Kunio Maekawa
Encyclopedia
was a Japanese
Japanese people
The are an ethnic group originating in the Japanese archipelago and are the predominant ethnic group of Japan. Worldwide, approximately 130 million people are of Japanese descent; of these, approximately 127 million are residents of Japan. People of Japanese ancestry who live in other countries...

 architect
Architect
An architect is a person trained in the planning, design and oversight of the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to offer or render services in connection with the design and construction of a building, or group of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the...

.

Formative years

He entered First Tokyo Middle School
Hibiya High School
is a Japanese high school founded in 1878 as the . It was well known in the 1950s and 1960s for the large proportion of graduates who gained admission to the prestigious University of Tokyo; though it suffered a decline in the 1970s, as of 2005 it was once again being referred to as the "best...

 in 1918, and then Tokyo Imperial University
University of Tokyo
, abbreviated as , is a major research university located in Tokyo, Japan. The University has 10 faculties with a total of around 30,000 students, 2,100 of whom are foreign. Its five campuses are in Hongō, Komaba, Kashiwa, Shirokane and Nakano. It is considered to be the most prestigious university...

 in 1925. After graduation in 1928, he travelled to France to apprentice with Le Corbusier
Le Corbusier
Charles-Édouard Jeanneret, better known as Le Corbusier , was a Swiss-born French architect, designer, urbanist, writer and painter, famous for being one of the pioneers of what now is called modern architecture. He was born in Switzerland and became a French citizen in 1930...

. In 1930 he returned to Japan and worked with Antonin Raymond
Antonin Raymond
Antonin Raymond, or , born: was a Czech architect, who lived and worked in the USA and Japan...

, and in 1935 established his own office. His own house has been described as his starting point, in which he brought the idea of piloti
Piloti
Pilotis, or piers, are supports such as columns, pillars, or stilts that lift a building above ground or water. They are traditionally found in stilt and pole dwellings such as fishermen's huts in Asia and Scandinavia using wood and in elevated houses such as Old Queenslanders in Australia's...

 inside the house, to create a two-storey space. The original house has been dismantled and relocated to the Edo-Tokyo Open Air Architectural Museum
Edo-Tokyo Open Air Architectural Museum
The in Koganei Park, Tokyo, Japan, is a museum of historic Japanese buildings.The park includes many buildings from the ordinary middle class Japanese experience to the homes of wealthy and powerful individuals such as former Prime Minister Takahashi Korekiyo, out in the open in a park.The museum...

.

Selected projects

  • 1932 Kimura Industrial Laboratory, Hirosaki, Aomori
    Hirosaki, Aomori
    is a city located in southwest Aomori Prefecture, Japan. It is a castle town and was the Tsugaru clan ruled the 100,000 koku tozama han Hirosaki Domain from Hirosaki Castle during the Edo period. The city is currently a regional commercial center and the largest producer of apples in Japan...

  • 1942 Maekawa House
  • 1952 Nippon Sogo Bank, Tokyo
  • 1954 Kanagawa Prefectural Library and Music Hall, Yokohama
    Yokohama
    is the capital city of Kanagawa Prefecture and the second largest city in Japan by population after Tokyo and most populous municipality of Japan. It lies on Tokyo Bay, south of Tokyo, in the Kantō region of the main island of Honshu...

    , Kanagawa
  • 1955 The International House of Japan, Tokyo (with Junzo Sakakura
    Junzo Sakakura
    was a Japanese architect and former president of the Architectural Association of Japan.After graduating from university he worked in Le Corbusier's atelier in Paris. He rose to the position of studio chief during his seven year stay in the studio....

     and Junzo Yoshimura
    Junzo Yoshimura
    was a Japanese architect.- Early career:In December 1928, whilst a student at Tokyo's Fine Arts College, Yoshimura began part-time work at Antonin Raymond's office, becoming full time after he graduated in 1931...

    )
  • 1956 Fukushima Education
    Education
    Education in its broadest, general sense is the means through which the aims and habits of a group of people lives on from one generation to the next. Generally, it occurs through any experience that has a formative effect on the way one thinks, feels, or acts...

     Center, Fukushima
    Fukushima, Fukushima
    is the capital city of Fukushima Prefecture in the Tōhoku Region of Japan. As of May 2011 the city has an estimated population of 290,064 and an area of 746.43 km².It lies about 250 km north of Tokyo and 80 km south of Sendai.-History:...

  • 1960 Kyoto Kaikan
    Kyoto Kaikan
    Kyoto Kaikan Hall is a concert hall in Kyoto, Japan. The hall was opened in 1960 and seats 2,005 patrons.- External links :...

    , Kyoto
  • 1961 Tokyo Bunka Kaikan
    Tokyo Bunka Kaikan
    The Tokyo Bunka Kaikan is a Japanese concert hall located in Ueno Park, Taito, Tokyo. It was built in 1961 and renovated in 1998-99. Its larger hall seats 2303 people, and its small hall seats 649. It is operated by the Tokyo Metropolitan Foundation for History and Culture.- External links :...

    , Ueno, Tokyo

External links

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