Isozaki Arata Overview

Isozaki Arata (Arata Isozaki) has produced designs that range from the flashy Palladium disco in New York (1985) to a serene, Asian-inspired plate for Swid Powell (1984). His Los Angeles Museum of Contemporary Art (1986) is perhaps the best representation of... [more]

Isozaki Arata (Arata Isozaki) has produced designs that range from the flashy Palladium disco in New York (1985) to a serene, Asian-inspired plate for Swid Powell (1984). His Los Angeles Museum of Contemporary Art (1986) is perhaps the best representation of his style: a clean cluster of red brick aglow in a faceless sea of glass and steel. According to Bill Lacy, Isozaki has established himself as "a member of that small club of Japanese architects who have obtained widespread international fame for their inventiveness, boldness of form and color, and scrupulously careful detailing." Born in 1931 in Kyushu, Japan, Isozaki studied at the University of Tokyo under Kenzo Tange. He began collaborating with Tange after graduating in 1954, and soon inherited Tange's mantle as one of Japan's paramount architects. His work in the 1960s was influenced by the Metabolists; the joint Core System he developed was an integral part of the movement. However, during the '70s and '80s Isozaki honed a style that departed from Metabolism's skyscrapers -- Isozaki's shapes tend to evoke barrels and building-blocks rather than monoliths. His work is minimalist but warm, utilizing light to soften and fill copious space. This play of mass, space, grids, and curves cultivates the unexpected: coziness and intimacy characterizes his exteriors, while open-air spaciousness marks his interiors. He seeks intuitive meanings in designs, where space and structure are entwined with reality and illusion. As a product designer, Isozaki is known to sport a rather self-conscious sense of color and humor. His 1981 "Fuji" cabinet features an "S" neatly but jauntily dividing a square atop two simple doors. The white surface of the piece is painted with clouds of bright green and yellow. Like a signature, the "S" illustrates the simultaneous playfulness and functionality that pervades Isozaki's designs. Isozaki has also established himself as a leading international writer and theorist. In Japanese architectural circles, he often interprets worldwide trends for his colleagues. Conversely, his importance as a designer has been recognized in the West. He has received many honorary distinctions from Western institutions: a fellowship with the American Institute of Architects and membership of Bund Deutscher Architecten in West Germany. In addition to authoring a book called "The Dismantling of Architecture," he has worked as a visiting professor at universities such as Yale and the Rhode Island School of Design. [show less]