credits: Purple Cloud

Paper House at Singapore Management University

The house that consumption built.

Japanese architect Shigeru Ban, designer of the yet-t0-be-finished (but almost!) Centre Pompidoul-Metz cultural center, will be speaking next Tuesday at Cooper Union on architecture and the environment.

Mr. Ban was the man behind using cardboard tubes to house refugees from the Kobe earthquake in 1995. Through the UN he shipped tube houses to Turkey and Rwanda as well: “Refugee shelter has to be beautiful,” he says. “Psychologically, refugees are damaged. They have to stay in nice places.”

FCTS: Shigeru Ban: Cooper Union, 7 E. 7th St: TSDY 2008.01.22: 7pm: $10.