This welcome addition to the library is a comprehensive overview of over 100 recent projects in Japan, from large scale pieces of urban to small scale residential gems, photographed with an almost fetishistic eye for detail (such as the glossy blacks and velvety concrete of the Ware House in Hokkaido by Jun Igarashi, featured in W*120).
The Sumners have made frequent trips to the country over the years, working closely with the emerging generation of architects and doing much to help bring what was always an exotic but relatively unfamiliar scene firmly into the global architecture discourse.
In her essay on the nature of modern architecture in Japan, Yuki Sumner writes of the inherent dubieties of Japan's architectural spaces, with their little deviations and ambiguities, the subversions of the 'normal' that make for a richly compelling and highly individualistic built environment, from high-tech heroics to carefully crafted wooden pavilions.
As well as the introduction and project texts, the book includes contributions by David Littlefield and Wallpaper* regular Naomi Pollock, covering everything from the complex pillar and slab arrangement of Ito's Sendai Mediatheque to the seamless, neo-digital cityscape created by the new temples of consumption in Omotesando.
What marks these images out is context, be it urban or rural. Always mindful of bringing a building's surroundings to the fore, the Sumners' selection works best when it makes explicit the role played by landscape and nature in contemporary Japanese architecture, be it the tightest urban residence or a lakeside museum
in Gifu.
21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art Kanazawa by SANAA, Ishikawa, Japan. © Edmund Sumner/View.
Tomihiro Museum by AAT Makoto Yokomizo Architects, Gifu, Japan. © Edmund Sumner/View.
Interior of the Tomihiro Museum by AAT Makoto Yokomizo Architects, Gifu, Japan. © Edmund Sumner/View.
Towada Art Centre by Ryue Nishizawa, Aomori, Japan. © Edmund Sumner/View.
Myagi Stadium by Atelier Hitoshi Abe, Sendai, Japan. © Edmund Sumner/View.
Takasugi-an by Terunobu Fujimori, Nagano, Japan. © Edmund Sumner/View.
Meiso No Mori (Forest of Meditation) Municipal Funeral Hall by Toyo Ito and Associates, Gifu, Japan. © Edmund Sumner/View.
Gifu Academy of Forest Science and Culture by Atsushi Kitagawara, Gifu, Japan. © Edmund Sumner/View.
G by Jun Aoki and Associates, Tokyo, Japan. © Edmund Sumner/View.
Gae House by Atelier Bow-Wow, Tokyo, Japan. © Edmund Sumner/View.
House O by Sou Fujimoto, Chiba, Japan. © Edmund Sumner/View.
The Lotus House by Kengo Kuma Associates, Kamakura, Japan. © Edmund Sumner/View.
Tetsuka House by John Pawson, Tokyo, Japan. © Edmund Sumner/View.
Triad Harmonic Drive Extension Complex by Fumiko Maki, Nagano, Japan. © Edmund Sumner/View.
-
Pharrell Williams’ latest Louis Vuitton show celebrates a ‘friendship for life’ with streetwear legend NigoLouis Vuitton men’s creative director Pharrell Williams looked towards his long friendship with BAPE founder Nigo to create a collaborative A/W 2025 menswear collection shown in Paris this evening (21 January 2025)
-
Think small, think electric, as Hyundai attempts to revolutionise the classic Indian three-wheelerHyundai’s Micro Mobility strategy, in collaboration with Indian manufacturer TVS, has revealed two conceptual takes on small electric urban transport in a bid to cut the country’s crushing pollution issue
-
‘Just beneath the surface there’s another world’: How David Lynch used hair and make-up to create his singular universeFrom Blue Velvet and Mulholland Drive to Twin Peaks, David Lynch used hair and make-up in his films as a narrative device, writes Laura Havlin
-
Architect Sou Fujimoto explains how the ‘idea of the forest’ is central to everythingSou Fujimoto has been masterminding the upcoming Expo 2025 Osaka for the past five years, as the site’s design producer. To mark the 2025 Wallpaper* Design Awards, the Japanese architect talks to us about 2024, the year ahead, and materiality, nature, diversity and technological advances
-
Tadao Ando: the self-taught contemporary architecture master who 'converts feelings into physical form’Tadao Ando is a self-taught architect who rose to become one of contemporary architecture's biggest stars. Here, we explore the Japanese master's origins, journey and finest works
-
The Kumagaya House in Saitama is a modest family home subdivided by a soaring interiorThis Kumagaya House is a domestic puzzle box taking the art of the Japanese house to another level as it intersects a minimal interior with exterior spaces, balconies and walkways
-
Shigeru Ban wins 2024 Praemium Imperiale Architecture AwardThe 2024 Praemium Imperiale Architecture Award goes to Japanese architect Shigeru Ban
-
'Tropicality' explored in Indonesian architect Andra Matin’s first monograph'Tropicality' is a key theme in a new book on Indonesian architect Andra Matin, whose work blends landscape, architecture and living
-
Pace Tokyo is a flowing Sou Fujimoto experience that ‘guides visitors through the space’Art gallery Pace Tokyo, designed by Sou Fujimoto in a Studio Heatherwick development, opens in the Japanese capital
-
‘A Time ⋅ A Place’ is a lovingly compiled photographic portrait of cars and architecture‘A Time ⋅ A Place’ is a celebration of the European Car of the Year and changing perceptions of modern design, pairing the best buildings of the age with their automotive contemporaries
-
Álvaro Siza’s new monograph through the lens of Duccio Malagamba is impactful and immersiveÁlvaro Siza and photographer Duccio Malagamba collaborate on a new monograph by Phaidon; ‘Before / After: Álvaro Siza Duccio Malagamba’ celebrates the Portuguese architect's work
