Shigeru Ban: Timber in Architecture

The Museum's focus on mass timber and wood, in conjunction with the exhibition TALL TIMBER: The Future of Cities in Wood, continues this fall with a webinar & book talk on the work of Shigeru Ban Architects on September 16 at 6pm ET. This is a virtual program — online only.

Though it is one of the world’s oldest building materials, wood is still revolutionizing the way buildings are designed and constructed today. It is imperative that everyone – from architects, engineers, and contactors, to clients and the general public – considers how construction practices impact climate change. Timber buildings are not only environmentally responsible, they also make us feel measurably happier, healthier, and more productive.

Shigeru Ban Architects has innovated in wood for over 35 years, creating inspiring spaces that have a positive impact on building inhabitants, communities, and the environment. The firm has built over 65 wood and mass timber projects, from prefabricated plywood houses to parametrically modeled glulam gridshells.

In this book talk, SBA Managing Partner Dean Maltz and Associate Laura Britton will present works featured in Shigeru Ban: Timber in Architecture (Rizzoli, 2022). The book presents the trajectory of 45 timber works from concept through construction, demonstrating the challenges and merits of wood buildings through essays, technical drawings, and photographs.

Laura Britton, AIA is an Associate at Shigeru Ban Architects, an Adjunct Assistant Professor at The Cooper Union, and the author-editor of Shigeru Ban: Timber in Architecture (Rizzoli, 2022). At SBA, she has led and contributed to a diverse range of projects, including Kentucky Owl Park, a bourbon distillery campus; Terrace House, a hybrid mass timber residential tower; and Cast Iron House, an adaptive reuse of a landmarked 19th-century commercial building. A graduate of Yale University and Princeton University School of Architecture, Britton is a recipient of the American Institute of Architects Henry Adams Medal.

Dean Maltz is Managing Partner of Shigeru Ban Architects, and is responsible for all SBA projects in North and South America. Most notably, Maltz led the AIA National Honor Award-winning Aspen Art Museum (2014), as well as the Nomadic Museum (2005), Metal Shutter House (2011), and Cast Iron House (2021). He is currently overseeing the design of Kentucky Owl Park and a midrise mass timber condominium. Maltz, a licensed architect in 4 US states, is a graduate of the Cooper Union School of Architecture (B.Arch) and Harvard Graduate School of Design (M.Arch).