Architect, Author Look at the Latest Innovations in Japanese Buildings

New Japan Architecture: Recent Works & New Trends

 

Thursday, November 10, 2011, 6:30 pm, at Japan Society

日本建築の新時代
 

New York, NY – Japanese architecture is at the forefront of global trends: daring form, technological innovation and increasingly the move towards more sustainable structures, in which the techniques and practices of traditional design inform a new generation of cutting-edge architecture worldwide.

 

In New Japan Architecture: Recent Works & New Trends, architect Edward Suzuki andColumbia University architecture professor Dr. Geeta Mehta discuss prime examples of recent public and commercial architecture in Japan, such as Kisho Kurokawa’s Tokyo National Museum, Fumihiko Maki’s Mihara performing Arts Center, Jun Aoki’s Aomori Museum, Toyo Ito’s Tod building and Shigeru Ban’s Tokyo headquarters for Swatch Group. They also look at trends from the “wow factor”—big, splashy and unusual shapes in lieu of the more common square box—and the greening of Japanese architecture. The discussion takes place Thursday, November 10 at 6:30 pm, and is followed by a reception and book signing.

 

With the past five years being considered one of the most innovative periods in current Japanese design history, Mehta’s New Japan Architecture: Recent Works by the World's Leading Architects (September 2011, Tuttle Publishing) illustrates global changes taking place in the architectural world that are crystallizing now in Japan. Whether striving for the ultimate Zen white cube or exemplifying the “wow factor”, the book documents 48 major projects. Suzuki is one of the 42 established and avant-garde architects featured (his “House Like Museum” residential building boasts a livings spaces of approximately 5400 square feet.)

 

Edward Suzuki was born in 1947 in Saitama, Japan. He received his Bachelor’s Degree in Architecture from University of Norte-Dame, on Ford Scholarship in 1971. He received a Fulbright Fellowship and studied at Harvard University. After receiving his Masters in Urban Design, he worked at Buckminster Fuller and Sadao, Inc.; Isamu Noguchi Studio, Kenzo Tange and URTEC. He started his practice in 1977. In 1995, he was a visiting Professor at Rhode Island School of Design, and Visiting Critic, Graduate School of Design at Harvard University. Since 2010, he has been sitting as a councilor of Ishibashi Foundation, as well as University Notre Dame’s Asian Studies Advisory Board member. 

 

Geeta Mehta teaches architecture and urban design at Columbia University. A resident of Japan for 23 years, she is a partner in the firm of Braden and Mehta, and has designed projects in the U.S., Japan, India, Vietnam, and Indonesia. Educated at the University of Tokyo, Columbia University, and SPA in Delhi, she is the co-author of several books, including Japan Style, Japan Houses, Japan Living, and Japanese Gardens, all published by Tuttle Publishing.

 

Founded in 1907, Japan Society is a world-class, multidisciplinary hub for global leaders, artists, scholars, educators, and English and Japanese-speaking audiences. At the Society, more than 100 events each year feature sophisticated, topically relevant presentations of Japanese art and culture and open, critical dialogue on issues of vital importance to the U.S., Japan and East Asia. An American nonprofit, nonpolitical organization, the Society cultivates a constructive, resonant and dynamic relationship between the people of the U.S. and Japan.

 

New Japan Architecture: Recent Works & New Trendstakes place Thursday, November 10, at 6:30 pm. Japan Society is located at 333 East 47th Street between First and Second avenues (accessible by the 4/5/6 at 42nd Street-Grand Central Station or the E and V at Lexington Avenue and 53rd St.) Tickets are $12/$8 members, seniors and students. For reservations or more information, visit www.japansociety.org or call the box office at 212-715-1258.

 

Japan Airlines is the exclusive Japanese Airline sponsor of Lecture Programs at Japan Society. United Airlines is the exclusive U.S. Airline sponsor of Lecture Programs at Japan Society. Additional support is provided by Chris A. Wachenheim and the Sandy Heck Lecture Fund.  

 

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Media Contacts:

 

Shannon Jowett, 212-715-1205, sjowett@japansociety.org

 

Kuniko Shiobara, 212-715-1249, kshiobara@japansociety.org