Many of Shigeru Ban’s pro bono disaster-relief projects, including the following, utilise surprisingly sturdy cardboard rolls, bringing costs down significantly. Ban’s fund-raising efforts and donations from others also help translate his creativity into reality.
1 Paper Emergency Shelters for the UN Refugee Agency
Byumba Refugee Camp, Rwanda, 1999 Cost: US$50 per shelter
(The price of five movie tickets in Singapore)
2 Paper Log Houses
Kobe, Japan, 1995 Cost: Less than US$2,000 per unit
(Less than the cost of one bottle of Krug’s Clos d’Ambonnay champagne)
3 Container Temporary Housing
Onagawa, Miyagi, 2011 Cost: US$465,000 for 189 apartments (about US$2,460 per apartment)
(Less than the cost of a two-year Apple iPhone 6 premium contract in Singapore)
4 Cardboard Cathedral
Christchurch, New Zealand, 2013 Rebuilding the church with cardboard cost only one-tenth…