The New York Times architecture critic, Michael Kimmelman, interviewed 2014 Pritzker Prize winner Shigeru Ban for the 2014 New York Times Cities for Tomorrow conference. Via The New York Times

The Tinbeerwah house and studio keep a low profile among the site’s eucalyptus trees.

There are bookshelves, closets, and cabinets galore in the pared-down, boxy home.

Local artist Melissa Terrezza painted this mural inside the property. “We have three murals in the containers that she worked on,” said Kristie Quinn, the restaurant owner’s business partner. The building’s lighting is all LEDs from Rexel.

Load-bearing elements are clustered together in the form of storage instead of a typical post-and-beam format.

The Japanese brand Muji will begin selling his kit house in 2014, which is prefabricated using furniture (i.e. storage units) as load-bearing modules. House of Furniture’s exterior looks more like a pavilion than a box.

The interior is a spatially open layout with a flexible DIY storage system that supports the ceiling.

Shigeru Ban, Cardboard Cathedral A testament to the strength, skill, and poignancy of the Pritzker winner’s “emergency architecture,” this A-frame marvel of cardboard tubing and shipping containers served as a potent symbol for Christchurch’s recovery after an earthquake. In another symbolic touch, the stained glass triangle at the front of the church incorporates imagery from the former cathedral’s famous rose window.

Storage units like this one stand in as walls and structural support—no posts or beams needed.

Site work in progress.

The proportions and floorplan mimic those of the prior landmark, though the new, temporary structure is built of paper tube modules.

Future site view. Overgrown 21+ acre forested site.

In 2013, Ban’s office introduced its new disaster housing prototype, the New Temporary House, whose exterior is made of insulated sandwich panels and fiber-reinforced plastic.

As part of the House Vision exhibition, organized by Muji art director Kenya Hara in 2013, architect Shigeru Ban was tasked with designing a housing prototype that relies on furniture to provide structure.

Collage of site photos overlaid on top of previous owner's site plan. Site was unoccupied when purchased.

OPA wanted to free themselves from logic imposed by a grid and considered various inefficient configurations of shipping containers. They settled on a combination of options, seen in the trikselion shape here. The Presidio, San Francisco, California. Mobile exhibition pavilion for the For-Site Foundation. © Tim Griffith.

After the 6.3-magnitude earthquake in Christchurch, New Zealand, in February of 2011, Ban was asked to design a replacement cathedral for the city.

site design group, ltd. The award-winning landscape firm behind sites such as Mary Bartelme Park took over the penthouse of the historic Crane Company Building, designed by Holabird & Roche in 1912, and turned it into a playful, open workspace.

For more informartion on the project, visit gracefarms.org.

The site of much permit-wrangling.

A wider look at the building's siting.

A collage of images showing the site and scenes from the design and site preparation process.

Pinch (Yonkers, New York) Inspired by a retro-futuristic race car from 1955, Pinch, designed by Ducasse Studio, captures midcentury modern at its most optimistic. Swivel stools and glossy banquets nod toward the past, while contemporary flourishes, like a slated-wood ceiling, ground the bar in the present day.

Menlo Residence Site Plan A Ipe Deck (rear) B Gravel C Concrete Pavers D House E Driveway F Ipe Deck (front) G Ipe Fence and Gate

SHIGERU BAN "Hanegi Forest–architecture among trees, designed by Shigeru Ban in 2007. The challenge was to avoid pulling down a single tree in the forest and to build a house around them. Shigeru Ban’s home is in this building, which stands immobile in a tranquil Tokyo district. A round table, a Terragni chair, a Greek face and masses of light. Nothing else, a Zen monk’s room." Photo by Hiroyuki Hirai.

"The idea behind the building is for a grounded, timber element extending along the Western side of the block, which creates a screen for the rest of the site," Blue says. He specified farmed timber, engineered wood for framing, high levels of insulation, and an evacuated tube solar hot water system to help the house become more green. A layout that facilitates cross ventilation helps reduce the need for air conditioning in the summer.

Ginn will also place an acoustic, light, and fiber installation in the center of the gallery floor. Both works are site-specific.

Bricks are made of rock, gravel, clay, and silt from an old quarry near the building site.

GoodLight studio and home

The house's stained-cedar cladding makes a stark but pleasing contrast to the natural foliage of the site.

Artek, 10 Unit System, Designer Shigeru Ban