People in paper houses should not strike matches

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Japanese architect Shigeru Ban ingeniously incorporates paper as a structural element in the schools, temporary exhibition spaces and refugee shelters he designs. You can get a sense of how striking the effect can be in the getaway, pictured above, he built for himself in 1995. It uses 110 paper tubes in an S-curve to both create walls and support the roof.

Recently, the art book company Rizzoli published ‘Shigeru Ban: Paper in Architecture,’ a 232-page monograph on his work with a focus on his humanitarian efforts. To see other examples of Ban’s work, click here.-- Deborah Netburn