WEBVTT

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Hi. I am an architect.

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I am the only architect in the world

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making buildings out of paper
like this cardboard tube,

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and this exhibition is the first one
I did using paper tubes.

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1986, much, much longer
before people started talking

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about ecological issues
and environmental issues,

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I just started testing the paper tube

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in order to use this
as a building structure.

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It's very complicated to test
the new material for the building,

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but this is much stronger
than I expected,

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and also it's very easy to waterproof.

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Because it's industrial material,

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it's also possible to fireproof.

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Then I built
the temporary structure, 1990.

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This is the first temporary building
made out of paper.

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There are 330 tubes,
diameter 55 [centimeters],

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there are only 12 tubes with a diameter

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of 120 centimeters, or four feet, wide.

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As you see it in the photo,
inside is the toilet.

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In case you're finished
with toilet paper,

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you can tear off the inside of the wall.
(Laughter)

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So it's very useful.

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Year 2000,
there was a big expo in Germany.

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I was asked to design the building,

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because the theme of the expo
was environmental issues.

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So I was chosen to build
the pavilion out of paper tubes,

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recyclable paper.

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My goal of the design
is not when it's completed.

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My goal was when the building 
was demolished,

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because each country
makes a lot of pavilions

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but after half a year,
we create a lot of industrial waste,

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so my building has to be
reused or recycled.

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After, the building was recycled.

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So that was the goal of my design.

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Then I was very lucky
to win the competition to build

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the second Pompidou Center
in France in the city of Metz.

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Because I was so poor,
I wanted to rent an office in Paris,

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but I couldn't afford it, so I decided
to bring my students to Paris

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to build our office on top
of the Pompidou Center in Paris

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by ourselves.
(Laughter)

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So we brought the paper tubes
and the wooden joints

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to complete the 35-meter-long office.

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We stayed there for six years
without paying any rent.

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(Laughter) (Applause)

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Thank you. 
I had one big problem.

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Because we were part of the exhibition,

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even if my friend wanted to see me,
they had to buy a ticket to see me.

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(Laughter)
That was the problem.

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Then I completed
the Pompidou Center in Metz.

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It's a very popular museum now,

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and I created a big monument
for the government.

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But then I was very disappointed

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at my profession as an architect,

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because we are not helping,
we are not working for society,

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but we are working 
for privileged people,

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rich people, government, developers.

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They have money and power.

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Those are invisible.

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So they hire us to visualize
their power and money

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by making monumental architecture.

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That is our profession,
even historically it's the same,

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even now we are doing the same.

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So I was very disappointed
that we are not working for society,

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even though there are so many people

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who lost their houses
by natural disasters.

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But I must say they are
no longer natural disasters.

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For example, earthquakes
never kill people,

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but collapse of 
the buildings kills people.

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That's the responsibility of architects.

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Then people need some temporary housing,

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but there are no architects working there

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because we are too busy
working for privileged people.

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So I thought, even as architects,

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we can be involved in the reconstruction
of temporary housing.

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We can make it better.

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So that is why I started
working in disaster areas.

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1994, there was
a big disaster in Rwanda, Africa.

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Two tribes, Hutu and Tutsi,
fought each other.

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Over two million people 
became refugees.

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But I was so surprised to see 
the shelter, refugee camp

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organized by the U.N.

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They're so poor, and they are freezing

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with blankets during the rainy season.

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In the shelters built by the U.N.,

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they were just providing a plastic sheet,

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and the refugees had to cut the trees,
and just like this.

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But over two million people cut trees.

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It just became big, heavy deforestation

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and an environmental problem.

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That is why they started providing
aluminum pipes, aluminum barracks.

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Very expensive,
they throw them out for money,

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then cutting trees again.

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So I proposed my idea
to improve the situation

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using these recycled paper tubes

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because this is so cheap
and also so strong,

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but my budget is only 
50 U.S. dollars per unit.

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We built 50 units to do that
as a monitoring test

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for the durability and moisture
and termites and so on.

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And then, a year afterward
1995 in Kobe, Japan,

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we had a big earthquake.

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Nearly 7000 people were killed,

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and the city like this Nagata district,

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all the city was burned
in a fire after the earthquake.

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And also I found out
there's many Vietnamese refugees

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suffering and gathering
at a Catholic church --

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all the buildings were totally destroyed.

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So I went there and also 
I proposed to the priests,

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"Why don't we rebuild
the church out of paper tubes?"

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And he said,
"Oh God, are you crazy?

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After a fire, what are you proposing?"

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So he never trusted me,
but I didn't give up.

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I started commuting to Kobe,

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and I met the society
of Vietnamese people.

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They were living like this with 
very poor plastic sheets in the park.

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So I proposed to rebuild.
I did fundraising.

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I made a paper tube shelter for them,

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and in order to make it easy

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to be built by students
and also easy to demolish,

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I used beer crates as a foundation.

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I asked the Kirin beer 
company to propose,

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because at that time,
the Asahi beer company

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made their plastic beer crates red,

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which doesn't go with
the color of the paper tubes.

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The color coordination 
is very important.

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And also I still remember,
we were expecting

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to have a beer inside 
the plastic beer crate,

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but it came empty. 
(Laughter)

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So I remember 
it was so disappointing.

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So during the summer
with my students,

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we built over 50 units of the shelters.

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Finally the priest, finally
he trusted me to rebuild.

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He said, "As long as 
you collect money by yourself,

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bring your students 
to build, you can do it."

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So we spent five weeks
rebuilding the church.

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It was meant to stay there
for three years,

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but actually it stayed there
10 years because people loved it.

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Then, in Taiwan,
they had a big earthquake,

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and we were proposed
to donate this church,

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so we dismantled them,

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we sent them over
to be built by volunteer people.

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It stayed there in Taiwan
as a permanent church even now.

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So this building became
a permanent building.

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Then I wonder, what is a permanent
and what is a temporary building?

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Even a building made in paper

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can be permanent
as long as people love it.

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Even a building made of concrete

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can easily collapse by an earthquake.

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If a building is built by a developer
in order to make money,

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other developers buy the land,
they destroy it and put a new one.

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So, it's very temporary.

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So, that is a difference.

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If a building is built even in paper,
if people love it, it becomes permanent.

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Even a concrete building
can be very temporary,

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if that is made to make money.

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In 1999, in Turkey,
there's the big earthquake,

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I went there to use the local material
to build a shelter.

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2001, in West India,
I also built a shelter.

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In 2004, in Sri Lanka, after 
the Sumatra earthquake and tsunami,

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I rebuilt Islamic fishermen's villages.

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And in 2008, in Chengdu,
Sichuan area in China,

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nearly 70 000 people were killed,

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and also especially
many of the schools were destroyed

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because of the corruption between 
the authority and the contractor.

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I was asked to rebuild
the temporary [school].

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I brought my Japanese students
to work with the Chinese students.

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In one month, we completed 9 classrooms
over 500 square meters.

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It's still used, even after 
the current earthquake in China.

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In 2009, in Italy, L'Aquila,
also they had a big earthquake.

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And this is a very interesting photo:

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former Prime Minister Berlusconi

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and Japanese former former
former former Prime Minister Mr. Aso -

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you know, because we have to change
the prime minister ever year.

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(Laughter)

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And they are very kind,
holding my model.

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I proposed a big rebuilding,
a temporary music hall,

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because L'Aquila is very famous for music

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and all the concert halls were destroyed,
so musicians were moving out.

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So I proposed to the mayor,

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I'd like to rebuild
the temporary auditorium.

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He said, "As long as you bring
your money, you can do it."

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And I was very lucky.

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Mr. Berlusconi brought G8 summit,

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and our former prime minister came,

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so they helped us to collect money,

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and I got half a million euros
from the Japanese government

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to rebuild this temporary auditorium.

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I have to remember every year
there is an earthquake somewhere.

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Year 2010 in Haiti,
there was a big earthquake,

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but it's impossible to fly over,

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so I went to Santo Domingo,
next-door country,

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to drive six hours to get to Haiti

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with the local students 
in Santo Domingo

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to build 50 units of shelter
out of local paper tubes.

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This is what happened in Japan
two years ago, in northern Japan.

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After the earthquake and tsunami,

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people had to be evacuated
in a big room like a gymnasium.

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But look at this.
There's no privacy.

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People suffer mentally and physically.

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So we went there to build partitions

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with all the student volunteers
with paper tubes,

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just a very simple shelter
out of the tube frame and the curtain.

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However, some of the facility authority

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doesn't want us to do it,
because, they said,

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simply, it's become
more difficult to control them.

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But it's really necessary to do it.

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Then, also it was the fact

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over 500 kilometer coast line
was damaged by tsunami.

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They don't have 
enough flat area to build

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standard government
single-story housing like this one.

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Look at this.
Even civil government is doing

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such poor construction
of the temporary housing,

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so dense and so messy

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because there is no storage,
nothing, water is leaking,

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so I thought, we have to make
multi-story building

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because there's no land
and also it's not very comfortable.

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So I proposed to the mayor
while I was making partitions.

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Finally I met a very nice mayor
in Onagawa village in Miyagi.

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He asked me to build
three-story housing on baseball [fields].

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I used the shipping container

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and also the students 
helped us to make

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all the building furniture

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to make them comfortable,

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within the budget of the government

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but also the area of the house
is exactly the same,

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but much more comfortable.

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Many of the people
want to stay here forever.

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I was very happy to hear that.

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Now I am working
in New Zealand, Christchurch.

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About 20 days before the Japanese
earthquake happened,

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also they had a big earthquake,

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and many Japanese students
were also killed,

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and the most important
cathedral of the city,

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the symbol of Christchurch,
was totally destroyed.

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And I was asked to come
to rebuild the temporary cathedral.

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So this is under construction.

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And I'd like to keep
building the monuments

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that are beloved by people.

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Thank you very much.

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(Applause)

NOTE Paragraph

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Thank you.
(Applause)

NOTE Paragraph

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Thank you very much.
(Applause)