sichuan, china receives paper nursery school by shigeru ban

sichuan, china receives paper nursery school by shigeru ban
all images courtesy of shigeru ban architects

after the april 20, 2013 earthquake that hit ya’an city, sichuan, china, the miao miao nursery school building in the region’s taiping town was deemed unusable, so shigeru ban was asked to constructed a temporary paper nursery school in which local children could continue with their lessons.

general view of the paper nursery school in sichuan, china

the result is a program of two classrooms that are organized over a floor plan of 6 x 21 meters, and divided by a central corridor. the japanese architect’s signature material of cardboard tubes form the framework of the structure, and are also used in combination with steel L-angles to shape the trussed roof that affords an interior space that is free of any supporting columns.

up close of the cardboard tube and L-anglies that form the trussed roof

the paper nursery school was built in collaboration with volunteers from southwest jaiotong university, and students of shigeru ban’s studio at kyoto university of art and design. many of them had worked together previously on the construction of another educational building, the chengudu hualin elementary school in chengdu, sichuan, in 2008.

young pupils engaging with the temporary school structure

erecting the first wall

the paper tube framework in place

shigeru ban with his team of volunteers who helped realize the school