Contemporary Japanese Architects

Architects play an essential role in contemporary society, helping to shape the environment in which we live and work. This book explores how architects in Japan have responded to the demands of their times and how they continue to engage with new economic realities and the shifting global order.

The moving image of Japanese society is reflected in the work of the architects profiled in this book: from the generation rising from the ashes of postwar Japan, through the postwar economic boom, to the generation that quietly gathered strength during the recession of the 1970s; from the generation that debuted in the bubble economy of the 1980s to the generation that began their work after the Great Hanshin-Awaji Earthquake and the collapse of the bubble economy; and finally, after decades of economic stagnation, to the generation that has come to the fore since the early twenty-first century.

Contemporary Japanese architects have pioneered developments in sustainability and introduced engineering innovations that have changed not only the look of modern buildings but the ways in which they can be constructed. Japanese design concepts, realized in major public buildings around the world, communicate with a global audience and contribute toward shaping our shared future.

IGARASHI Taro

Igarashi Taro, architectural historian and critic, was born in 1967 in Paris. After graduating from the Department of Architecture in the Faculty of Engineering at the University of Tokyo, he received a master’s degree and a doctorate (in engineering) from the same institution. He is now a professor in the Graduate School of Engineering at Tohoku University. He served as commissioner for the Japan Pavilion at the Venice Biennale of Architecture in 2008 and artistic director of the Aichi Triennale in 2013. Publications include Kenchiku wa ika ni shakai to kairo o tsunagu no ka [How Does Architecture Connect with Society?] (Sairyūsha, 2010); Shinpen: Shin Shūkyō to kyodai kenchiku [New Edition: The New Religions and Monumental Architecture] (Chikuma Gakugei Bunko, 2007); Gendai kenchiku ni kansuru 16-shō [Sixteen Chapters on Contemporary Architecture] (Kōdansha Gendai Shinsho, 2006); Gendai kenchiku no pāsupekutibu [Perspectives on Contemporary Architecture] (Kōbunsha Shinsho, 2005); Kabōbi toshi [The Overprotected City] (Chūkō Shinsho Rakure, 2004); and Sensō to kenchiku [War and Architecture] (Shōbunsha, 2003). He has also been a contributing editor for a number of books, including Yankī bunkaron josetsu [An Introduction to Yankee Culture] (Kawade Shobō Shinsho, 2009) and Mienai shinsai [Invisible Earthquakes] (Misuzu Shobō, 2006).

*information as of time of publication

Japan Library series
Architecture

Publisher:
Japan Publishing Industry Foundation for Culture

Hardcover
¥2,800 + tax
ISBN 9784866580210
210 mm x 148 mm / 304 pp. / March 2018

eBook
ISBN 9784866580432 (ePub)
ISBN 9784866580333 (PDF)

Preface to the English Edition / Preface: A Genealogy of Contemporary Japanese Architects // Part I: Rising from the Ashes: The Prewar Generation / 1. Tange Kenzō: A National Architect in the Era of Greater East Asia / 2. Kurokawa Kishō: Buddhism and Metabolism / 3. Isozaki Arata: An Architect Torn Between Fiction and Reality // Part II: Breaking out of the Box: The Generation Born in the 1940s / 4. Andō Tadao: Geometries of Concrete, Reflecting the Environment / 5. Itō Toyoo: A New Architecture for the Information Age / 6. Sakamoto Kazunari: Free Architecture, or the Construction of Overlapping Systems / 7. Fujimori Terunobu: The Incomparable Architect(ural Historian) / 8. Iijima Naoki: At the Boundaries of Interior Design // Part III: A Light and Transparent Architecture: The Generation Born in the 1950s / 9. SANAA: Design Reconfiguring Spatial Form / 10. Sejima Kazuyo: Distorting Distance Through a Glass Landscape / 11. Nishizawa Ryūe: An Architecture Beyond Images and Words / 12. Kuma Kengo: High-Speed Gamer // Part IV: Adapting To Changing Conditions: The Generation Born in the 1960s / 13. Atelier Bow-Wow: Post-Bubble Japanese Realism / 14. Abe Hitoshi: Architecture as Media Suit / 15. Tezuka Architects: Straight Modern, or the Strength of Architecture / 16. Endō Shūhei: Geometries for Measuring the Earth // Part V: Globalism or Galapagos: The Generation Born in the 1970s / 17. Fujimoto Sou: Toward a New Geometry / 18. Ishigami Jun’ya: Weightless Landscapes, Spaces of Relativity / 19. Principles and Phenomena: Looking to the Future // In Conclusion: Architecture after March 2011 / Notes / References / About the Author and About the Translator

"In “Contemporary Japanese Architects,” readers are offered a sweeping overview of 18 of Japan’s most notable contemporary architects and firms. Part personal profile and part architectural treatise, each section situates their designs within the larger picture of Japanese culture, society and economy."

Claire Williamson
The Japan Times

建築家はいかに時代と格闘し、社会と関わってきたのか。丹下健三から、高度経済成⾧を経験した世代、70 年代の不景気時に力を蓄えた世代、バブル期にデビューした世代、阪神大震災やバブル崩壊の後に活動を始めた世代、そして21世紀に頭角を現した新世代まで、世界的評価を受ける建築家たちの仕事に、戦後から3.11 に至る日本社会の姿を読む。

五十嵐太郎
1967年、パリ生まれ。建築史家・建築批評家。東京大学工学部建築学科卒業、同大学院修士課程修了。博士（工学）。現在、東北大学大学院工学研究科教授。ヴェネチィア・ビエンナーレ国際建築展・日本館展示コミッショナー（2008年）。あいちトリエンナーレ2013では芸術監督を務める。著書に、『新編　新宗教と巨大建築』（筑摩書房）、『戦争と建築』（晶文社）、『過剰防備都市』（中央公論新社）、『現代建築のパースペクティブ』（光文社）、『みえない震災』（編著、みすず書房）『現代建築に関する16章』（講談社）、『ヤンキー文化論序説』（編著、河出書房新社）、『建築はいかに社会と回路をつなぐのか』（彩流社）など多数。

＊著者略歴は書籍刊行時のものを表示しています。