This welcome addition to the library is a comprehensive overview of over 100 recent projects in Japan, from large scale pieces of urban to small scale residential gems, photographed with an almost fetishistic eye for detail (such as the glossy blacks and velvety concrete of the Ware House in Hokkaido by Jun Igarashi, featured in W*120).
The Sumners have made frequent trips to the country over the years, working closely with the emerging generation of architects and doing much to help bring what was always an exotic but relatively unfamiliar scene firmly into the global architecture discourse.
In her essay on the nature of modern architecture in Japan, Yuki Sumner writes of the inherent dubieties of Japan's architectural spaces, with their little deviations and ambiguities, the subversions of the 'normal' that make for a richly compelling and highly individualistic built environment, from high-tech heroics to carefully crafted wooden pavilions.
As well as the introduction and project texts, the book includes contributions by David Littlefield and Wallpaper* regular Naomi Pollock, covering everything from the complex pillar and slab arrangement of Ito's Sendai Mediatheque to the seamless, neo-digital cityscape created by the new temples of consumption in Omotesando.
What marks these images out is context, be it urban or rural. Always mindful of bringing a building's surroundings to the fore, the Sumners' selection works best when it makes explicit the role played by landscape and nature in contemporary Japanese architecture, be it the tightest urban residence or a lakeside museum
in Gifu.
21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art Kanazawa by SANAA, Ishikawa, Japan. © Edmund Sumner/View.
Tomihiro Museum by AAT Makoto Yokomizo Architects, Gifu, Japan. © Edmund Sumner/View.
Interior of the Tomihiro Museum by AAT Makoto Yokomizo Architects, Gifu, Japan. © Edmund Sumner/View.
Towada Art Centre by Ryue Nishizawa, Aomori, Japan. © Edmund Sumner/View.
Myagi Stadium by Atelier Hitoshi Abe, Sendai, Japan. © Edmund Sumner/View.
Takasugi-an by Terunobu Fujimori, Nagano, Japan. © Edmund Sumner/View.
Meiso No Mori (Forest of Meditation) Municipal Funeral Hall by Toyo Ito and Associates, Gifu, Japan. © Edmund Sumner/View.
Gifu Academy of Forest Science and Culture by Atsushi Kitagawara, Gifu, Japan. © Edmund Sumner/View.
G by Jun Aoki and Associates, Tokyo, Japan. © Edmund Sumner/View.
Gae House by Atelier Bow-Wow, Tokyo, Japan. © Edmund Sumner/View.
House O by Sou Fujimoto, Chiba, Japan. © Edmund Sumner/View.
The Lotus House by Kengo Kuma Associates, Kamakura, Japan. © Edmund Sumner/View.
Tetsuka House by John Pawson, Tokyo, Japan. © Edmund Sumner/View.
Triad Harmonic Drive Extension Complex by Fumiko Maki, Nagano, Japan. © Edmund Sumner/View.
-
At La Fondation hotel in Paris, minimalism has irresistible warmthOnce a parking lot, this 17th-arrondissement stay now offers rooftop city views, cocooning suites, and interiors by Roman & Williams
-
How LA's Terremoto brings 'historic architecture into its next era through revitalising the landscapes around them'Terremoto, the Los Angeles and San Francisco collective landscape architecture studio, shakes up the industry through openness and design passion
-
The anatomy of a Celine bag: inside the house’s idyllic Tuscan factoryWallpaper* visits the serene Italian factory where Celine crafts its celebrated ‘Triomphe’ handbags, which is set against an inspiring backdrop of lush Tuscan countryside
-
Campaigners propose reuse to save Kenzo Tange’s modernist ‘Ship Gymnasium’ in JapanThe Pritzker Prize-winning architect’s former Kagawa Prefectural Gymnasium is at risk of demolition; we caught up with the campaigners who hope to save it
-
A new photo book explores the symbolic beauty of the Japanese garden‘Modern Japanese Gardens’ from Thames & Hudson traces the 20th-century evolution of these serene spaces, where every element has a purpose
-
The Monthly Architecture Edit: Wallpaper’s favourite July housesFrom geometric Japanese cottages to restored modernist masterpieces, these are the best residential projects to have crossed the architecture desk this month
-
Mayumi Miyawaki’s Fukumura Cottage puts this lesser-known Japanese modernist in the spotlightDiscover the little-known modernist architect through this private home in Japan’s Tochigi prefecture countryside
-
A Karuizawa house is a soothing, work-from-home retreat in JapanTakeshi Hirobe Architects play with scale and space, creating a tranquil residence in which to live and work
-
Naoshima New Museum of Art is a home for Asian art, and a lasting legacy, in Seto Inland SeaThe Naoshima New Museum of Art opens, marking a seminal addition to the Japanese island's renowned Benesse Art Site Naoshima; we explore Tadao Ando's design
-
Modernist Travel Guide: a handy companion to explore modernism across the globe‘Modernist Travel Guide’, a handy new pocket-sized book for travel lovers and modernist architecture fans, comes courtesy of Wallpaper* contributor Adam Štěch and his passion for modernism
-
Behind a contemporary veil, this Kyoto house has tradition at its coreDesigned by Apollo Architects & Associates, a Kyoto house in Uji City is split into a series of courtyards, adding a sense of wellbeing to its residential environment
