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The fate of the Nakagin Capsule Tower, designed by Japanese architect Kisho Kurokawa, one of the founders of the Metabolist movement, has sustained a strong following since the announcement of its proposed demolition in 2007. At first glance, it checks all the boxes of a futuristic... View full entry
Architect Kei Endo has a fascinating hobby: While traveling, she measures and sketches her hotel rooms, including the furniture and objects within them, in great detail……draws them up with a Rapidograph……and renders them in watercolor. — Core77
Endo, a graduate out of the Tokyo University of the Arts with experience as a practicing architect, currently works at an environmental color planning office. Her work as an illustrator has gained acclaim, though, as she’s produced an array of incredibly detailed drawings of the hotel rooms she... View full entry
Last year Japan’s Serendix Partners caught our eye with its concept for spherical, 3D-printed houses. Not only do they have a stylish, futuristic appeal, Serendix wants them to be low-priced enough to make the cost of buying their 3D-printed houses comparable to that of a budget-friendly new car. — Japan Today
From start to finish, the small, egg-shaped dwelling, called the Sphere, took 23 hours and 12 minutes to build. The home, which won NASA’s 3D-Printed Habitat Challenge in 2015, was designed by Japanese architect Masayuki Sono. It was constructed in the city of Komaki in Japan’s Aichi... View full entry
Ryuichi Sasaki/Sasaki Architecture has returned to the international spotlight with its winning entry for the mixed-use portion of this year’s Architecture MasterPrize that adds an iconic new touch to one of Tokyo’s oldest neighborhoods. Located in the city’s Minato ward, the... View full entry
The light and air art installation [Prism] by Japanese studio HAKUTEN was recently named as one of the “Best of the Best” winners of the 2021 Architecture MasterPrize. Situated on an old military installation in Kanagawa Prefecture called Sarushima, the installation refracts light into a... View full entry
Researchers from the University of Tokyo’s Department of Architecture have developed a promising new kind of concrete that has the potential to reduce emissions from the construction industry. Approximately 7% of the world’s carbon dioxide emissions come from the manufacture and use of... View full entry
Thirty years after their first project in the Japanese city of Fukuoka, OMA has announced the completion of its plan for the Tenjin Business Center development that will bring a “new urban lifestyle” to the country’s seventh-largest city. The Tenjin Business Center's pixellated corner... View full entry
Kengo Kuma champions an ideal of “losing architecture”—intricate buildings that disappear into their environs—although it’s hard to miss the new National Stadium … His stylistic fingerprints can be seen throughout the elaborate project … Greenery dots the facade of the oval-shaped structure, the centerpiece of this year’s Games, allowing a series of wooden eaves—a favored material for Kuma, procured from prefectures across Japan—to better blend in with the surrounding garden. — TIME
Kengo Kuma’s design for the Japan National Stadium served as the centerpiece for this year’s Tokyo Olympic Games. Kuma also recently announced museum projects with literary tie-ins in Denmark and Norway and has been able to add sneaker collaborations and homeware to his portfolio... View full entry
Glenn Murcutt has been named the 2021 Praemium Imperiale laureate for architecture by the Japan Art Association, making him the first Australian to be awarded the honor. Announcing the achievement, the Japan Art Association described Murcutt as “an architect ahead of his time; an architect... View full entry
Pritzker Prize-winning architect Toyo Ito has unveiled a public bathroom in the shape of three mushrooms as part of the Tokyo Toilet project. Ito’s contribution is the 11th toilet to open out of the 17 spread and planned across Tokyo’s Shibuya district. The unique bathroom is located at... View full entry
Japanese fashion designer Nigo, the man behind the popular clothing brand, A Bathing Ape, has designed a public toilet that takes the shape of a small home as part of the Tokyo Toilet project. The toilet is located in the Harajuku district within central Tokyo, which is the region of the city that... View full entry
The first major exhibition in Tokyo dedicated to Pritzker Prize-winning architect Kenzo Tange is opening later this month. Renowned for combining traditional Japanese and modernist forms in his designs, the exhibition features a retrospective of the first half of the influential architect’s... View full entry
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... View full entry
Father and son duos have been prominent in the past 50 or so years of sports history. Ken Griffey Jr. and his father, the Ripkens, Curry’s, Mannings, and many others. Now, with the Olympic games coming back to their home country, one Pritzker-pedigreed combination is leaving its mark on the... View full entry
A new storefront for Cartier’s Osaka operations has been unveiled, bringing a decorative feel to the city’s glittering Shinsaibashi district with a glowing facade composed of over 2,500 interlocking three-dimensional masu boxes handcrafted by master carpenters in Kyoto. Tokyo-based Klein... View full entry