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Legendary Japanese architect Arata Isozaki has passed away aged 91

2022-12-29T19:41:00-05:00

Arata Isozaki is dead. The famed designer of many of post-war Japan’s most significant public buildings and cultural commissions and winner of the 2019 Pritzker Prize passed away peacefully on Wednesday at his home in Okinawa, according to the New York Times.

Born in Ōita Prefecture in 1931, Isozaki studied at the University of Tokyo before working in the office of Kenzo Tange and then setting out to form his own practice in 1963. He was among a generation of Japanese star architects and designers, including contemporaries Issey Miyake, Shiro Kuramata, and Kisho Kurokawa, that indelibly changed the way the country was perceived and spoke to the world, authoring the designs for several key structures rendered in his ever-changing and aberrant interpretation of the metabolic style.

Isozaki's 1990 Art Tower Mito. Photo courtesy of Yasuhiro Ishimoto

“The most important thing an artist can do is confront society with something it has never seen before, something in a sense improper,” Iso...

Issey Miyake, the feted 'architect' of high fashion, has passed away in Tokyo aged 84

2022-08-09T21:10:00-04:00

A remarkable intellectual titan of contemporary fashion and high culture has passed away as multiple outlets are reporting the death of iconic Japanese fashion designer Issey Miyake on Friday, August 5th after a battle with cancer.

A pioneer of the pleat and use of technologically-driven design, Miyake became a symbol of radical interventions in fashion. He was championed by photographer Irving Penn, Artforum, and many other art world mainstays who formed his early client base, which would later famously include Apple founder Steve Jobs.

In an industry ruled by form, proportion, and silhouette, Miyake used a complex understanding of architectural concepts to design garments that were sculptural in structure and unrepeatable in their unique ability to convey movement and the fluid body. Noted as the first Asian designer to "storm Paris runways in the '70s," his work continues to transcend contemporary fashion. His research-based Pleats Please and later Homme Plissé Issey Miyake lin...

A $10-million gift to MOCA allows for free admission to the museum

2019-05-20T18:28:00-04:00

“We are not aiming at having more visitors or larger attendance, but we’re aiming at being more accessible, at having open doors,” he said in an interview. “As a civic institution, we should be like a library, where you can just walk in.”

With its recent celebration of turning 40, the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles received a generous gift of $10-million from MOCA Board of Trustees President Carolyn Powers. The goal of the museum's future is to aid and assist in a "civic-minded" vision for the museum, according to MOCA Director, Klaus Biesenbach.

Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles. Image © MOCA

General adult admission to the museum ranged between $8 - $15, with free admission on Thursday evenings. However, after receiving this generous donation from Powers, this change is a significant step for the museum. According to board chairwoman Maria Seferian, "This is a game-changer, one of the greatest gifts our museum has had in a while," she said. "We've thought for a long time how we could go free and make the museum more inclusive, and now we have the opportunity to, so we're so excited."

Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles project drawings. Image © Arata Isozaki

Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles ...

A look back at Arata Isozaki's idiosyncratic Joshua Tree pavilions

2019-03-11T17:01:00-04:00

The recent Pritzker Prize winner was never shy to show his bold and unapologetic design aesthetic, pulling from various architectural practices. Using large forms and volumes, Arata Isozaki works with his environment to create seamless spaces. During a trip to the desert to visit his long-time art critic friend Jerry Sohn, Isozaki was immersed into Southern California's desert landscape. After discussing ideas for a new project with Sohn, the trip's experience allowed for the architect to create three pavilions that use the California desert and the empty sky as his backdrop.

The three totems created by Arata Isozaki for long-term friend Jerry Sohn and his family. Located in Joshua Tree, CA. Image © Iwan Baan

The property is nestled in Southern California's Joshua Tree national park. A space entirely off the grid, the closest "urban setting" is a small town built by Gene Autry and Roy Roger called, Pioneertown. Isozaki used these elements to create three outdoor "bedrooms" that repr...

Significant works of 2019 Pritzker Prize laureate Arata Isozaki

2019-03-05T13:38:00-05:00

Arata Isozaki was just awarded the 2019 Pritzker Prize at the age of 87. Isozaki once famously said that "the most important thing an artist can do is confront society with something it has never seen before, something in a sense improper." As a full life of work lies behind the Japanese architect, we can witness the shifts and patterns of his multi-decade career as it has been committed to the level of unfamiliarity and newness that Isozaki has long sought to imbue in his work.

1. Ōita Prefectural Library, Ōita, Japan, 1962-66

Ōita Prefectural Library, photo courtesy of Yasuhiro Ishimot

As a young architect, Isozaki was influenced by the then-popular style of Brutalist architecture, and he applied it when given the opportunity to design the library in his hometown of Ōita on the island of Kyushu. Far away from Tokyo, he did not consider himself a member of the Metabolist movement due to its utilitarian motives.

2. Tsukuba Center Building, Ibaraki, Japan, 1979-83

Tsukaba Center Buil...

Arata Isozaki named 2019 Pritzker Prize winner

2019-03-05T10:17:00-05:00

Announced Tuesday morning, Arata Isozaki has been awarded the 2019 Pritzker Prize. Dubbed as the "Nobel Prize" of architecture, it is considered the industry's highest honor. Isozaki—whose notable works have included Ōita Medical Hall (1959-60) and Annex (1970-1972), the Museum of Contemporary Art in downtown Los Angeles, and the more recent, National Convention Center in Qatar —is the 46th Pritzker Prize laureate and the eighth Japanese architect to be awarded.

On their selection, the 2019 Jury praised the architect for "possessing a profound knowledge of architectural history and theory, and embracing the avant-garde." The Citation further states that Isozaki "never merely replicated the status quo, but his search for meaningful architecture was reflected in his buildings that to this day, defy stylistic categorizations, are constantly evolving, and always fresh in their approach.”

Arata Isozaki will join the Pritzker's honorary list of laureates, which includes Balkrishna Doshi (...

‘Time-Space-Existence’ video series launches with a focus on Arata Isozaki

2017-10-30T17:41:00-04:00

Archinect is excited to announce a new partnership with PLANE—SITE, a Berlin-based creative agency working at the interface of urban form, cultural space and social life. Every three weeks, starting today, we will be sharing a video from the Time-Space-Existence project, a series of videos created by PLANE—SITE, commissioned by the Global Arts Affairs Foundation in conjunction with their exhibition at the Venice Biennale of Architecture. Each video, typically running 3-5 minutes in length, will feature a prominent architect discussing his/her work within the context of the project's theme.

Time, space and existence. These three concepts sketch out the contours of the world around us — a fact especially true within architecture. Taking these words as its starting point, the GAA Foundation is set to curate its fourth collateral exhibition in the context of La Biennale di Venezia Architettura, entitled Time-Space-Existence and opening in May 2018. Featuring over 100 established and em...

Hadid and Japanese at loggerheads over ‘turtle-like’ Olympic stadium

2014-12-10T13:59:00-05:00

“They don’t want a foreigner to build in Tokyo for a national stadium. On the other hand, they all have work abroad. Whether it’s Sejima, Toyo Ito, or Maki or Isozaki or Kengo Kuma.” Last month Isozaki, 83, wrote an open letter to the Japan Sports Council, the government body in charge of plans for the 2020 Games, in which he attacked the “distorted” process that has led to “a dull, slow form”.

Previously

Zaha Hadid's Tokyo Olympic stadium slammed as a 'monumental mistake' and a 'disgrace to future generations'

2014-11-06T13:06:00-05:00

It was supposed to represent a dynamic future vision for Tokyo, flaring up out of the city’s Meiji Jingu park in sinuous white arcs. But Zaha Hadid’s design for the 2020 Olympic stadium [...] now facing its fiercest public attack yet. [...] In a lengthy open letter to the Japan Sports Council [...] Isozaki rails against the “distorted” process that has led to “a dull, slow form, like a turtle waiting for Japan to sink so that it can swim away”.

Previously

The world's first inflatable concert hall arrives in Japan's disaster-hit north eastern coast

2013-09-25T12:08:00-04:00

A giant purple structure believed to be the world's first inflatable concert hall is to open on Japan's disaster-hit north eastern coast. British sculptor Anish Kapoor and Japanese architect Arata Isozaki created the unusual Ark Nova, a balloon made of a coated polyester material that has been erected at a park in the town of Matsushima. The structure, which organisers say is a world's first, measures about 18m and 35m wide when fully inflated with room for about 500 guests.