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Journal of Chinese
Architecture and Urbanism The life and work of Arata Isozaki

compressed” (Schalk, 2014, p. 281). In the end, very little of the ecosystem. “Like the universe, architecture comes out
the visionary Metabolist theories crossed over into reality of nothing, becomes something, and eventually becomes
and, ironically, one of the few Metabolist projects ever built nothing again,” said Isozaki. “That lifecycle from birth to
was Isozaki’s Prefectural Library in Oita (1966). death is a process that I want to showcase.”
th
3. Architecture and thought leadership In the late 20 century, there was no other Japanese
architect who combined the philosophies of East and
3.1. A large and diverse oeuvre of buildings, from West to the same extent as Isozaki. His provocative
playful and inventive to monumental concepts were introduced to a wider audience in 1968
Besides the destruction of the Second World War, what with the installation “Electric Labyrinth” exhibited at the
exactly were Arata Isozaki’s influences? His influences XIV Triennale di Milano. In New York in 1976, he took
were plentiful. There were images of the destruction of part in the exhibition “MAN transFORMS,” which was
Hiroshima and Nagasaki in August 1945, which Isozaki curated by Hans Hollein; and in Paris 2 years later, he
saw as a young man. Murphy notes, “The war never really staged a legendary show that attempted to convey the
left him. His theoretic concepts on urban design had concept of “Ma” to the European public. His traveling
impermanence as a central theme – the idea that cities rise show, “Ma: Space/Time in Japan” was also on display
and fall and are always in flux” (Murphy, 2022). at the Cooper Hewitt in New York in 1979. In 2003, he
published “Japan-ness in Architecture,” calling attention
It helped that Isozaki had a deep understanding of to the simplicity, serenity, austerity, and humble attitude of
architectural history, which allowed him to create direct Japan’s architectural traditions. Emphasizing “Japan-ness”
links between his designs and the past. His interest inoculated him against accusations of Americanization,
and knowledge of Renaissance and Classical architects, and the allegation that an internationalized Japanese
such as Borromini or Schinkel, and his vast knowledge architect had surrendered his cultural identity to the West,
of architectural theory allowed him to use a variety of becoming foreign in his own country. This was a relevant
historical references without restraint. Isozaki drew on a aspect in Japanese society, which 150 years after it was
dazzling range of influences (Taylor, 1976). His thoughts forced to open its borders, is still fearful of the influences
and approach to architecture were profoundly influenced from the outside world.
by different key experiences, in which he had extensively
commented on: first and foremost, Katsura Imperial Villa, In 1972, he married his third wife, Aiko Miyawaki
the architectural masterpiece in Kyoto: the Emperor’s (1929 – 2014), a prominent Japanese sculptor. She has been
residence with an idealized circulation system around a a strong support and critic to Isozaki; she also introduced
series of garden spaces as eloquently described by Junichiro him to an international group of radical artist friends,
Tanizaki, Bruno Taut, and others (Tanizaki, 1977; Taut, including Man Ray, whom she knew from the years she
1934; Isozaki, 2005). lived in Paris. Early on, he gravitated to jazz, Dadaism,
and John Cage. Isozaki was influenced by Surrealism,
Another important artistic influence was the Japanese Constantin Brancusi’s concept of the Infinite Column
space/time concept of “Ma,” a concept Isozaki repeatedly and the sculptural work of Isamu Noguchi, as well as the
aimed to express in his spaces: The merging of time and architectural work of Louis I. Kahn, especially Kahn’s use
space. Isozaki was deeply versed in the significance of of the barrel vault at the Kimbell Art Museum and the
Japanese culture: its paradox, refinement, and notions of design of the unbuilt City Tower project for Philadelphia
absence, emptiness, shadow, and darkness. (1957). Similar to the work of Kahn, Isozaki shared
Ma describes the merging of space and time that a preoccupation with monumental proportions and
exists as an in-between (intermediate) space, between heavy building elements that did not hide their weight,
the objects, as a moment of rest or suspension. Isozaki materiality, and rough surfaces. Isozaki frequently referred
explained it like this: “In-between space, between sound to the Salk Institute in La Jolla (1959 – 1965), one of
and sound, there are silences apart, pauses. That’s called Kahn’s masterpieces, in which he composed a campus and
Ma. Space is important; however, in-between space is courtyard overlooking the ocean and enclosing a heroic
more important” (Futagawa, 1983). Isozaki told me that water plaza; a space that offers the sensation of being
the first architectural book he ever read was Sigfried both inside and outside at the same time; a space we can
Giedion’s seminal book “Space, Time, and Architecture” rediscover again and again in Isozaki’s own work (Stewart,
(1941), which started his interest in the time-space 1991, p. 53). Isozaki wrote extensively about all of these
connection. The Japanese concept of “Ma” influenced influences and what they meant for him, and about the
and affected everything Isozaki designed, including the intriguing capacity of Modernism to translate all kinds of
way he thought about living in balance with nature and artistic and urban qualities into a new language.

Volume 5 Issue 1 (2023) 4 https://doi.org/10.36922/jcau.353