Technical and Constructive Strategies and Solutions | LIGHTWEIGHT STRUCTURES
CONTEMPORARY CASE STUDY
#C1
PAPER LOG HOUSES
ENVIRONMENTAL PRINCIPLES
KOBE, JAPAN
to respect environmental context and landscape to benefit of natural and climatic resources to reduce pollution and waste materials to contribute to human health and welfare to reduce natural hazards effects
Architect: Shigeru Ban
SOCIO-CULTURAL PRINCIPLES
author Leonardo G. F. Cannas
to protect the cultural landscape to transfer construction cultures to enhance innovative and creative solutions to recognise intangible values to encourage social cohesion
SOCIO-ECONOMIC PRINCIPLES to support autonomy to promote local activities to extend building's lifetime to save resources
Paper Log Houses are temporary shelters for victims of disasters. They are based on the project of the Japanese architect Shigeru Ban. They were realized for the first time in 1995, in occasion of the Kobe earthquake, in Japan. They were used for the earthquakes in Turkey, 2000, in India, 2001, and for the typhoon in Philippines, 2013 (Shigeru Ban Architects, n. d.). The general constructive logic involves the use of lightweight prefabricated inexpensive materials which are essentially either locally available or recycled and which can be dry-assembled without the aid of skilled manpower. The name derives from the material used for the load-bearing elements: 106 mm diameter, 4 mm thick paper tubes, made with recycled paper. The first version of the house was made in this way: a basement made from beer crates loaded with sandbags, two plywood panels, separated by paper tubes, as floor, load-bearing walls made by placing vertical paper tubes, and a paper tube framework to support the roof envelope made by tenting material (Shigeru Ban Architects, n.d.). In time, this configuration was adapted to different contexts. For instance, in the Philippines, which is characterized by hot wet climate, paper tubes were used as a framework skeleton that supports a building envelope made with vernacular woven bamboo sheets (Shigeru Ban Architects, n.d.). Paper Tube Houses are based on a building technology that is originated by combining vernacular principles (local adaptation, dry assemblage, using recycled materials, and so on) with contemporary industrial materials. The result is a shelter of reasonable quality, in terms of appearance and thermal control, very inexpensive, very rapid to be built and also easy to be disposed of, recycled or re-used.
to optimise construction efforts
231 Tenting Paper tubes Plywood header
Paper tubes
Plywood panel
Paper tubes Beer crates
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Paper log house in Japan; paper log house in India; interior of paper log house in India. (photos: Forgemind ArchiMedia. CC BY 2.0)
Axonometric scheme of the Kobe paper log house. (drawing: L. G.F. Cannas. Based on www.shigerubanarchitects.com)