Arata Isozaki built bridges between cultures, taking Japanese architecture around the world and Western ideas to Japan. This book offers a new comprehensive survey of his entire career.
Arata Isozaki (1931-2022) undoubtedly ranks among Japan's, and in fact the world's, most distinguished architects. He ran his own firm in Tokyo from 1963 and realized buildings in many countries, as well as holding teaching appointments at Columbia, Harvard, and Yale universities. He created a body of work that has constantly evolved and transformed over decades. His best-known designs include the Kitakyushu Municipal Museum of Art in Fukuoka, the Shenzhen Cultural Center Concert Hall, the Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles, the Palau Sant Jordi in Barcelona, the Berliner Volksbank office building on Berlin's Potsdamer Platz, the Palasport Olimpico in Turin, and the Allianz Tower (Il Dritto) in Milan. Isozaki was awarded the RIBA Royal Gold Medal in 1986 and the Pritzker Prize in 2019.
This book is the first new monograph on Arata Isozaki in 15 years. Conceived in close collaboration with Arata Isozaki & Associates, the book features photographs, plans, model images, drawings, and watercolors from all periods of Isozaki's career. Arranged thematically, it follows key concepts of the architect's creative development from the 1970s throughout his lifetime. Introductory essays round off this comprehensive survey of an outstanding architectural oeuvre.