Shigeru Ban: Humanitarian Architecture

 Shirley J.           Adult Non-Fiction: Architecture          Building Better Shelter for Disaster Victims 

Shigeru Ban: Humanitarian Architecture    280 pages

In 1994, Architect, Shigeru Ban saw the bits of plastic offered to victims in Rwanda of the genocide of the Tutusi people by the Hutu people.   Ban's humanity cried out in desperation to do something more for them.   Being an architect he started working on ideas to better serve their shelter needs than merely plastic sheets that would be easy to assemble, not terribly expensive to produce and maybe even use recycled materials to help the planet as well as its people.  So began a long serendipitous career and philanthropic journey of Ban and his volunteers to go around the world to devastation sites helping the survivors of tsunami's, hurricanes, etc. to have sheltering home-like environments even in the time of tragic circumstances.   Ban takes recycled materials, plastic crates, containers used to store things on ships, paper tubes, etc. and utilizes them  to make flexible and sustainable temporary structures to allow privacy, protection from the elements and dignity to the peoples suffering from natural and/or man-made disasters.   He utilizes local and sustainable materials aiding the economies of the ravaged locations as well which forges a sense of community even during horrific circumstances around the world.  Shigeru Ban doesn't seek notoriety for his generous compassionate acts, but this book is like a how-to manual for designing then building the shelters that have saved many people and this information could be used as a do-it-yourself helpful tips in a crisis compendium.   Ban's legacy will be how to make a difference in the world and this book shows you how he did.   I recommend this book to anyone interested in building things, especially, to humanitarians who want to help the world be a better place for people to live and those who want so much to give back or pay it forward.   Such good information to be gleaned here.  I recommend this book to middle-schoolers on up to senior citizens.  Any one who wants to pitch in and help.  Ban is an architect of restoring people's faith and dreams.