Arata Isozaki, the Pritzker-winning Japanese architect known as a post-modern giant who blended Eastern and Western cultures and history in his designs, has died of old age. He is 91 years old.
Isozaki died Wednesday at his home on the Japanese island of Okinawa, according to Bijutsu Techo, one of the country’s most respected art magazines, and other media.
Isozaki won the Pritzker Architecture Prize, the highest honor in the international field, in 2019.
Isozaki began his architectural career under the apprenticeship of Japanese legend Kenzo Tange, the 1987 Pritzker laureate, after studying architecture at the University of Tokyo, Japan’s top school.
Isozaki established his own office, Arata Isozaki & Associates, called “Atelier” around 1963, while working on a public library for his home prefecture of Oita – one of his earliest works.
He was one of the pioneers of Japanese architects who designed buildings overseas, transcending national and cultural boundaries, and was also a critic of urban development and urban design.
Among Isozaki’s most famous works are the Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles and the Palau Sant Jordi stadium in Barcelona built for the 1992 Summer Olympics. He also designed iconic buildings such as the Disney Team Building and the Walt Disney Company headquarters in Florida.
Born in Oita in 1931, he was 14 when he saw the aftermath of the US atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagaski in August 1945, which killed 210,000 people.
That led to his theory that buildings are transitory but should also please the senses.
Isozaki said his hometown was bombed and crossed the coast.
“So I grew up near ground zero. It was a complete ruin, and there was no architecture, no buildings and not even a city,” he said when receiving the Pritzker. “So my first experience of architecture was the emptiness of architecture, and I started thinking about how people can rebuild houses and cities.”
Isozaki is also a social and cultural critic. They have offices in Tokyo, China, Italy and Spain, but moved to the Okinawa region in southwestern Japan about five years ago. He has taught at Columbia, Harvard and Yale Universities. His works also include philosophy, visual arts, film and theater.
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