Emergency shelters made from paper
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0:00 - 0:02Hi. I am an architect.
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0:02 - 0:04I am the only architect in the world
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0:04 - 0:07making buildings out of paper like this cardboard tube,
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0:07 - 0:10and this exhibition is the first one I did
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0:10 - 0:11using paper tubes.
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0:11 - 0:161986, much, much longer before people started talking
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0:16 - 0:20about ecological issues and environmental issues,
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0:20 - 0:23I just started testing the paper tube
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0:23 - 0:26in order to use this as a building structure.
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0:26 - 0:31It's very complicated to test the new material for the building,
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0:31 - 0:34but this is much stronger than I expected,
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0:34 - 0:36and also it's very easy to waterproof,
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0:36 - 0:38and also, because it's industrial material,
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0:38 - 0:40it's also possible to fireproof.
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0:40 - 0:44Then I built the temporary structure, 1990.
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0:44 - 0:47This is the first temporary building out of paper.
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0:47 - 0:51There are 330 tubes, diameter 55 [centimeters],
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0:51 - 0:53[unclear] tubes diameter,
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0:53 - 0:56it's 120 centimeters, four feet wide.
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0:56 - 0:58As you see it in the photo, inside is the toilet.
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0:58 - 1:01In case you're finished with toilet paper,
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1:01 - 1:03you can tear those things out of the wall. (Laughter)
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1:03 - 1:06So it's very useful.
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1:06 - 1:10Year 2000, there was a big expo in Germany.
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1:10 - 1:12I was asked to design the building,
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1:12 - 1:15because the theme of the expo was environmental issues.
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1:15 - 1:20So I was chosen to build the pavilion out of paper tubes,
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1:20 - 1:21recyclable paper.
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1:21 - 1:24My goal of the design is not when it's completed.
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1:24 - 1:26My goal was when the building was demolished,
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1:26 - 1:30because each country make a lot of pavilions
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1:30 - 1:34but after half a year, we create a lot of industrial waste,
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1:34 - 1:38so my building has to be reused or recycled.
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1:38 - 1:40After, the building was recycled.
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1:40 - 1:43So that was the goal of my design.
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1:43 - 1:46Then I was very lucky to win the competition
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1:46 - 1:49of building the second Pompidou Center in France
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1:49 - 1:50in the city of Metz.
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1:50 - 1:52Because I was so poor,
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1:52 - 1:54I wanted to rent an office in Paris,
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1:54 - 1:55but I couldn't afford it,
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1:55 - 1:57so I decided to bring my students to Paris
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1:57 - 2:01to build our office on top of the Pompidou Center in Paris
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2:01 - 2:02by ourselves.
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2:02 - 2:06So we brought the paper tubes and the wooden joints
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2:06 - 2:10to complete the 35-meter-long office.
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2:10 - 2:13We stayed there for six years without paying any rent.
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2:13 - 2:17(Laughter) (Applause)
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2:17 - 2:19Thank you. I had one big problem.
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2:19 - 2:21Because we are part of the exhibition,
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2:21 - 2:25if even my friend wants to see me, they have to buy a ticket to see me.
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2:25 - 2:27That was the problem.
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2:27 - 2:30Then I completed the Pompidou Center in Metz.
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2:30 - 2:31It's a very popular museum now,
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2:31 - 2:35and I created a big monument for the government.
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2:35 - 2:37But then I was very disappointed
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2:37 - 2:39at my profession as an architect,
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2:39 - 2:43because we are not helping, we are not working for society,
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2:43 - 2:46but we are working for privileged people,
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2:46 - 2:50rich people, government, developers.
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2:50 - 2:52They have money and power.
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2:52 - 2:54Those are invisible.
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2:54 - 2:58So they hire us to visualize their power and money
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2:58 - 3:00by making monumental architecture.
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3:00 - 3:02That is our profession, even historically the same,
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3:02 - 3:04even now we are doing the same.
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3:04 - 3:08So I was very disappointed we are not working for society,
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3:08 - 3:12even though there are so many people
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3:12 - 3:15who lost their houses by natural disaster.
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3:15 - 3:18But I must say they are no longer natural disasters.
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3:18 - 3:21For example, earthquakes never kill people,
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3:21 - 3:23but collapse of the buildings kill people.
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3:23 - 3:25That's the responsibility of architects.
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3:25 - 3:27Then people need some temporary housing,
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3:27 - 3:28but there are no architects working there
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3:28 - 3:32because we are too busy working for privileged people.
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3:32 - 3:36So I thought, even as architects,
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3:36 - 3:41we can be involved in the quick construction of the temporary housing.
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3:41 - 3:42We can make it better.
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3:42 - 3:46So that is why I started working in disaster areas.
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3:46 - 3:501994, there was a big disaster in Rwanda, Africa.
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3:50 - 3:53Two tribes, Hutu and Tutsi, fought each other.
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3:53 - 3:55Over two million people became refugees.
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3:55 - 3:59But I was so surprised to see the shelter, refugee camp
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3:59 - 4:01organized by the U.N.
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4:01 - 4:05They're so poor, and they are freezing
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4:05 - 4:07with blankets during the rainy season,
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4:07 - 4:10In the shelter built by the U.N.,
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4:10 - 4:12they were just providing a plastic sheet,
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4:12 - 4:16and the refugees had to cut the trees, and just like this.
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4:16 - 4:18But over two million people cut trees.
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4:18 - 4:21It just became big, heavy deforestation,
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4:21 - 4:22and an environmental problem.
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4:22 - 4:26That is why they started providing [unclear] pipes, [unclear] barracks.
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4:26 - 4:28Very expensive, they throw them out for money,
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4:28 - 4:30then cutting trees again.
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4:30 - 4:34So I proposed my idea to improve the situation
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4:34 - 4:36using these recycled paper tubes
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4:36 - 4:39because this is so cheap and also so strong,
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4:39 - 4:42but my budget is only 50 U.S. dollars per unit.
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4:42 - 4:45We built 50 units to do that as a monitoring test
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4:45 - 4:50for the durability and moisture and termites, so on.
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4:50 - 4:55And then, year afterward, 1995, in Kobe, Japan,
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4:55 - 4:57we had a big earthquake.
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4:57 - 4:59Nearly 7,000 people were killed,
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4:59 - 5:02and the city like this Nagata district,
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5:02 - 5:05all the city was burned in a fire after the earthquake.
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5:05 - 5:09And also I found out there's many Vietnamese refugees
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5:09 - 5:12suffering and gathering at a Catholic church --
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5:12 - 5:14all the building was totally destroyed.
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5:14 - 5:17So I went there and also I proposed to the priests,
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5:17 - 5:20"Why don't we rebuild the church out of paper tubes?"
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5:20 - 5:23And he said, "Oh God, are you crazy?
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5:23 - 5:25After a fire, what are you proposing?"
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5:25 - 5:29So he never trusted me, but I didn't give up.
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5:29 - 5:31I started commuting to Kobe,
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5:31 - 5:33and I met the society of Vietnamese people.
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5:33 - 5:36They were living like this with very poor plastic sheets
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5:36 - 5:37in the park.
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5:37 - 5:41So I proposed to rebuild, fundraising.
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5:41 - 5:43I made a paper tube shelter for them,
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5:43 - 5:46and in order to make it easy to be built by students
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5:46 - 5:48and also easy to demolish,
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5:48 - 5:51I used beer crates as a foundation.
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5:51 - 5:54I asked the Kirin beer company to propose,
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5:54 - 5:56because at that time, the Asahi beer company
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5:56 - 5:58made their plastic beer crates red,
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5:58 - 6:01which doesn't go with the color of the paper tubes.
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6:01 - 6:03The color coordination is very important.
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6:03 - 6:06And also I still remember, we were expecting
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6:06 - 6:09to have a beer inside the plastic beer crate,
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6:09 - 6:10but it came empty.
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6:10 - 6:14So I remember it was so disappointing.
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6:14 - 6:16So during the summer with my students,
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6:16 - 6:18we built over 50 units of the shelters.
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6:18 - 6:21Finally the priest, finally he trusted me to rebuild.
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6:21 - 6:23He said, "As long as you collect money by yourself,
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6:23 - 6:26bring your students to build, you can do it."
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6:26 - 6:28So we spent five weeks to rebuild the church.
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6:28 - 6:32It was meant to stay there for three years,
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6:32 - 6:35but actually it stayed there 10 years because people loved it.
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6:35 - 6:39Then, in Taiwan, they had a big earthquake,
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6:39 - 6:43and we proposed to donate this church,
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6:43 - 6:44so we dismantled them,
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6:44 - 6:46we sent them over to be built by volunteer people.
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6:46 - 6:50It stayed there in Taiwan as a permanent church even now.
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6:50 - 6:53So this building became a permanent building.
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6:53 - 6:57Then I wonder, what is a permanent and what is a temporary building?
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6:57 - 6:59Even a building made in paper
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6:59 - 7:03can be permanent as long as people love it.
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7:03 - 7:05Even concrete building can be very temporary
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7:05 - 7:07if that is made to make money.
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7:07 - 7:10In 1999, in Turkey, the big earthquake,
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7:10 - 7:14I went there to use the local material to build a shelter.
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7:14 - 7:182001, in West India, I built also a shelter.
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7:18 - 7:22In 2004, in Sri Lanka, after the Sumatra earthquake
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7:22 - 7:25and tsunami, I rebuilt Islamic fishermen's villages.
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7:25 - 7:31And in 2008, in Chengdu, Sichuan area in China,
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7:31 - 7:34nearly 70,000 people were killed,
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7:34 - 7:37and also especially many of the schools were destroyed
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7:37 - 7:40because of the corruption between the authority and the contractor.
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7:40 - 7:43I was asked to rebuild the temporary church.
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7:43 - 7:47I brought my Japanese students to work with the Chinese students.
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7:47 - 7:50In one month, we completed nine classrooms,
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7:50 - 7:52over 500 square meters.
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7:52 - 7:56It's still used, even after the current earthquake in China.
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7:56 - 8:02In 2009, in Italy, L'Aquila, also they had big earthquake.
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8:02 - 8:04And this is a very interesting photo:
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8:04 - 8:07former Prime Minister Berlusconi
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8:07 - 8:11and Japanese former former former former Prime Minister Mr. Aso
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8:11 - 8:15you know, because we have to change the Prime Minister ever year.
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8:15 - 8:20And they are very kind, affording my model.
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8:20 - 8:24I proposed a big rebuilding, a temporary music hall,
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8:24 - 8:27because L'Aquila is very famous for music
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8:27 - 8:28and all the concert halls were destroyed,
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8:28 - 8:30so musicians were moving out.
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8:30 - 8:32So I proposed to the mayor,
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8:32 - 8:34I'd like to rebuild the temporary auditorium.
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8:34 - 8:37He said, "As long as you bring your money, you can do it."
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8:37 - 8:38And I was very lucky.
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8:38 - 8:40Mr. Berlusconi brought G8 summit,
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8:40 - 8:43and our former Prime Minister came,
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8:43 - 8:46so they helped us to collect money,
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8:46 - 8:49and I got half a million euros from the Japanese government
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8:49 - 8:51to rebuild this temporary auditorium.
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8:51 - 8:56Year 2010 in Haiti, there was a big earthquake,
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8:56 - 8:58but it's impossible to fly over,
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8:58 - 9:01so I went to Santo Domingo, next door country,
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9:01 - 9:04to drive six hours to get to Haiti
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9:04 - 9:07with the local students in Santo Domingo
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9:07 - 9:10to build 50 units of shelter out of local paper tubes.
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9:10 - 9:14This is what happened in Japan two years ago, in northern Japan.
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9:14 - 9:16After the earthquake and tsunami,
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9:16 - 9:20people had to be evacuated in a big room like a gymnasium.
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9:20 - 9:22But look at this. It's no privacy.
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9:22 - 9:24People suffer mentally and physically.
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9:24 - 9:28So we went there to build partitions
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9:28 - 9:31with all the student volunteers with paper tubes,
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9:31 - 9:35just a very simple shelter out of the tube frame and the curtain.
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9:35 - 9:38However, some of the facility authority
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9:38 - 9:40doesn't want us to do it, because, they said,
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9:40 - 9:43simply, it's become more difficult to control them.
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9:43 - 9:46But it's really necessary to do it.
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9:46 - 9:48They don't have enough flat area to build
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9:48 - 9:51standard government single-story housing like this one.
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9:51 - 9:54Look at this. Even civil government is doing
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9:54 - 9:58such a poor construction of the temporary housing,
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9:58 - 10:04so dense and so messy because there is no storage, nothing, water is leaking,
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10:04 - 10:08so I thought, we have to make multi-story building
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10:08 - 10:11because there's no land and also it's not very comfortable.
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10:11 - 10:16So I proposed to the mayor while I was making partitions.
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10:16 - 10:19Finally I met a very nice mayor in Onagawa village
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10:19 - 10:20in Miyagi.
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10:20 - 10:25He asked me to build three-story housing on baseball land.
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10:25 - 10:28I used the shipping container
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10:28 - 10:30and also the students helped us to make
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10:30 - 10:33all the building furniture
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10:33 - 10:35to make them comfortable,
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10:35 - 10:37within the budget of the government
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10:37 - 10:41but also the area of the house is exactly the same,
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10:41 - 10:42but much more comfortable.
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10:42 - 10:45Many of the people want to stay here forever.
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10:45 - 10:48I was very happy to hear that.
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10:48 - 10:52Now I am working in New Zealand, Christchurch.
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10:52 - 10:55About 20 days before the Japanese earthquake happened,
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10:55 - 10:57also they had a big earthquake,
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10:57 - 10:59and many Japanese students were also killed,
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10:59 - 11:02and the most important cathedral of the city,
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11:02 - 11:05the symbol of Christchurch, was totally destroyed.
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11:05 - 11:09And I was asked to come to rebuild the temporary cathedral.
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11:09 - 11:11So this is under construction,
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11:11 - 11:14and I'd like to keep building the monument
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11:14 - 11:16that's beloved by people.
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11:16 - 11:18Thank you very much.
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11:18 - 11:20(Applause)
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11:20 - 11:23Thank you. (Applause)
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11:23 - 11:25Thank you very much. (Applause)
- Title:
- Emergency shelters made from paper
- Speaker:
- Shigeru Ban
- Description:
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Long before sustainability became a buzzword, architect Shigeru Ban had begun his experiments with ecologically-sound building materials such as cardboard tubes and paper. His remarkable structures are often intended as temporary housing, designed to help the dispossessed in disaster-struck nations such as Haiti, Rwanda or Japan. Yet equally often the buildings remain a beloved part of the landscape long after they have served their intended purpose. (Filmed at TEDxTokyo.)
- Video Language:
- English
- Team:
- closed TED
- Project:
- TEDTalks
- Duration:
- 11:42
Thu-Huong Ha edited English subtitles for Emergency shelters made from paper | ||
Thu-Huong Ha approved English subtitles for Emergency shelters made from paper | ||
Thu-Huong Ha edited English subtitles for Emergency shelters made from paper | ||
Thu-Huong Ha edited English subtitles for Emergency shelters made from paper | ||
Morton Bast accepted English subtitles for Emergency shelters made from paper | ||
Morton Bast edited English subtitles for Emergency shelters made from paper | ||
Morton Bast edited English subtitles for Emergency shelters made from paper | ||
Joseph Geni edited English subtitles for Emergency shelters made from paper |