BAN Shigeru
Born in Tokyo in 1957. Graduated from the Cooper Union. Founded Shigeru Ban Architects in 1985. Became consultant to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in 1995. Established the NGO, Voluntary Architects' Network (VAN) in the same year to support disaster relief. Selected works include Japan Pavillion, Expo 2000 Hannover, Mt Fuji World Heritage Centre and La Seine Musicale. Recipient of multiple awards, including, Arnold W. Brunner Memorial Prize in Architecture (2005), Honorary Doctorate from Technische Universität München (2009), Auguste Perret Prize (2011) and Mother Teresa Social Justice Award (2017). Served as Visiting Professor of Harvard University GSD and Cornell University (2010), and currently Professor at Kyoto University of Art and Design (2011-), Guest Professor at Keio University (2015-). Laureate of the 2014 Pritzker Architecture Prize.