Shigeru Ban

Born in Tokyo in 1957, Ban graduated from the Cooper Union with a Bachelor of Architecture in 1984. He founded Shigeru Ban Architects in 1985 and later established offices in New York and Paris. Since 1985, Ban has developed a unique structural system using recycled paper as a building material and, alongside his architectural work, has been engaged in disaster relief efforts worldwide. In 1995, he founded a nonprofit organization named Voluntary Architects’ Network (VAN). He is the recipient of le grade de commandeur of L’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres, France (2014), the Pritzker Architecture Prize (2014), the Mother Teresa Social Justice Award (2017), the Princess of Asturias Award for Concord (2022), and the Praemium Imperiale for Architecture (2024). His major works include Centre Pompidou Metz (2010, France), Cardboard Cathedral (2013, NZ), La Seine Musicale (2017, France), Mt. Fuji World Heritage Centre Shizuoka (2017, France), Tainan Art Museum (2019), SIMOSE (2023), and Toyota City Museum (2024). Currently, he serves as Special Guest Professor at Shibaura Institute of Technology. In March 2023, he was named a new member of the Japan Art Academy.

2025Japan Art Academy Member
2025Enku Award
2024Praemium Imperiale for Architecture
2023-Special Guest Professor, Shibaura Institute of Technology
2023-Professor, Graduate School of Art Studies, Kyoto University of the Arts
2022Princess of Asturias Award for Concord
2022Meridian Cultural Diplomacy Award
2021Towa Futurist Award
2021High-level roundtable member, New European Bauhaus
2020Specially Appointed Professor at International Research Institute of Disaster Science (IRIDeS, Tohoku University, Japan)
2019The Yomiuri International Cooperation Prize
2019-23Professor at Keio University
2018Honorary Citizen of Tainan City, Taiwan
2018Golden Seat Master Award(China Interior Design Week, Shanghai)
2017Schweighofer Prize(for timber construction)
2017Mother Teresa Social Justice Award
2017Medal with Purple Ribbon
2016JIA Grand Prix
2015-19Guest Professor of Keio University
2015Posey Leadership Award
2015The Shigemitsu Award for Global Cultural Exchange
2015Crystal Award (World Economic Forum, Davos, Switzerland)
2015The Asahi Prize
2014Kyoto City Artistic and Cultural Commendations, Sparkle Grand Award
2014Prix Champagne de la Joie de Vivre
2014Asia Game Changers Awards (Asia Society, NY)
2014L’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres, France (le grade de commandeur)
2014Honorary Member of the Japan Institute of Architects
2014Honorary Doctorate of Cooper Union
2014Pritzker Architecture Prize
2012Mainichi Art Prize
2012KALMANI Prize 2012, Mexico City
2012Art Prize from Japanese Agency for Cultural Affairs
2011-23Professor of Kyoto University of Art and Design
2011Auguste Perret Prize
2010Ordre des Arts et des Lettres, France (le grade d’officier)
2010Visiting Professor of Harvard University GSD
2010Visiting Professor of Cornell University
2009Grand Prize, Architectural Institute of Japan
2009Honorary Doctorate of Technical University of Munich
2008L’Ordre National du Mérite, France (le grade d’officier)
2006-09Jury of Pritzker Architecture Prize
2006Honorary Fellow of the Royal Architectural Institute of Canada (HRAIC)
2005Arnold W. Brunner Memorial Prize in Architecture
2005Thomas Jefferson Medalist in Architecture
2005Honorary Doctor of Humane Letters Amherst College
2005International Fellowship of the Royal Institute of British Architects (IFRIBA)
2004Grande Medaille d’Or, Prix de l’Academie d’Architecture de France
2004Honorary Fellow of the American Institute of Architects (HFAIA)
2001-08Professor of Keio University
2001Gengo Matsui Award for the Japan Pavilion
2000Listed in “TIME 100: The Next Wave – Innovators” Time Magazine
2000The Augustus Saint-Gaudens Award from the Cooper Union, NY
2000Visiting Fellow of Donald Keen Center at Columbia University
2000Visiting Professor of Columbia University
1997The JIA Prize for the best young architect of the year
1996-2000Adjunct Professor of Architecture at Nihon University
1996Innovative Award, Tokyo Journal
1995-99Adjunct Professor of Architecture at Yokohama National University
1995-99Consultant of United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR)
1995Mainichi Design Prize
1995Established NGO, Voluntary Architects’ Network (VAN)
1993-95Adjunct Professor of Architecture atTama Art University
1985Established private practice in Tokyo
1984Received Bachelor of Architecture from Cooper Union
1982-83Worked for Arata Isozaki, Tokyo, Japan
1980-82Cooper Union School of Architecture
1978-80Southern California Institute of Architecture, Los Angeles, USA
1957Born in Tokyo

Works

2024Toyota City Museum, Toyota, Aichi, Japan
2023SIMOSE (SIMOSE ART MUSEUM + SIMOSE ART GARDEN VILLA), Otake, Hiroshima, Japan
2022ZEN Wellness SEINEI,  Awaji Island, Hyogo, Japan
2019Swatch Omega, Biel / Bienne, Switzerland
2019Tainan Art Museum, Tainan, Taiwan
2017Mt. Fuji World Heritage Centre, Shizuoka, Japan
2017La Seine Musicale, Boulogne-Billancourt, near Paris, France
2014Oita Prefectural Art Museum, Oita, Japan
2014Aspen Art Museum, Aspen, USA
2013Cardboard Cathedral, Christchurch, Newzealand
2010Center Pompidou-Metz, Metz, France
2005Nomadic Museum, New York, USA/California, USA/Tokyo, Japan
2000Japan Pavilion, Expo 2000, Hanover, Germany
1995Paper Church Kobe, Hyogo, Japan