Shigeru Ban and the Voluntary Architects' Network (VAN) are once again in action deploying their patented Paper Partition System in the wake of the recent 7.7 magnitude quake that struck western Japan in the early hours of New Year’s Day.

The indoor privacy system that the Pritzker Prize winner first devised in the late 1980s and deployed later in response to the 1995 Kobe earthquake was installed recently at a gymnasium in Kanazawa, Ishikawa Prefecture. The Prefecture is currently home to an estimated 26,000 shelter seekers, according to local reports. 

The VAN’s response is thus critical towards bolstering local relief efforts in the area that continues to suffer damage as a product of the more than 60 smaller quakes that have continued as recently as two days ago — potentially displacing hundreds or even thousands more. 

A TED talk featuring Ban’s description of the temporary shelter designs can be found here. Ban and the VAN have been very active in the last two years in other global catastrophes, including last February’s Turkey-Syria earthquake, the spate of August wildfires that devastated large portions of Lahaina in Hawaii, the 6.8 magnitude earthquake that struck Morocco in September, and the internal displacement crisis that gripped Ukraine in the months following Russia's full-scale military invasion of the country in 2022.

Ban and his team personally thanked fabric manufacturers Komatsu Matere and the popular brand Muji for their help in setting up the partitions system in an Instagram post Wednesday. The Voluntary Architects’ Network is also asking for all monetary support for its efforts to be directed here.

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