Architectural Guide Japan

Contemporary Japanese architecture has, for over half a century, achieved worldwide recognition not only for its highly innovative and often futuristic qualities, but also for its sensitive response to Japan's cultural and physical context, which has become especially challenging given the country's increasingly urbanised environment. Today, Japan's contemporary architecture is admired perhaps as much as its traditional counterpart, with which it often maintains a meaningful dialogue. Botond Bognar's Architectural Guide Japan introduces close to 700 of the most prominent examples of this fertile architecture, in addition to outlining its development from the mid-nineteenth century to the present in a concise historical essay. All texts are accompanied by about 930 colour photos, all taken by the author, and over 90 drawings. Detailed information about each entry is enhanced by geodata in the form of QR codes.

Auteur

Botond Bognar is a professor and Edgar A. Tafel Endowed Chair in Architecture at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. He is an internationally recognised scholar of contemporary Japanese architecture and urbanism. He has lectured all over the world and has a long list of publications to his credit. Among his most recent books are "Beyond the Bubble: The New Japanese Architecture" (London: 2008), "Material Immaterial: The New Work of Kengo Kuma" (New York: 2009), and "Kengo Kuma - Portland Japanese Garden" (New York: 2019; co-authored with Balázs Bognár).

Texte du rabat

Contemporary Japanese architecture has achieved world-wide recognition not only for its highly innovative, often futuristic qualities, but also for its sensitive response to Japan's cultural and physical context in the challenging setting of its increasingly urbanised environment. This architectural guide introduces over 700 of the most prominent examples of this fertile architecture, while outlining its development since the mid-nineteenth century. This updated, second edition of the book - in time for the Tokyo Olympic Games 2021 - presents around 100 new buildings, reflecting the rapid pace of development in the country.