Fumihiko Maki

Fumihiko Maki (槇 文彦, Maki Fumihiko; 6 September 1928 – 6 June 2024) was a Japanese architect known for his creative designs. He was recognized for exploring new materials and blending ideas from both eastern and western cultures in his buildings.

In 1993, Maki was awarded the Pritzker Prize, one of the highest honors in the world of architecture. This prize highlighted his important contributions to the field.

Maki passed away on 6 June 2024 at the age of 95, leaving behind a lasting legacy of beautiful and innovative structures. His work continues to inspire architects and designers around the globe.

Early life

Fumihiko Maki was born in Tokyo. He studied at the University of Tokyo, where his professor, Kenzo Tange, introduced him to important ideas about city design. After graduating in 1952, Maki went to the Cranbrook Academy of Art in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, earning a master’s degree in 1953. He then studied at the Harvard Graduate School of Design, finishing with another master’s degree in 1954.

In 1993, Maki received the Pritzker Prize, making him the second Japanese architect to win this honor. This award showed how much the world valued his work.

Career

From 1956 to 1963, Fumihiko Maki worked as an assistant professor of architecture at Washington University in St. Louis. During this time, he designed Steinberg Hall, an art center on the university's Danforth Campus. This was his only completed work in the United States until 1993, when he finished the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts in San Francisco.

In 1960, Maki returned to Japan to help start the Metabolism Group, a creative group focused on city growth and renewal. He believed that understanding a city's background and culture was important for meaningful architecture. After leaving Washington University, he taught at Harvard in 1964 and worked for architecture firms in New York City and Cambridge, Massachusetts. He founded his own firm, Maki and Associates, in 1965.

Maki spent many years working on the Hillside Terrace Project in Tokyo, which changed over time as Tokyo's lifestyle evolved. In 2006, he joined a design competition for Gardens by the Bay in Singapore and completed an extension for the MIT Media Lab in Cambridge, Massachusetts in 2009. He also worked on projects in London, Ottawa, Toronto, and Germany, designing buildings that blend different cultures. Maki's designs often focused on how people experience space, especially the importance of light in creating comfortable and meaningful environments.

Works

Fumihiko Maki is known for blending modern designs with traditional Japanese styles. He created a concept called "oku," which means "inwardness" and helps think about spaces. He talked about many types of oku, like inner places, secret principles, and hidden mysteries.

Some of Maki's famous buildings include:

Japan:

• Toyoda Auditorium at Nagoya University (1960)
• Hillside Terrace (1969)
• Expo '70 with Kenzo Tange in Osaka (1970)
• St. Mary's International School (1971)
• Osaka Prefectural Sports Center (1972)
• Okinawa Ocean Expo Aquarium (1975–2002)
• Spiral (1985)
• Makuhari Messe (1989)
• Keio University Shonan Fujisawa Campus (1990)
• Tokyo Metropolitan Gymnasium (1991)
• TV Asahi (2003)

United States

• Steinberg Hall at Washington University in St. Louis (1960s)
• Yerba Buena Center for the Arts in San Francisco (1993)
• Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum and Walker Hall at Washington University in St. Louis (2006)
• MIT Media Lab Extension at Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge, Massachusetts (2009)
• Annenberg Public Policy Center at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia (2009)
• 51 Astor Place in Manhattan, New York (2013)
• 4 World Trade Center at 150 Greenwich Street in Manhattan (2013)

Germany

• Ensemble Global Gate in Düsseldorf (2000–2006)
• Office Building Solitaire in Düsseldorf (2001)

Singapore

• Republic Polytechnic (2006)
• Skyline @ Orchard Boulevard (2015)

Canada

• Delegation of the Ismaili Imamat in Ottawa (2008)
• Aga Khan Museum in Toronto (2014)

Switzerland

• Building Square 3 at Novartis Campus in Basel (2009)

China

• Sea World Culture and Arts Center in Shekou (2017)

United Kingdom

• Aga Khan Centre in London (2018)

Works in progress

• United Nations new building in New York City
• Andhra Pradesh capital city, Amaravati
• New city hall of Yokohama
• Reinhard Ernst Museum in Wiesbaden

Gallery of works

Here are some buildings designed by Fumihiko Maki:

• Tsuda Hall, Tokyo (1988)
• Tokyo Metropolitan Gymnasium, Sendagaya Tokyo (1990)
• Nakatsu Obata Commemoration Library, Nakatsu Ōita Japan (1993)
• Kaze-no-Oka Crematorium (1997)
• Hillside West (1998)
• TV Asahi Headquarters, Tokyo (2003)
• Yokohama Island Tower, Yokohama (2003)
• The National Institute for Japanese Language, Tokyo (2005)
• Shimane Museum of Ancient Izumo, Shimane Japan
• MIT Media Lab Extension, Cambridge, Massachusetts (2009)
• Aga Khan Museum, Toronto (2014)

Awards

Fumihiko Maki received many important awards for his work. In 1993, he was given the Pritzker Architecture Prize, one of the biggest honors in architecture. He also won the Wolf Prize in Arts, the International Union of Architects Gold Medal, the Praemium Imperiale, and the AIA Gold Medal during his career.