Temporary houses made of beer crates and paper logs built for the victims of the earthquakes in Kobe; images via Shigeru Ban
Japanese architect Shigeru Ban, who previously helped design temporary shelters--made of paper--following Japan's Kobe earthquake talks about temporary structures and what's needed this time around in Japan. And there's this question: "When it’s time to rebuild, is there a need for a new kind of architecture?" Ban's answer, courtesy of the New York Times:
"Making a building stronger is not so difficult — Japanese buildings constructed after 1981 can survive an earthquake — but preparing for a tsunami is. There has to be a different kind of urban planning, such as high, heavy concrete buildings near the coast to protect the houses behind them. People could be evacuated to the rooftops of those buildings. It’s physically possible. But can you imagine how ugly this great wall along the coast would look? Architects and urban planners will have to design an anti-tsunami building that looks nice in order to create a new kind of pretty townscape."
· Shigeru Ban on Designing Shelters for the Quake Victims [LA Times]