Shigeru Ban, architecte de l'urgence

Our 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. From Turkey, where Shigeru Ban will be installing his paperboard houses, to Hanover, where hi is now designing the Japanese stand for the universal exhibition of the year 2000, and also in Paris, 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.