Fumihiko Maki

 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
iIintroduction  In 2011, the American Institute of Architects honoured Maki with its
highest accolade, the AIA Gold Medal.
  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.
Professional Life  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.
  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
Philosophy creating "unforgettable scenes"—in effect, settings to
accommodate and complement all kinds of human interaction—
as the inspiration and starting point for his designs.
  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
Style 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.
Design Society
in Shenzhen,
China
  The Design Society is located in the Shekou district of Shenzhen.
Commissioned by the duo of China Merchants Group (CMG) and
the V&A Museum in London back in 2014, the project was
envisioned as a catalyst for development in the city, given
Shenzhen’s bustling creative sector of over 6,000 companies.
 The building is formed through three separate cantilevering
Design Society volumes, which sit atop a plinth overlooking the waterfront. An
exterior corner staircase leads to a number of publicly accessible
in Shenzhen, rooftop terraces, inviting the public to engage with the building at
various levels.
China
  Inside, the meandering path through three cavernous atria avoids
a shopping mall feel, Maki says, although 167,185 square feet of
the 764,237-square-foot total floor space spread over six floors
have been set aside for retail use.
 There are six galleries of varying sizes, including a designed space
reserved for the V&A—an official collaborator until 2020—
Design Society currently showing an inaugural exhibition of 250 design objects
from the British institution’s collection. Another presentation
in Shenzhen, space, the Park View Gallery, is exhibiting a retrospective of Maki’s
career, including sketches and models of the initial building
China concept.
Tokyo
Metropolitan
Gymnasium
  The Tokyo Metropolitan Gymnasium, located across from Sendagaya
Station in Tokyo's Shibuya ward.
 It is a futuristic complex bound to irritate devotees of urban contextual
architecture.
 It is one of several public projects that
 architect Fumihiko Maki has completed in various locations across Japan.
Tokyo  The sports center consists of three buildings;
Metropolitan  a large arena, a smaller sub-arena and a swimming pool, all of which are
joined by a large stone-paved plaza on two levels.
Gymnasium
  The large arena is the dominant structure in the complex as well
as the dominant structure in the immediate neighborhood .
 The building appears to be almost all roof since the walls of the
structure rise only a above the height of the plaza above, the roof
Tokyo turns symmetrical leaf-like other within
Metropolitan  The intersecting curving surfaces seem to form a surface of
unfathomable geometric complexities.
Gymnasium  The entire surface of the 150-meter-diameter roofis covered with
narrow aluminum strips which ensures that some part of the roof
will be reflecting the sun's rays at almost any time during a sunny
day.
  The sub-arena lies to the southwest of the stadium. The main part
of its interior lies below ground but its stepped roof protrudes
above the plaza.
 The ziggurat-like structure is covered with blue tiles. Its simple
cube-like shapes provide a contrast to the flowing curves of the
Tokyo main arena

Metropolitan
Gymnasium
  The indoor pool is housed in a building at the southwest corner of the
site.
 This building is the most conventional looking of the three structures,
being a rectangular form capped by a gently curving arch-shaped roof.
 Its most notable feature is a teflon roof perched atop walls that are
concrete below and glass block above, allowing generous amounts of
Tokyo sunlight to flood the interiors.
 In contrast to the two arenas, where heavy roofs block the entrance of
Metropolitan natural light and close-off the interiors from the sky above, the
Gymnasium translucent roof of the pool structure seems to open its interior to the
heavens above.
Thank You
Syed Ammaar Rayed
8th Semester
1KF16AT032