Arata Isozaki is a world renowned architect that has designed buildings and other structures all around the world. His architectural style incorporates both modern western societies and Japanese traditions into beautifully crafted structures.
Isozaki’s initial works were modernistic but over time he developed his own complex style invokes pure shape and space as and post-modern ideas. Looking at the evolution and genesis of Arata Isozaki’s works is like looking at Japan through a returning tourist eyes as they witness and document Japan’s modernization and globalization over the years. Furthermore, over the course of his career his designs have evolved from using basic geometric shapes to design his buildings, such as the Gunma Prefectural Art Museum in 1974, to designing post- modern looking jagged and twisting designs, such as the Art Tower in Mito, Ibaraki. Part of his eveolution of isozakis works design language was due to the newer building material which give you more freedom to design more irregularly shaped structures. His ubcrease in the breadth of his designs mirrored the growth of his stature and international works.
To truly understand architecture one has to know the different architectural terms & architectural styles. To understand an architects architectural “style” there are many things that one needs to know such as the architects backround, the architects history, the history of the area within which the structure is built, the stresses the area is facing and must face, the purpose of the structure, the needs of the area and its peoples, the architects personality and the emotions that the architect wishes to evoke. Architecture, like the individual architect, evolves and changes with modernization, advancements, discovery of new and improved materials, changes in the social and political climate and the globalization of peoples. This globalization exposes the architect and those around him to different kinds of people, tastes, philosophies, cultural backgrounds and styles. It is easy to see how Isozakis youth, early years, his background, his culture and his countries situation made him the internationally acclaimed architect that he is today. It is also clear to see how the changes in his experiences and beliefs are translated into his architectural works and masterpieces.
Arata Isokazi was born on July 23, 1931 in Oita City Japan in to an upper- class family. He studied architecture at the University of Tokyo and graduated in 1954. These were very turbulent times filled with strife and devastation. Japan was devastated when the bomb was dropped on Hiroshima during World War II. Isozaki’s hometown was destroyed and it seemed that his whole world had crumbled. However, right before his eyes, Isozaki witnessed the rebuilding and revitalization of his city and this left an indelible positive mark. Further, he also realized that regeneration and revitalization has been built into Japanese Culture because over the centuries Japan has been regularly subjected to natural disasters like earth quakes and tsunami as well as fire devastating buildings that were traditionally constructed entirely of wood.
Isozaki’s architectural roots are in modern architecture. Modern architecture is an architectural style that emerged in many Western countries in the decade after World War I. It was based on the "rational" use of modern materials, the principles of functionalist planning, and the rejection of history, theme, and ornament. Modernism has also been labeled as a “functionalism”. Isozaki initially identified with the Metabolistic movement. The Metabolist movement was a brutalist group that combined a concern for modern technology and utilitarianism. However, Isozaki minimized his connections to this group, seeing the Metabolist style as overly utilitarian in tone. However, he did not abandon Metabolism or brutalism in its entirety but rather fused Japanese traditions, modern, postmodern and manneristic influences into his designs over time.
Metabolism promoted the idea that urban development should be guided by four functional categories of: dwelling, work, transportation, and recreation.[1] They also believed that their needed to be an ability within the structures to adapt, expand and account for growth as does the roots of a tree. Many critics state that metabolistic buildings are unfinished whereas the architect has purposefully left areas capable for growth and expansion.
Isozaki was one a Young architects had been strongly influenced by architects Tange Kenzo and Asada Takashi, who were deeply involved in the reconstruction plan for Hiroshima, which has a good claim to being called the starting point of Metabolism. Japan was devastated after WWII and metabolistic architecture enabled quick rebuilding as well as the ability to deal with a burgeoning population. Brutalist architecture was a movement in architecture that flourished from the 1950s to the mid-1970s. These buildings’ materials of choice was raw concrete as it symbolized brute strength, functionality and permanence. Some believe that Brutalism and metabolism are synonymous. However, although sometimes hard to distinguish, they are not synonymous terms or ideations. Brutalism is an architectural style whose structures are fortress like and made out of raw concrete. Metabolistic architecture has room for expansion built right into the architectural plan. Many metabolistic building, especially those built by Tange and early Isozaki were made of raw concrete. However, what made these structures metabolistic is the philosophy that these structure has a “life” and it needs to grow and adapt with the needed circumstances. It is true that earlier metabolistic buildings were made of raw concrete but as materials improved the raw concrete was replaced with materials better suited to the regional needs. After World War II Brutalism became popular with governmental and institutional clients around the world including Japan. Brutalism and metabolism became favored for many government projects, institutions, high rise housing and shopping centers in Japan. The structures were functional, it used space effectively, it allowed for travel between the buildings in a time and cost efficient manner (it allowed travel between buildings without the need to go down one building, across the street and then up again in the other building) and left room for expansion within the design. Metabolistic design was for city and urban planning to be the most cost and space efficient to deal with the modernization of the society as well as the significant increases in population. Japan had little space in the city with a large population. Therefore, the urban planning and building design had to take all of those factors into account when designing their buildings. Brutalistic and metabolistic architecture fit the bill perfectly as brutalistic and metabolistic architectural structures are typically “massive in character, fortress like, having exposed concrete construction, and emphasizes external elevations in the whole-site architectural plan for their main functions and people-flows of the buildings.” Brutalism became popular for educational buildings (especially university buildings), but was relatively rare for corporate projects, individual office buildings or private residences
Some critics argue that Arata Isozaki entered into architectural practice with a sense of absence; His parents had died and his hometown was burned down during the war. Some argue that his earlier works were typical of the lost generation architects of However, his architectural design and philosophy blossomed and evolved as he found himself more confidant, successful and in tuned with his identity. Isozaki as a young architect may have initially identified with Metabolism but over time he evolved into an architect with notable insight, tradition, humor and wit.
Although his earlier works were influenced by the Metabolism school, you see where he adds his own personality and mannerism in the exaggerated expression of the structural members. Kenzo Tange and a group of five young architects working in his office, known as the Metabolists, were creating radical solutions for restructuring Tokyo's rapid and uncontrolled postwar growth. As a member of Tange's office, Isozaki was inspired by Tange's proposal for a multilevel urban construction above the city. But, unlike Tange's plan, in which a square support system limits expansion to four directions, Isozaki's round columns permit growth in any direction.
Isozaki’s earlier works were made of concrete but in the 1960s, Isozaki's work featured dramatic forms made possible through the employment of steel and concrete but not limited aesthetically by those materials. His designs of branch banks for the Fukuoka Mutual Bank of the mid-1960s are characteristic of this early phase of Isozaki's career. The Oita Branch Bank (1966) is representative of the group: its powerful cantilevered upper stories are more characteristic of his English contemporary James Stirling that of any of his fellow Japanese architects. The Congrès Internationaux d'Architecture Moderne (CIAM) was founded in Switzerland in 1928 as an association of architects who wanted to advance modernism into an international setting. During the early 1930s they promoted the idea (based upon new urban patterns in the United States) that urban development should be guided by CIAM's four functional categories of: dwelling, work, transportation, and recreation.[1] By the mid-1930s Le Corbusier and other architects had moulded CIAM into a pseudo-political party with the goal of promoting modern architecture to all. This view gained some traction in the immediate post-war period when Le Corbusier and his colleagues began to design buildings in Chandigarh. By the early 1950s it was felt that CIAM was losing its avant-garde edge so in 1954 a group of younger members called "Team 10" was formed. This included the Dutch architects Jacob Bakema and Aldo van Eyck and the British architects Peter and Alison Smithson. The Team 10 architects introduced concepts like "human association", "cluster" and "mobility", with Bakema encouraging the combination of architecture and planning in urban design. This was a rejection of CIAM's older four function mechanical approach and it would ultimately lead to the break-up and end of CIAM.[2]
Isozaki was influenced by western culture in the post war era with the American occupation of japan .Yet, he was also influenced by Japanese culture. According to Isozaki, the Japanese do not believe that any object has eternal life, and consequently have never built in stone as did the ancient Egyptians, Greeks or any culture of the western world. A cyclic attitude toward time is one of the distinctive aspects of Japanese culture. Tokyo reflects this rapid rebirth but most of his buildings have been outside Tokyo city where the pace of change is closer. Isozaki has a love-hate relationship with tradition. He believes in starting with tradition and then transforming it.
Looking at the multitude of architectural structures beginning with the modest public library in 1964 in his native Oita Prefecture in Kyushu through , his next large projects were dotted around Tokyo’s outskirts, including the Museum of Modern Art, Gunma (1974), the Tsukuba Center Building (1983) and Art Tower Mito (1990). Over time, Isozaki’s conquests gradually spread further and further afield as they mirrored the growth of his stature. Beginning in 1964 with a humble public library in his native Oita Prefecture in Kyushu, his next large projects were dotted around Tokyo’s outskirts, including the Museum of Modern Art, Gunma (1974), the Tsukuba Center Building (1983) and Art Tower Mito (1990). In these works he developed an original style built around simple concrete forms — giant rectangular prism-shaped galleries perched on stilts for the Gunma museum, for example, or spherical, pyramid-shaped and cubic masses arranged like children’s building blocks across a site at Tsukuba and Mito.
His early style, up to about ten years ago, was to use pure geometric forms, such as cylinders, cubes and pyramids as his thematic elements in his design. His Gunma Prefectural Art museum (1974) is organized around cubes and unified square tiles on the exterior. Isozaki has a sense of humor in his architecture such as the Okanoyoma Graphic Ar Museum (1984) us a museum built near the railroad tracts that resembles a train. His geometric style is not his only style as his visual wit sets him apart from other postmodern architects in the world. He designs a completely functional jokes as a country club shaped like a question mark (Fujimi Country Clubhouse) 1974). Isozaki believes that every part of his architecture should serve its function but not necessarily reflect the whole structure. Like the entrance to the traditional Japanese gardens like the Japanese stroll gardens. This space –time notion, ma, the Japanese concept explained in his 1979 exhibitions pervades isozakis work. He is not an anti-traditionalist who is so influenced by the west but rather architecture that see and works the relationship of traditional forms to the influences.
In the 1970s Isozaki's architecture became more historical in its orientation, suggesting a connection with the burgeoning post-modern movement of Europe and the United States. His sources included classical Western architects, especially Andrea Palladio, Étienne-Louis Boullée, and Claude-Nicolas Ledoux. These connections Isozaki did acknowledge, and his work of the 1970s represents a mature synthesis of formal, functional, and technical considerations. A representative work of this period is his Fujimi Country Club, Oita City, constructed in 1973, which displays the love of pure form that also characterizes 18th-century French neoclassicism. Another French principle, architecture parlante (architecture that bespeaks its function), is also at work at Fujimi: by massing the building in the shape of a question mark, Isozaki commented wittily on his incomprehension of his countrymen's obsession with golf
Then, by 1982, Isozaki was pioneering Japanese architecture overseas, making the Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles (1986) and the Team Disney building in Florida (1991). In the United States, he also found that his playful use of shapes segued nicely with the dominant postmodernist penchant for a decorative flourish. For the Disney Building, he gave each of its component shapes a different color, and even incorporated a subtle Mickey Mouse reference in the form of an entrance hall shaped like the cartoon rodent’s ears
.
His later works are Mannered and self-conscious, borrowing from a spectrum of architectural influences. He appropriates design ideas from such diverse sources as the Vienna Secession, Marcel Cuchamp and Archigram.
The Japanese have been through a lot of changes in their architectural style. They were influenced by Chinese and Western architectural styles. During the Meiji Period westernizing was just starting to happen in Japan.
The big cause that pushed Japanese to westernized architecture was because of World War 2. After the war the Japanese had to rebuild their cities. Another reason was reliability of the modern buildings and their ability to stand against earthquakes. Instead of using wood and stone on their buildings they used steel and concrete structures.
However modern Western buildings could not stand larger earthquakes, so the Japanese found another way to improve their buildings. They became the pioneers on making buildings resist earthquakes. Westernized architectural styles did affect Japanese, but they improved it and without them we wouldn’t know how to make buildings that could withstand earthquakes.
Japanese architect, teacher, and theorist Arata Isozaki (born 23 July, 1931) helped bring Japanese influence to some of the most prestigious buildings of the 20th century, and continues to work at the highest level today. Initially working in a distinctive form of modernism, Isozaki developed his own thoughts and theories on architecture into a complex style that invokes pure shape and space as much as it evokes post-modern ideas. Highly adaptable and socially concerned, his work has been acclaimed for being sensitive to context while still making statements of its own.
The sites I used:
Philip Drew's The Architecture of Arata Isozaki (1982).
Paul Goldberger's article, "Profiles: Arata Isozaki," in Architectural Digest (March 1989)
http://www.mori.art.museum/english/contents/metabolism/about/index.html
http://www.greatbuildings.com/architects/Arata_Isozaki.html
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kenz%C5%8D_Tange
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arata_Isozaki
http://www.japantimes.co.jp/life/2008/06/01/life/arata-isozaki-astonishing-by-design/
Notable works[edit]From Wikipedia
Ōita Prefectural Library, (1962-1966) Ōita, Ōita, Japan
Kitakyushu Municipal Museum of Art (1972-1974) Fukuoka, Japan
KitaKyushu central library (1973-1974) Fukuoka, Japan
Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA), (1981-1986) Los Angeles, California, United States
Sports Hall for the 1992 Summer Olympics, (1983-1990) Barcelona, Spain
Ochanomizu Square Building – Casals Hall, (1984-1987) Tokyo, Japan
Art Tower Mito, Mito, (1986-1990) Ibaraki, Japan
Team Disney Orlando, (1987-1991) Florida, United States
Bond University, – Library, Administration Building, Faculty of Humanities Building (1987-1989) Gold Coast, Australia
KitaKyushu International Conference Center (1987-1990) Fukuoka, Japan
Palau Sant Jordi (1990) Barcelona, Spain
Palafolls Sports Complex Pavilion, (1987-1996) Barcelona, Spain
Centre of Japanese Art and Technology, (1990-1994) Kraków, Poland
Kyoto Concert Hall, (1991-1995) Kyoto, Japan
Nara Centennial Hall, (1992-1998) Nara, Japan
Domus Casa Del Hombre, (1993-1995) A Coruña, Galicia, Spain
Nagi Museum Of Contemporary Art, (1994) Nagi, Okayama, Japan
Shizuoka Convention and Arts Center GRANSHIP, (1998)
COSI Columbus, (1994-1999) Columbus, Ohio, United States
Shenzhen Cultural Center, (1998-2007) Shenzhen, China
New entrance of the CaixaForum Barcelona building, (1999-2002) Barcelona, Spain
Isozaki Atea, (1999-2009) Bilbao, Spain
Torino Palasport Olimpico, (2000-2006) Turin, Italy
Museum of the Central Academy of Fine Arts in Beijing, (2003-2008) China
New Concert Hall Building, (2003-) Thessaloniki, Greece, 2010
Himalayas Center, (2003-) Shanghai, China
Diamond Island, (2006-) Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam (complete in 2012)
Coliseum da Coruña, A Coruña, Galicia, Spain, 1991
Weill Cornell Medical College in Qatar, Education City, near Doha
Weill Cornell Medical College in Qatar, opened 2004
Metropolis Thao Dien, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam (under construction)
The new Town Library in Maranello (2012), Italy (Arata Isozaki and Andrea Maffei)
Current projects[edit]
CityLife office tower (Il Dritto), Milan, Italy (Arata Isozaki and Andrea Maffei)
The University of Central Asia's three campuses in Tekeli, Kazakhstan; Naryn, the Kyrgyz Republic; and Khorog, Tajikistan
The New exit for the Uffizi Gallery, Florence, Italy – competition winner (Arata Isozaki and Andrea Maffei)
The renovation of the Bologna Centrale railway station, Bologna, Italy – competition winne