Shigeru Ban, an architect specializing in earthquakes and humanitarian construction
I have 53 years, I know that my responsibility as an architect is not to whom I pay or to the project, but to those who will give life to use.
was born in Tokyo, a young city, reborn after the war.
collaborate with the Institut d'Arquitectura Avançada de Catalunya. U
stedethe media has grossly exaggerated the situation in Japan.
We arrived dramatic images.
But the tone did not reflect the reality of relative calm that prevailed in most part of Japan. Therefore, my European friends called me offering me home so he could "flee" from Tokyo. Should you be more aware of the reality show exactly ...
... I note. That has not helped at all in Japan or its economy, but I assure you rebuild and thrive again soon.
But there is still a nuclear alarm.
Let's see: the Japanese government evacuated 30,000 people around the power plant in Fukushima as a precautionary measure ...
I think so.
... Well, there was less radiation to which you are exposed in a New York-Tokyo flight, for example. And much less than that suffered by becoming an X-ray.
media have also praised the discipline and courage of the Japanese.
We are just accustomed to earthquakes. It's our history. The only difference this time was the most intense and the threat of radioactivity.
What have you learned as an architect of this disaster?
What we already knew. Earthquakes do not kill, but the corruption of the builder or owner or the architect or the authorities. In Japan, buildings constructed after 1981 have withstood the earthquake. And also resisted Kobe very well.
How do they build so strong?
Our architecture has a long tradition and worked earthquake regression structures. When regulations are complied with, the buildings put up, but there are other cases where not met. So people are dying and not only in Japan.
For example.
A recent case in New Zealand ...
a country considered very honorable.
But there was a building where the owner managed to save the investment needed by earthquake shady political dealings. Rapture collapsed building and caused by an earthquake victims.
seismographs addition, we should have corruptógrafos.
Something similar happened in China a school building where dozens of children died in the collapse during the last earthquake. And there are natural disasters. These are crimes whose perpetrators are politicians and officials who accept bribes.
But the tsunami has been exceptional.
antitsunami defenses were 10 feet high, but were overtaken by the tsunami. And the alarms also revealed ineffective, because only nine minutes elapsed between the earthquake and tsunami.
Should not leave that area of \u200b\u200buninhabited coast and build inland?
What we do is rebuild the city taking into account the lessons of the tsunami.
What?
screen plan to build high-rise buildings in front antitsunami that will protect the other buildings and terraces which will, also shelter when an alarm occurs.
seems good idea.
only drawback I see the landscape impact, but perhaps we can soften. The important thing is that we react and plan. And indeed, in Turkey, where I worked after the last earthquake, should take note also that each new earthquake occurs further west, closer to Istanbul. And I will not prevent ...
Why majored in architecture also humanitarian refugees?
I was in Rwanda during the slaughter and the first thing I experienced to see such misery was the intimate need to be useful. So I regretted not being a doctor, but it was too old to study medicine, so I thought there could only be helpful as an architect and staking my career.
How?
I realized that the work of architects is to make visible the quiet power of the millionaires and politicians. Turn your arrogance into something material, which can be displayed to the people. We build the windows of the arrogance of the powerful: its buildings and monuments.
And sometimes its bad taste.
But I wanted to put my talents to those who have nothing!
What have they taught?
The act of being poor and have suffered a disaster does not make them less demanding than the powerful and rich.
decried her humanitarian work "?
Yes, the refugees themselves who lived, and taught me a lot with his criticism.
Well, did not leave without pay.
But do not misunderstand me: the architecture of crisis is only a way to balance my commitment to glorify the owners money and power, a job that I am also happy to continue doing.
What is the first thing when it comes to a humanitarian catastrophe?
Take away: no thrill. I must be like a surgeon who forget their feelings to concentrate on the surgical technique. I also concentrated in a refugee camp in the biggest-budget project of my career.
realistic Altruism
Shigeru embodies the clever mix of ethics and pragmatism that characterizes the ethos Japan. So you think your country will also reinforced this catastrophe. Calmly, but never with abandon. Shigeru resignation to tears and complaints, and plan how to rebuild the cities to curb future tsunamis. And he knows what he's talking, because he exercised his architecture in Kobe, Turkey, India, Sri Lanka, China, Italy and Haiti, but also in projects of grandeur as the Centre Pompidou-Metz. With realistic altruism: I ask why not build buildings with alternative energy. "It would be nice," replied, "but the promoters refused because the more expensive the budget by 20 percent."
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