“After I became an architect, I was quite disappointed by my profession,” 2014 Pritzer Prize winner Shigeru Ban told New York Times architecture critic Michael Kimmelman at the 2014 NYT Cities for Tomorrow conference on Monday night. “Because mainly we are working for privileged people,” he continued. “The people who have money and power – power and money are invisible. So they hire us to make monuments in order to show their power and money to the people. I’m not saying I’m not interested in making monuments but I was hoping to work for the public or people who lost their houses due to natural disasters. Not only working for privileged people.” Ban then went on to talk about why he actively seeks out pro bono projects in disaster areas (many of which he finances himself) and what he feels is the key to a building’s permanence. We were also lucky enough to ask Ban about his thoughts on sustainability after the discussion. Read on to see what he said.
Read the rest of New York Times Cities for Tomorrow Conference Spotlights Shigeru Ban as an Architect of Social Change testing
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Post tags: bill de blasio, cities for tomorrow, eco design, eco friendly cities, green design, michael kimmelman, new york times, nyc resiliency, NYT Cities for Tomorrow Conference, nyt conference, resilient architecture, resilient design, Shigeru Ban, sustainable cities, sustainable design, urban design, urban planning