| MIRAGE I L L I M I T E | |
| "Shigeru Ban, an architect for times of crisis"
| ©1998 Mirage illimité |
| This film proposes to show the Japanese architect Shigeru Ban, to whom the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (the UNHCR) appointed the task in 1955 of studying emergency shelters, after the earthquake of Kobe. In the face of these disasters, which leave in their wake thousands of people with neither homes nor resources, just as also to attempt to provide solutions for those in situations of the direct poverty, the architect of today must find new solutions. Shelters which he designs in paperboard, an ephemeral and very cheap material, the format and thickness of which as desired, and which is light, easy and quick to manufacture. The Paper Loghouse turns out to be less expensive and faster to erect, store and re-cycle than any other type of shelter, whilst the heat insulating properties of paperboard enable it to be used in a great many countries. Precarious, and fragile in appearance, the shelters of Shigeru Ban are a most faithful reflection of that moment when all that formerly seemed ours forever becomes suddenly lost. His quest expresses the advent of an architectural attitude no longer self-extolling its virtues in praise of the lasting qualities of so-called "noble" materials, nor representing a symbol of economic power. From Turkey, where Shigeru Ban installed his paperboard houses, to Hanover, where he designed the Japanese stand for the universal exhibition of the year 2000, and also in Tokyo, Paris and Nantes, where we shall see how important it is to him to share his concerns with young students of architecture, the film will strive to show the approach of an architect in action, proposing a different attitude towards the dwelling - an architecture meeting the new needs of contemporary society. Production Mirage IllimitŽ/FR3/Grand Canal in association with the French Ministry of Culture (Direction of Architecture) | |
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