Shigeru Ban, the recipient of the 2014 Pritzker Architecture Prize, in New York, in March.Credit Photograph by Richard Drew/AP

Shigeru Ban, the winner of the 2014 Pritzker Prize, whom I wrote about recently, has consistently rejected the label of “green architect,” though he has made his reputation with buildings made out of recycled-paper cardboard tubes. What others interpret as environmentalism he insists is merely a personality trait. “I just hate wasting things,” he says. Ban’s resistance to the green embrace sounds contrarian but it is also canny. Fifteen years ago, the term “greenwashing” entered the O.E.D. Since then, the ongoing, increasingly mainstream, and often cosmetic use of ecological correctness as a selling point has led to some jadedness in the marketplace. Overwhelmingly, though, greenwashing has succeeded, creating a complacent class of consumer able to justify just about any material want so long as it is “sustainable.” Tesla, the thinking person’s luxury car—signifier of planet-consciousness and unfettered spending power—is fast becoming a common sight at power-lunch valet stations and in private-school carpool lines....Continue Reading

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