban. Photograph by Michael Biondo
Paper Log House by Shigeru Ban. Photograph by Michael Biondo
Paper Log House by Shigeru Ban. Photograph by Michael Biondo
Paper Log House by Shigeru Ban. Photograph by Michael Biondo
Paper Log House by Shigeru Ban. Photograph by Michael Biondo
Paper Log House by Shigeru Ban. Photograph by Michael Biondo
Paper Log House by Shigeru Ban. Photograph by Michael Biondo
Paper Log House by Shigeru Ban. Photograph by Michael Biondo
Paper Log House by Shigeru Ban. Photograph by Michael Biondo
Paper Log House by Shigeru Ban. Photograph by Michael Biondo
Axonometry. Paper Log House by Shigeru Ban.
Paper Log House by Shigeru Ban. Video still by Hudson Lines.
Paper Log House by Shigeru Ban. Video still by Hudson Lines.
Paper Log House by Shigeru Ban. Video still by Hudson Lines.
Paper Log House by Shigeru Ban. Photograph by Michael Biondo
Starting at The Cooper Union in Manhattan, The Paper Log House components were fabricated at the school over 5 weeks, and then transported by truck to the site in New Canaan. On March 18 and 19, 2024, under strong wind conditions and bitterly cold temperatures, 17 students, faculty, and SBA staff assembled the structure in just fifteen hours over the two days.
Born out of his desire to not make waste, Shigeru Ban’s experiments with paper tubes began in 1985, and, since then, he has pioneered paper tube construction, elevating the humble material through installations, buildings, and disaster relief projects.
Many relief projects, such as the 24-meter (79-foot-tall) Cardboard Cathedral in 2013, have gone on to become permanent fixtures in their communities. Exhibiting Shigeru Ban: The Paper Log House at The Glass House creates a unique opportunity to reflect on the permanence of architecture, and how disparate building materials, namely glass, brick and paper offer unexpected possibilities. Ban famously noted, “If a building is loved, it becomes permanent.”
Born out of his desire to not make waste, Shigeru Ban’s experiments with paper tubes began in 1985, and, since then, he has pioneered paper tube construction, elevating the humble material through installations, buildings, and disaster relief projects.
Many relief projects, such as the 24-meter (79-foot-tall) Cardboard Cathedral in 2013, have gone on to become permanent fixtures in their communities. Exhibiting Shigeru Ban: The Paper Log House at The Glass House creates a unique opportunity to reflect on the permanence of architecture, and how disparate building materials, namely glass, brick and paper offer unexpected possibilities. Ban famously noted, “If a building is loved, it becomes permanent.”
More information
Architects
Collaborators
The Irwin S. Chanin School of Architecture of The Cooper Union.
VAN-Voluntary Architects’ Network.
VAN-Voluntary Architects’ Network.
Client
Area / Dimensions
Site.- 7.62 m x 7.62 (25 Ft. x 25 Ft). Compacted Gravel.
Area.- 58 m² (625 f²).
Size.- Plan – 4.15 x 4.15m (13.6 x 13.6f).
Height.- 3.6m (11.7f)
Materials.- 39 Milk Crates, 156 Paper Tubes, Plywood, Roof Membrane.
Area.- 58 m² (625 f²).
Size.- Plan – 4.15 x 4.15m (13.6 x 13.6f).
Height.- 3.6m (11.7f)
Materials.- 39 Milk Crates, 156 Paper Tubes, Plywood, Roof Membrane.
Dates
Apr. 15, 2024–Dec. 15, 2024.
Location
The Glass House Visitor Center + Design Store. 199 Elm Street, New Canaan, Connecticut, USA.
Open Thursday – Monday, 10:00 am – 5:00 pm
Closed Tuesday + Wednesday
Advanced tour tickets required www.theglasshouse.org Closed Tuesday + Wednesday
Support
This exhibition is made possible in part with support from The Japan Foundation, New York, and Kentucky Owl. Special thanks to Shigeru Ban, Dean Maltz, Vittorio Lovato, and Le Yang of Shigeru Ban Architects (SBA) and the Irwin S. Chanin School of Architecture students through Professor Samuel Anderson’s Building Technology class Arch135B.
Photography
Michael Biondo.
SHIGERU BAN
Shigeru Ban was born in Tokyo in 1957 and after studying architecture in Los Angeles and New York, he opened an architectural practice in Tokyo, in 1985, with offices in Paris and New York, has designed projects worldwide from private houses to large scale museums.
His cardboard tube structures have aroused enormous interest. As long ago as 1986, he discovered the benefits of this recyclable and resilient material that is also easy to process. Shigeru Ban built the Japanese pavilion for the Expo 2000 world exposition at Hanover – a structure made of cardboard tubes that measured 75 meters in length and 15 meters in height. All the materials used in the structure were recycled after the exhibition. He developed a genuine style of "emergency architecture" as a response to the population explosion and to natural disasters: the foundations of his low-cost houses are made of beer crates filled with sand, and the walls consist of foil-covered cardboard tubes. A house of this sort can be erected in less than seven hours, and is considerably more sturdy than a tent.
Shigeru Ban is currently Professor of Architecture at Keio University and is also a guest lecturer at various other universities across the globe; his works are so exceptional that he was awarded the Thomas Jefferson Foundation Medal in Architecture in 2005. "Time" magazine describes him as one of the key innovators for the 21st century in the field of architecture and design.
Shigeru Ban has designed projects such as Centre Pompidou Metz and Nine Bridges Golf Clubhouse in Korea. Current projects include new headquarters for Swatch and Omega in Switzerland.
