Archinect - News

Sou Fujimoto shares new photos of Expo 2025 Osaka, Kansai master plan under construction

2024-04-01T15:46:00-04:00

Sou Fujimoto’s studio has shared new construction images of the forthcoming Expo 2025 Osaka, Kansai's The Grand Roof circular wooden container structure, a year ahead of the start of the six-month fair, which begins on April 13th, 2025.

The enormous structure is 1,969 feet (600 meters) in diameter and will serve as the main circulatory route for the exhibition, which includes 161 total participating countries/locations.

View this post on Instagram A post shared by Sou Fujimoto (@sou_fujimoto)

Fujimoto’s team says their design is meant to evoke a sense of "Unity in Diversity" and takes the Stage of Kiyomizu temple in Kyoto and other historic examples of Japanese timber architecture as its inspiration.

View this post on Instagram A post shared by Sou Fujimoto (@sou_fujimoto)

It will support an aerial walkway that affords visitors sightlines into the arena-like layout encased on the manmade Yumeshima island below and divided into three zones (Pavi...

Construction begins on Japan’s tallest building, Torch Tower

2023-10-09T15:00:00-04:00

Construction has begun on the Torch Tower, set to be the new tallest building in Japan. The 1,280-foot-tall skyscraper is expected to be completed in March 2028 according to new reporting by The Japan Times.

The Torch Tower is one of four buildings to be constructed as part of a major redevelopment of Tokyo’s historic Tokiwabashi district. Led by developers Mitsubishi Estate, the design team involved in the master plan’s delivery includes Mitsubishi Jisho Sekkei, Koji Matsuda, Sou Fujimoto, Yuko Nagayama, and Takanori Fukouka.

Hotel entrance. Image credit: Dorchester Collection

When completed, the Torch Tower will hold a luxury hotel operated by the Dorchester Collection, as well as a 2,000-capacity entertainment hall, offices, and an observation deck. While the hotel, offices, and rooftop observatory will be housed in the tower form, the entertainment hall and retail spaces will be located within a base plinth rising from a single below-ground floor to a sixth above-ground floor.

Ho...

Sou Fujimoto designs Pace Gallery Tokyo expansion inside Heatherwick's Azabudai Hills development

2023-09-05T16:57:00-04:00

The new home of the Pace Gallery in Tokyo will feature interior spaces designed by Sou Fujimoto inside a three-story portion of Heatherwick Studio’s exciting new Azabudai Hills development, according to plans revealed today by the gallery.

The total 5,500-square-foot design includes some 3,000 square feet of exhibition spaces split between the first and second floors of the gallery. A third floor will also include a private terrace and sculptural garden connected to the landscape component of the 20-acre site, which sits prominently at the nexus of several other cultural destinations in the city’s busy Toranomon commercial district.

Rendering © DBOX for Mori Building Co., Ltd

The designer of the 2013 Serpentine Pavilion and Musashino Art University Museum and Library will deliver a space that is evocative of his personal explorations and approach to architecture.

Rendering © DBOX for Mori Building Co., Ltd

Pace says it has been interested in a Japanese expansion since at least the la...

Sou Fujimoto's Ishinomaki Cultural Center offers a poetic space to a community looking to heal and remember

2023-06-22T14:48:00-04:00

Sou Fujimoto Architects has shared photos of the firm’s recent Maruhon MakiArt Terrace design in Ishinomaki, Japan.

The project sought to rebuild an important piece of the region’s cultural infrastructure that was destroyed by the devastating earthquake and tsunami, which claimed the lives of more than 3,000 local residents there on March 11th, 2011.

Image: © Masaki Iwata and Sou Fujimoto Architects

Responding to a brief that called for a revitalizing centerpiece for the city of 147,000, the design team created a 140,000-square-foot building that plays host to two 1,254- and 300-seat theaters, exhibitions areas, a public gallery, and learning spaces for a variety of different users.

Image: © Masaki Iwata and Sou Fujimoto Architects

A poetic linear arrangement is created as repeated gable ends combine with alternating “chimney-like” rectangular forms connected by a 170-meter (557-foot) long entrance lobby along the south orientation.

...

Sou Fujimoto’s new resort concept offers guests a revelatory experience of form and philosophy

2022-08-02T19:15:00-04:00

A few months removed from their grand House of Music debut in Budapest, Sou Fujimoto Architects has just unveiled concept renderings and a project website of an undulating coastal resort design on Okinawa’s Ishigaki Island for the Japanese hospitality brand NOT A HOTEL.

The circular home concept includes four bedrooms arranged around an open-air combined living/dining room that includes an island kitchen and panoramic views of the ocean. Its green roof gives way to an internal courtyard that is defined by a 12-meter (40-foot) infinity pool and framed by a singular symbol tree. The construction will equal more than 3,000 tsubos, or about 106,000 square feet, upon its completion, which is scheduled for next summer.

Image courtesy Sou Fujimoto Architects

As mentioned in the project announcement, the design’s near-poetic expression of natural geometries and landscaping is conducive to improved circulation throughout while simultaneously breaking the indoor-outdoor threshold in a refresh ...

OMA, David Chipperfield, and Sou Fujimoto team up to design $1.4 billion cultural-retail complex in Shenzhen

2022-07-22T17:38:00-04:00

A team consisting of David Chipperfield, OMA, and Sou Fujimoto is leading the design of an expansive, $1.4 billion cultural-retail complex on the coast of Shenzhen.

Called K11 ECOAST, the development will span more than 2.4 million square feet and be located in Prince Bay in Shenzhen’s Nanshan District. The project is being jointly developed by Hong Kong billionaire Adrian Cheng’s New World Development Company Limited, along with China Merchants Shekou Holdings in Shenzhen.

Image courtesy K11 Group

The project is part of the Chinese government’s effort to develop its Greater Bay Area region, which includes southern cities, such as Shenzhen and Guangzhou, into arts and business hubs by 2035. Cheng’s vision for K11 ECOAST is to establish a new creative and cultural destination for the region. The complex will consist of a mall, multi-purpose art space, office buildings, and a promenade. The complex’s design places an emphasis on balancing the architecture with the surrounding coastal...

Sou Fujimoto's House of Music finally opens in Budapest

2022-01-24T15:23:00-05:00

A new landmark on the European cultural scene is now on view in Hungary. Sou Fujimoto’s House of Music has now officially opened in the country’s capital city after almost six years of construction.

The 97,000-square-foot performance venue is the centerpiece of the Liget Budapest Project, a €1 billion ($1.13 billion) development billed to be one of the biggest in recent European history that includes the music hall, new national art gallery, cultural building, and landscaped areas situated a the center of one of the continent’s historic capitals of music.

Image copyright Palkó György

Fujimoto’s design distributes the interactive program of education, exhibition, and performance spaces across three levels with a variety of plant life springing up from its core to create a naturalistic environment that significantly enhances the experience of the visitor. The building’s paneled glass facade presents a seamless transition between exterior park and interior mu...

A massive redevelopment project in Tokyo, by Sou Fujimoto and others, will feature the construction of Japan's tallest building

2021-07-14T19:38:00-04:00

Tokyo’s historic Tokiwabashi district is undergoing a large-scale redevelopment that will see the construction of Japan’s tallest high-rise building.

For centuries, Tokiwabashi served as the gateway to Edo Castle, the 15th-Century site of the Tokyo Imperial Palace. In 1914, it became the access point for Japan’s national railway network, and in the 1960s, the district was redeveloped to support Japan’s rapid economic growth. Today, Tokiwabashi is experiencing another transformation.

Led by real-estate developers, Mitsubishi Estate and their subsidiary architecture firm, Mitsubishi Jisho Sekkei, the project, titled TOKYO TORCH, spans a 31,400-square-meter site. It aims to preserve the area’s legacy as Japan’s core economic district, while also imagining a new sense of “joy, pride, peace of mind, and happiness” into the area. The project is being led by Mitsubishi Jisho Sekkei architect, Koji Matsuda, with a team consisting of Sou Fujimoto, Yuko Nagayama, and Takanori Fukuoka.

Toki...

Sou Fujimoto unveils Sky Island tower for Shenzhen

2021-06-21T12:18:00-04:00

Sou Fujimoto Architects has unveiled designs for a landmark tower in Shenzhen, China. Part of an international competition for which no first prize was awarded, the Fujimoto design was awarded the top ranking through earning second prize. The proposed scheme is 268 meters (879 feet) in height and consists of 99 individual towers grouped to appear as one structure looking onto the waterfront. “Being one and many simultaneously, it symbolizes the future of societies in the age of diversity,” says Sou Fujimoto Architects.

Qianhai New City Center landmark. Image: Sou Fujimoto Architects

For the scheme’s design, the team asked how the “tower” typology could be reimagined in the 21st century, drawing inspiration from the distinctiveness of landmarks such as the Eiffel Tower in Paris. The resulting proposal sees the 99 towers floating with limited points of contact with a main central tower. At the top, the structure spreads broadly, inspired by the natural forms of flowers, clouds, and isl...

Sou Fujimoto Architects revitalizes centuries-old hotel in Maebashi

2021-04-30T17:56:00-04:00

A vacant hotel that had been in operation for 300 years until its closure in 2008 has been resurrected by Sou Fujimoto Architects.

Situated in the center of Maebashi, a city about two hours northwest of Tokyo, Shiroiya Hotel’s revamp is part of a wider rejuvenation of the city, a plan spearheaded by Maebashi native and businessman, Hitoshi Tanaka. He has been working to push the city in a more creative direction that is interesting and fun for young entrepreneurs. Aside from the hotel, Tanaka has helped develop one of Maebashi’s fading shopping streets by adding an acclaimed craft pasta shop and cake shop. He is also active in the city’s local politics.

Photo by Shinya Kigure

Tanaka bought the Shiroiya Hotel in 2014, and rather than demolishing the existing 1970s-era, concrete structure, he sought to revitalize the old hotel and make it a landmark destination for Maebashi. Having worked with Sou Fujimoto Architects in the past, Tanaka enlisted the group to bring his vision to life....

Sou Fujimoto to design crown of Torch Tower, Japan's future tallest skyscraper

2021-01-22T14:01:00-05:00

A 390-meter-high (1,279 feet) skyscraper inspired by a flaming torch is set to become Japan's tallest building when it opens in 2027. Standing above a new plant-filled public plaza in Tokyo, the tower will also feature a soaring observation area from which visitors can enjoy views over the capital and nearby Mount Fuji.

In a recent set of Instagram posts, Sou Fujimoto revealed that his team was designing the top section of Japan's future tallest skyscraper, dubbed Torch Tower.

View this post on Instagram A post shared by Sou Fujimoto (@sou_fujimoto)

Construction photos show Sou Fujimoto's House of Hungarian Music nearing completion

2021-01-20T17:45:00-05:00

Image courtesy of Liget BudapestPraised by both the architecture and music profession, Sou Fujimoto's House of Hungarian Music aimed to blend the natural and built environment. According to Fujimoto, he wanted to create a sense of harmony between "the nature of sound and the sounds of nature." The project will be a structural icon for Budapest as part of the Liget Budapest Project, the largest and "most ambitious" cultural development program in Europe.

House of Hungarian Music. Image © Mohai Balazs/Courtesy of Liget Budapest

From its glass-walled facade to its perforated canopy, what makes the sing is its undulating roof that is said to represent the "visual representation of the vibration of sound: the wave." Its organic design emphasizes renewable energy and environmentally aware construction methods (as noted by BREEAM). Fujimoto and his team also drew design inspiration from the Secessionist building of the Liszt Academy and Hungary's music and music education traditions.

Image ...

The Tokyo Toilet Project: Pritzker Prize winners Shigeru Ban, Tadao Ando, Toyo Ito, and Fumihiko Maki among designers of new public restrooms

2020-08-17T14:36:00-04:00

Noteworthy Japanese architects, and even some Pritzker Prize laureates, are among the creators of 17 innovative public restroom designs throughout the bustling Shibuya area of Tokyo. Launched by the non-profit The Nippon Foundation, THE TOKYO TOILET project hopes to create save, clean, and appealing facilities "to make them accessible for everyone regardless of gender, age, or disability, to demonstrate the possibilities of an inclusive society."

Five of the 17 planned facilities, envisioned by Shigeru Ban, Fumihiko Maki, Masamichi Katayama/Wonderwall, and Nao Tamura, have recently opened to the public while more are expected to launch later this year and in 2021.

The Tadao Ando-designed restroom is scheduled to open on September 7th. Toilets created by Toyo Ito, Kengo Kuma, and Sou Fujimoto will be available next year.

Take a look at the initiative's first five releases below.

Designer: Shigeru Ban

Project description: "There are two things we worry about when entering a public r...

Inside the natural-unnatural architecture of Sou Fujimoto

2020-03-03T18:56:00-05:00

In a sense, Fujimoto’s is the conceptual art of contemporary architecture, born out of a relentless desire to interrogate, in building after building, variations on the same set of ideas. To spend time with him is to dwell in a discursive world constructed entirely of tensely opposing categories — inside and outside, individual and society, private and public, the natural world and the urban environment — out of which emerges this serene, unruffled but somehow dynamic architecture.

Writing in The New York Times' T Magazine, Nikil Saval takes an indepth and nuanced look at the work and trajectory of Japanese architect Sou Fujimoto.

In the thought-provoking profile, Saval works to uncover and convey the dualities that drive Fujimoto's design work, including "Fujimoto’s constant attempts to suggest the natural aspects of architecture, and the architectural aspects of nature, occasionally argue for the predominance of the concept over the requirements of a given site or space."

"If he can be said to have a signature style or idea," Saval writes, "it might be this."

Related: Listen to Archinect's conversation with Sou Fujimoto on the "Futures of the Future"

Sou Fujimoto unveils brick-and-glass tower in Brooklyn

2019-09-25T16:00:00-04:00

Sou Fujimoto Architects has unveiled a proposal for the firm's first project in the New York City. The Collective, as the 10-story residential mixed-use development is known, is set to rise in Brooklyn's Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood. When completed, the project will bring 440 housing units and a collection of co-working, dining, and public plaza spaces to the area.

Image courtesy of The Collective / Artefactorylab.

The three-building complex is faced with brick modules and features square-shaped punched openings as well as a series of all-glass enclosures designed to bring daylight and views into shared and amenity spaces. The Collective will bring a mix of unit types to the site, including 2- and 3-bedroom suites and studio apartments.

The complex is set to be built over the site of the former Slave Theater, a structure that once served as a community gathering and protest space. The Slave Theater that was torn down in 2016 after a protracted ownership dispute, according to Curb...

Sou Fujimoto's eye-catching apartment tower, L'Arbre Blanc, is a cantilevered spectacle

2019-06-21T20:51:00-04:00

When the project was first announced in 2014, many waited in anticipation as renderings of L'Arbre Blanc tower surfaced. The 17-story tower is said to be modeled after the shape of a tree with balconies 'branching out' from the cylindrical shaped building. Located in Montpellier, France, Sou Fujimoto was joined by Nicolas Laisné, Dimitri Roussel, and OXO Architectes to complete the project.

L'Arbre Blanc by Sou Fujimoto in collaboration with Nicolas Laisné, Dimitri Roussel and OXO Architectes. Image © Cyrille Weiner

With the 113 apartment tower fully constructed, it has stayed true to its renderings. According to the project's press release, Fujimoto and his team aimed at recreating the idea of a tower while paying attention to the local lifestyles of the people of Montpellier. The eye-catching details of the cantilevered balconies help create a changing perspective depending on the viewer's angle, sun positioning, and viewpoint. The cantilevered balconies not only aide in the visu...

Last chance to visit Sou Fujimoto: Futures of the Future

2018-12-31T13:31:00-05:00

Few are the architectural models that can be eaten with onion dip. But then again, few are the architects who create experimental models quite like Sou Fujimoto. [...] Collectively, the experimental models — part of a series dubbed “Architecture is Everywhere” — represent a dextrous ability with materials.

Carolina Miranda reviews the ongoing Sou Fujimoto exhibition Futures of the Future at Japan House Los Angeles. Initially scheduled to close in mid-December, the popular show has been extended through Sunday, January 6.

"Futures of the Future" exhibition, photo (c) JAPAN HOUSE Los Angeles

Can't make it to LA in time? Listen to Archinect's conversation with Fujimoto on the occasion of the event opening.

A Conversation with Sou Fujimoto on the "Futures of the Future"

2018-11-01T14:43:00-04:00

This week we’re sharing my conversation with Sou Fujimoto, recorded immediately before his new show opened to the press at Japan House in Hollywood last Friday. The show, titled “FUTURES OF THE FUTURE”, brings together large scale renderings and photographs, along with over 100 models showcasing a selection of Fujimoto’s distinctive work and process.

"Futures of the Future" exhibition, photo (c) JAPAN HOUSE Los Angeles

Sou Fujimoto in the "Futures of the Future" exhibition, photo (c) JAPAN HOUSE Los Angeles

Our conversation covers his upbringing in Hokkaido, his academic and personal studies in Tokyo, and how these experiences contributed to his highly unique approach to architecture; investigating primitive lifestyles, blurring boundaries and breaking down walls. If you’re in the LA area, the exhibition will be remain until December 12th at Japan House, which is located on the 2nd floor of the bustling, tourist-filled Hollywood and Highland complex.

"Futures of the Future" exhibiti...

With a new exhibition in London, Sou Fujimoto chats with Oliver Wainwright about his iconic works

2018-06-21T20:29:00-04:00

Something of an outsider architect, Fujimoto has never worked for another practice, which perhaps explains his firmly original approach. “I was scared of being rejected,” he says. “And if I had gone to work for another architect, they might have overpowered me because I was so easily influenced.”

In this review of the new “Sou Fujimoto: Futures of the Future” exhibition opening tomorrow at the Japan House, London, The Guardian's Oliver Wainwright chats with the now-46-year-old Fujimoto about his career and work — like his long-time interest in testing the limits of privacy and exposure, his 2013 Serpentine Pavilion that brought him into the global spotlight, those potato chips, and more.

A look at Sou Fujimoto's proposed sustainable, timber-frame tower

2016-03-30T13:56:00-04:00

In collaboration with Laisné Roussel and developer Pitch Promotion, Sou Fujimoto's proposed 50-meter tall mixed-use timber-frame structure Canopia would be the tallest of its kind if built. Riffing a bit off the swirling form of Fujimoto's Abre Blanc apartment building, the proposed structure includes 199 residential units, over 3,700 square meters of commercial offices, a panoramic bar and roof gardens, and 500 square meters of retail space.

In addition to being a part of the phase two development of the Amargnac sector of the Bordeaux Saint-Jean Belcier ZAC (urban development zone), Canopia is designed to be environmentally sustainable. Aside from attempting to achieve "Biosource" certification by using cross-laminated spruce or silver fur timber for the flooring and beams, sustainability is partly achieved by the rooftop gardens, which are connected by raised walkways and allow residents to wander among fruit trees, water reservoirs, and vegetable gardens before hitting the bar/re...

Sou Fujimoto to design immersive "Forest of Light" for Salone del Mobile 2016

2016-03-24T15:08:00-04:00

'I envisage to make a forest of light. A forest which consists of countless light cones made from spotlights above. These lights pulsate and constantly undergo transience of state and flow.' “People meander through this forest, as if lured by the charm of the light. Light and people interact with one another, its existence defining the transition of the other.”

In another collaboration with top-notch designers, fashion label COS has teamed up with Sou Fujimoto to create a nature-inspired installation for Milan's Salone del Mobile 2016 next month. For COS' fifth year of taking part in the design fair, Fujimoto is creating a "Forest of Light" that will exhibit the brand's collection in what could be a mesmerizing combination of light and sound.

"Forest of Light" draws inspiration from the experience of walking through a forest at twilight, which Fujimoto relates to his growing up in Hokkaido, where he was surrounded by nature. Set inside the now-derelict Cinema Arti theater, the installation will comprise of a darkened space illuminated by numerous towering cones of light produced from spotlights shining from above.

As visitors go about the space, the cones of light will pulsate and respond to their movements. Mirrored walls will create a seemingly infinite landscape of "abstracted trees, joining together to form a shifting forest of light." F...

Cutting across the Chicago Architecture Biennial: Sou Fujimoto's potato chips and other found architectures

2015-10-11T12:00:00-04:00

There’s a difficulty inherent to any presentation of architecture in an exhibition context: architecture (it is commonly thought) operates in the physical world, so how do you do architecture inside a gallery space? Hence, it’s pretty inevitable that a survey like the Chicago Architecture Biennial will be met with lots of questions marks and even defiant denouncements: “This is not architecture!” In general, such accusations tend to fall flat: architecture is hardly an immutable object moving through space-time.

But then again, when an exhibit is explicitly tailored to professional, academic, and lay audiences, it’s also difficult to ignore the murmurs of an exiting tourist, “I just don’t get what that has to do with architecture…” For some, the Japanese architect Sou Fujimoto’s installation Architecture is Everywhere, comprising a collection of “found architectures” – a pile of potato chips, a cardboard box, an upturned ashtray – left them scratching their heads.

There’s a whole lot...

Stacked: Archinect's comparison of Fujimoto and Tschapeller's library stacks

2015-08-13T20:53:00-04:00

Instead of being mainly a weight distribution problem for architects, library book stacks are increasingly becoming art installations in cavernous contemplation halls. This is especially evident in Wolfgang Tschapeller's renderings for the Ho Fine Arts Library at Cornell University, in which an ascending, four-story block of books is selectively accessed through staircases (see header image).

Sou Fujimoto takes a slightly different tack, creating a maze-like series of largely empty bookshelves that showcase the winding quest for knowledge more than the actual books they are ostensibly designed to hold.

So which design is more effective, both in terms of reflecting the changing nature of how we access books and of creating spaces for contemplation and study? Fujimoto has the advantage here; he is designing a completely new building. His agility with blurring boundaries between indoors and out is exquisitely realized, creating an airy, if labyrinthine, experience.

Tschapeller, on the o...

A brief history of twisted apartment buildings

2015-08-13T13:41:00-04:00

This 21st century trend started with Sweden's 2005 Turning Torso building, then quickly was adapted and modified by Frank Gehry for what became 2011's 8 Spruce Street in Manhattan. Now the twisted apartment building seems to have become its own typology, to judge by recent proposed works by both Urban Agency and Sou Fujimoto:

↑ Urban Agency's code-savvy twisting apartment building.

↑ Sou Fujimoto's Abre Blanc apartment building.

Urban Agency's apartment building twists not just for an aesthetic thrill, but as a way to legally increase the total floor space by 40 percent by artfully shimmying through France's planning laws. Sou Fujimoto's unfurling, frond-like patios on Abre Blanc are thoughtfully designed purposefully to suit the structure's surrounding Mediterranean climate by embracing an outdoor lifestyle. MAD's "Marilyn Monroe" 2010-2012 Absolute World towers in Mississauga, ON took a more curvaceous and populist approach, as the final design was voted on by the Canadian public aft...

Watch the teaser trailer for fall's Chicago Architecture Biennial

2015-07-23T10:09:00-04:00

With a list of over 90 participants and partners including U.K.-based Assemble, Jimenez Lai, Jeanne Gang, Archinect and Sou Fujimoto, the inaugural Chicago Architecture Biennial will open to the public on October 3rd. Officially billed as "North America’s largest international survey of contemporary architecture," the Biennial will feature a variety of installations, exhibitions, and events, which perhaps figures into the concept behind the freshly released teaser trailer (which we've embedded below): gradually intersecting red grid lines meet over famous Chicago landmarks, including Anish Kapoor's "bean" or Cloud Gate. View it now:

Editor's Picks #416

2015-05-20T11:26:00-04:00

Nicholas Korody profiled the work, of Greek-born architect Andreas Angelidakis.

Therein Angelidakis explains "I guess the only thing I really 'design' is narratives for objects I find and put together, and this process does not need to be defined as completed by a realized object. You can keep designing even after the object is there, because it’s a mental process". davvid for one was "so glad to see Andreas's work on Archinect!"

Plus, Julia Ingalls provided six answers to the question There are tons of architecture job openings these days. Why aren't you hired yet? flatroof quipped "The ‘there are so many jobs!!!’ articles are back. Must mean another recession is just around the corner". Scott Smith agreed "I'm afraid you're so right. I feel the same way".

News
The Barack Obama Foundation announced that the Barack Obama Presidential Center will be located on Chicago's South Side, at a site near either Washington Park or Jackson Park. Donna Sink thought "Blair Kamin's gave some excell...

Welcome to the jungle: Sou Fujimoto lectures on applying natural infrastructure to urban design

2015-05-12T17:39:00-04:00

When an architect talks about “transparency,” as Sou Fujimoto did during his well-attended lecture at UCLA’s Decafe at Perloff Hall on Friday, it’s always a relief when it refers to more than a literal degree of opacity. Presenting nine of his projects in a lecture than ran ten minutes over time, Fujimoto framed his practice in terms of applying the complex organizational structure of nature to urban environments. Fujimoto grew up in relatively bucolic Hokkaido and later moved to Tokyo, where he perceived the mess of urban density with its skyscrapers and street-level food stalls as a kind of steel and glass forest, replete with pockets of intimacy and inspiring vistas. This central concept of the forest and its alternating layers of transparency and density neatly encapsulates the bulk of Fujimoto’s work. But the “transparency” in Fujimoto’s work extends far beyond the stagger of windows and literal glass houses: here is an architecture that seems to embody the 21st notion of priva...

Uncertain future for Sou Fujimoto's Taiwan Tower

2015-01-20T14:11:00-05:00

Greater Taichung Mayor Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) has temporarily pulled the plug on the ambitious Taiwan Tower project, citing concerns over safety and its costs, which have ballooned from NT$8 billion (US$253.5 million) to NT$15 billion. [...] Designed by Japanese architect Sou Fujimoto, who won an international competition in 2011 to draw up plans for the building, Taiwan Tower’s ornate steel structure was inspired by the trunk of a banyan tree.

Transparency rules at Sou Fujimoto's SCI-Arc lecture

2014-12-02T20:34:00-05:00

Introducing his Serpentine Pavilion in 2013, Sou Fujimoto described the structure as "between architecture and nature", suggesting an architectural form ethereal enough to change at any given moment, depending on perspective or approach, between the artificial and organic. That phrase has since been adopted to title a series of Fujimoto’s lectures, "Between Nature and Architecture", serving as a general guide to both his style and methods. His latest lecture, held last night at SCI-Arc, showcased a variety of his works that play on this concept, which is still developing over time as the relatively young architect (b. 1971) expands his influence and portfolio.

This past April, Natalie Hein covered his talk at the Cooper Union, where the focus tended towards his architecture’s ability to complicate apparent binaries – forcibly inserting ambiguity and personal choice into how a building is perceived and used. While his SCI-Arc lecture had an (understandably) similar vibe, it also touch...

Editor's Picks #393

2014-11-14T13:38:00-05:00

"394,000 US$!! This is the budget of homes in America that are 1/10th of this quality. Perhaps it's for two people, who are empty nesters, and entertain for a large extended family. The simplicity of materials and form, is exceedingly elegant". - b3tadine[sutures]

The latest edition of Showcase: features Slate House, located on a site in Laval, a suburb of Montreal. Designed by Affleck de la Riva architects, it stands in sharp contrast to the tract houses that surround it.

b3tadine[sutures] exclaims "394,000 US$!! This is the budget of homes in America that are 1/10th of this quality. Perhaps it's for two people, who are empty nesters, and entertain for a large extended family. The simplicity of materials and form, is exceedingly elegant".

As part of Archinect’s continuing ACADIA 2014 coverage Amelia Taylor-Hochberg reviews the keynote by creator of SimCity Will Wright's, which she labels "almost a exegesis".

News
Mark Minkjan spoke with Rory Hyde re: the ongoing relevancy of the profession and Future Practice. Darkman felt the need to clarify "Most architects I know build schools, hospitals, churches, malls, apartment buildings etc. It's just the media that feeds us the Versaces...and Ivy League universities".

The Wall Street Journal published...