FUMIHIKO MAKI

1. Fumihiko Maki
(1928- )

2. INTRODUCTION
• Fumihiko Maki of Japan is an architect whose work is intelligent and artistic in
concept and expression, meticulously achieved. He is widely considered to
be one of Japan's most distinguished living architects, practicing a unique
style of Modernism that reflects his Japanese origin.
• Though firmly rooted in the modernist tradition, his work is renowned for fusing
elements of eastern and western culture in monumental buildings that
harmonize with the natural and the urban environment.
• 1993, he received the Pritzker Prize for his work
• In 2011, the American Institute of Architects honored Maki with its highest
accolade, the AIA Gold Medal.

3. PROFESSIONAL LIFE
•Born in Tokyo in 1928, Maki received his Bachelor of Architecture degree in
1952 from the University of Tokyo. After completing a Master of Architecture
degree at Harvard's Graduate School of Design (GSD), he apprenticed at the
firms Skidmore, Owings and Merrill, and Sert Jackson & Associates. These early
experiences helped build the foundation for his own unique style that would
reflect his cosmopolitan view of the world.
• In 1965, he returned to Japan to establish his own firm, Maki and Associates in
Tokyo.
• . Maki has written extensively, and his contributions have been one of the
theoretical columns of the Metabolist Movement . One aim was never to
design in isolation from the city structure as a whole. However, his buildings are
closer to eclecticism and deconstructivism than the typical forms of the
Metabolist movement.

4. PHILOSOPHY
• Fumihiko Maki enjoys the reputation of consistently
creating an architecture that aside from
responding to society’s needs, also comprises a
constructional fabric which is durable and
aesthetically vibrant.
• He has maintained a consistent interest in new
technology as part of his design language, quite
often taking advantage of modular systems in
construction. He makes a conscious effort to
capture the spirit of a place and an era. Maki often
speaks of the idea of creating "unforgettable
scenes"—in effect, settings to accommodate and
complement all kinds of human interaction—as the
inspiration and starting point for his designs.

5. STYLE
• He uses light in a masterful way making it as tangible a part of every design as
are the walls and roof. In each building, he searches for a way to make
transparency, translucency and opacity exist in total harmony. To echo his
own words, "Detailing is what gives architecture its rhythm and scale."
• Lightness, both in fact and in metaphor, has been an emerging theme in
Maki’s architecture for some time and today his work invariably manifests a
spatiality that derives in large measure from the immateriality of modern
material. Two works announce the emergence of lightness as an all-pervasive
theme in Maki’s architecture, the Fujisawa Gymnasium, completed in 1984,
and the Tepia Science Pavilion, built at Minato, Tokyo in 1989.
• His practice may be fairly compared to that of Norman Foster, Gunter Benisch
and Renzo Piano, all of whom, while expressively different, have displayed a
similar penchant for efficient, lucid, lightweight form.

6. He focuses on
horizontal
compositions and
relationships of the
structure without
confronting its 3
dimensional
implications.

7. WORKS
• Major projects have included the National Museum of Art in Kyoto, the Tokyo
Metropolitan Gymnasium, the Tepia Science Pavilion in Tokyo, the Nippon
Convention Center in Chiba, and the Keio University Shonan Fujisawa
Campus. In the United States, Steinberg Hall remained Maki's only completed
building until 1993, which saw the opening of his Yerba Buena Gardens Visual
Arts Center in San Francisco. Maki completed the project in collaboration with
Washington University alumnus Harish A. Shah (MArch '73), who also serves as
project architect for the Sam Fox School.
• Maki's current projects include both the $330 million United Nations expansion
in Manhattan and Tower 4 at the former World Trade Center site (scheduled
to open in 2008 and 2011, respectively). In addition, Maki designing an
extension for the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's media lab and the
Aga Khan Development Network's Delegation of the Ismaili Imamat in
Ottawa, Canada.

8. The Spiral Building
• Designed in 1985 for the lingerie company
Walcoal, and that has become one of the best
known works of Maki. SPIRAL is a place where
people can drop by whenever they want to
experience genuine art-to look at exhibits over a
cup of tea, or enjoy a live concert while having
drinks. Therefore, the SPIRAL building is designed
to meet varied needs flexibly.
• As part of the concept of "fusion of art and life",
Spiral Building combined the use of commercial
functions (fashion shops, stores, restaurant, café,
beauty salon) with cultural and artistic activities
carried out in a multipurpose room (fashion shows,
art and contemporary design exhibitions, theater,
dance, concerts, etc.).
CONCEPT

9. • The basic elements of the design are "simple
geometric forms" square, circle, equilateral triangle,
and cone that symbolically represent modern
design. For the exterior of the building, a variety of
partial forms or shapes are arranged in a collage
style.
• At first glance the building looks inspired by the
architecture of Richard Meier: the color white, the
use of overlapping patterns and geometric shapes,
the aluminum finish panels among others and even
the use of an undulating volume in the facade.
There is also a reference to Peter the
deconstruction and re-composition of the design
elements. But inside the building, the spatial
complexity that other deconstructive works convey
is also not perceived, but rather an orderly
succession of spaces.

10. AGA KHAN MUSEUM,
CANADA
• The Aga Khan Museum is a museum of Islamic art, Persian art and Muslim
culture in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
• Angular walls clad with white granite and a glazed courtyard surrounded by
Islamic motifs feature at Fumihiko Maki's Aga Khan Museum . Exterior walls taper
outwards at the top and bottom, designed to catch the movement of the
sun, while window reveals form deep recesses in the stone surfaces.

11. • He used light as his inspiration. He ensured not only that light is ever-present in
the building, but that, depending on the time of day or season, light will
animate the building in myriad ways: throwing patterns on the exterior walls of
Brazilian granite, enhancing interior spaces, or illuminating the open-roofed
courtyard.
• Glazed walls surround all four sides and are etched with a pattern that
references the mashrabiya screens of traditional Islamic architecture.
• As the sun moves around the building, these etchings cast intricate patterns
across the smooth white interior walls.
• Skylights shaped into hexagons – a religious symbol for heaven – allow diffused
light to filter into the galleries from overhead.

12. 4 WORLD TRADE CENTRE,
NEW YORK
• 4 World Trade Center is a skyscraper that is part of
the new World Trade Center complex in New York
City It is located on the southeast corner of the 16-
acre (6.5 ha) World Trade Center site. As of 2013 it
is the second tallest skyscraper at the rebuilt World
Trade Center.
• The tower is designed to create a strong sculptural
effect with a quiet presence. Seen from a
distance, it can be identified as a minimalistic
sculpture with its angular profile that distinguishes
itself in the skyline. The building is clad in colorless
silver glass that dynamically changes appearance
depending upon the time of day, weather and
light. It transforms itself from a distinct sculptural
object to one that blends and becomes a part of
the sky with a glazed and metallic materiality.

13. AMARAVATHI PLANNING
CONCEPT

14. • He uses very simple forms
to give unique identity
to the structure and by
the addition of different
materials on the exterior
facades.
• He aslo play with
different forms.

15. He wants light to play the
major role in his building
thus enhancing the
interiors more bright and
the use of screenworks
give a different mix of
light and shadow play of
different patterns, textures
etc.
He tries to relate the
buildings with the cities
thus forming a hierarchy
of different spaces.