Gallery: Shigeru Ban designs the Aspen Art Museum

Aspen Art Museum opens its new building this weekend – a latticed, light-stippled design by the celebrated architect Shigeru Ban.

The Japanese architect, who won the Pritzker Prize this year, is well known for his use of paper as a cheap and versatile building material. His low cost, recycled ‘paper-tube’ shelters have been used to house refugees and disaster victims across the globe, and will be the focus of one of the Aspen museum’s inaugural exhibitions. In addition to his humanitarian work, Ban has designed a series of elegant new structures for private clients over the years, including the undulating, perforated shell of the Centre Pompidou-Metz in Lorraine, France. How does the Aspen building, his first permanent museum structure in the USA, compare to his previous projects?