I took notice of Shigeru Ban's work when I first saw the Curtain Wall House in an old magazine somewhere. I was still in college, as an interior design major, looking for inspiration and I found it that day. I loved the house, but as I often do, I forgot the architects name and pushed the image to the back of my brain so that I could deal with the rush of projects coming in from my professors.
Image from here.
It was a few years later, while working in an architecture office that my memory was jogged and I had a chance to actually visit a structure designed by Ban. I took a trip to NY to see the traveling exhibition Ashes & Snow.
The exhibit moved from city to city, building and then breaking down the "nomadic museum" designed by Ban. The gallery was beautifully constructed out of cardboard tubes, shipping containers, wood plans & river rock. (You can see some images from it's Santa Monica location here.)
Image from here.
It was an amazing trip on many levels, but being able to experience the environment created by Ban and the the photographer Gregory Colbert was definitely the highlight.
Ban was recently awarded the 2014 Pritzker Architecture Prize and Fast Company wrote a great article touching on highlights of his career & his humanitarian projects. You can read it here, they do a much better job speaking to his accomplishments than I ever could.
You should also check out Ban's website for an extensive look into his projects.
