Renowned Japanese architect, Shigeru Ban was commissioned by the Abu Dhabi Art Festival to complete a structure that provides a cool and sheltered space where visitors to the event can meet and engage with designers and artists showcasing work at the festival.
Drawing on his trademark use of cardboard to construct sustainable and low-cost structures, the temporary pavilion is made almost entirely out of cardboard tubes that vary in length and dimensions.
The surrounding environment as well as the culture and heritage of the region inspire the structure known as the Design Souq. Taking its cue from the traditional marketplace structures in the city, the flat-roofed pavilion mimics the airy, open plan layout.
Ban first began experimenting with constructing buildings from cardboard tubes in 1986, and he’s continued to test new ideas of form and material ever since. In August 2013, he complete another cardboard structure - a temporary replacement for the Christchurch Cathedral in New Zealand after this original was raised by a 6.3-magnitude earthquake in February 2011.
