Minoru Yamasaki

Grace Henry

S1S2 B.ARCH

Roll no 61017
Overview
Nationality- American
Birth date- December 1, 1912.
Birth place- Seattle, Washington, U.S.
Date of Death- February 7, 1986.
Place of death- Michigan, U.S.
Awards- Won American Institute of Architects
Award three times.
Design- Inspiration by Gothic architecture and
usage of narrow vertical windows.
 When Minoru was 8, his Uncle, who was an
architect, came to visit him. His uncle, Koken Ito,
made Minoru think differently about architecture.
Thus, Minoru became an architect.

AS A CHILD…
Towards Architecture
Design philosophy
Yamasaki’s early training and experience were influenced
by the AUSTERITY AND PRACTICALITY OF THE MODERN
AND INTERNATIONAL STYLE MOVEMENTS.
Every design he created from then strove on:-
a. SURPRISE
b. SERENITY
c. DELIGHT
Enlightened!!

09/08/21
• Minoru Yamasaki was an American architect,
best known for designing the original World
Trade Center in New York City and several
other large-scale projects.
•  Yamasaki was one of the most prominent
architects of the 20th century.
• He and fellow architect Edward Durell
Stone are generally considered to be the two
master practitioners of "New Formalism".
 New Formalism
•An architectural style that emerged in the United States
•Buildings designed in that style exhibited many Classical
elements.
•Used primarily for high-profile cultural, institutional and
civic buildings.
• They were "typically constructed using rich materials or
man-made composites and also incorporated certain
qualities of concrete that allowed for the creation of
distinctive forms".
 Common features
– Use of traditionally rich materials, such as travertine, marble, and granite or man-made
materials that mimic their luxurious qualities
– Buildings usually set on a podium
– Designed to achieve modern monumentality
– Embraces classical precedents, such as arches, colonnades, classical columns and
entablatures
– Smooth wall surfaces
– Delicacy of details
– Formal landscape; use of pools, fountains, sculpture within a central plaza"
It is terribly important to somehow bring about a framework,
an environment for society which involves mankind in this
delightful experience within an artificial environment. And
then I think architecture becomes suddenly much more
important than, say, an art form that you look at from the
street.

Architecture should be based on human

experience.
-Minoru Yamasaki
 CONSISTENCY in Architecture
• There is consistency completely through the building. And if we do not have this
consistency then the building lacks, and I look at the canopy, for instance, out in
front and I feel very sad about the canopy Architecture also must be very
consistent.
• Each piece of the building must look as though it was designed for that particular
building. It must be consistent with the theme of the building. And if it is not, the
whole building falls apart.
• If you look at the buildings, you'll find that one part looks as if it was designed by
one man, and you go around and look at another facade and it looks as if it was
designed by another man, you see. And a building must be like a human being. It
must have a wholeness about it, something that is very important.
The Auburn native’s first
significant solo project with his
Detroit-based firm was the
Pruitt–Igoe housing project in
St. Louis in 1955. The housing
project experienced so many
problems that it was
demolished in 1972, less than
20 years after its completion.

Pruitt–Igoe
housing project
World Trade Center (Jan 18,
1964)
–  Held the title of Tallest Building in the World from
1972–1974. 
– After a hundred plus designs he came up with twin
towers
– The company, Port authority, had wanted 10 million
square feet of office space. That’s around 11 football
fields.
– 1350 feet tall.
– Square plan of 63m in dimension on each side.
Yamasaki’s design included building
facades sheathed in Aluminum Alloy.
The world trade center was one of the
most-striking American
implementations of the architectural
ethic of Le Corbusier, and it was the
seminal expression of Yamasaki’s
Gothic modernist tendencies.
Foundation box Structural System

Minoru used the so- called “tube Had a 800 x 400 foot foundation box that
within a tube” architecture was 65 feet deep and had 3 foot thick
where the close external columns retaining walls.
form the perimeter walls of a Called the bathtub.
building. - Yamasaki’s advanced elevator design
SEARS TOWER also used this allowed for the WTC to reach the
architecture. heights that it did. Skeptics thought it
would not work, but it was faster than a
regular elevator would have been.
Innovation in elevators

Yamasaki and the engineers

decided to use a new
system with two “SKY
LOBBIES”- floors where
people could switch from a
large capacity express
elevators to a local elevator
that goes to each floor in a
section.
Fear of HEIGHTS!!
Ironically, Yamasaki had a big-time fear of
heights, which explains his preference for
narrow windows spaced between
numerous columns to admit light without
subjecting tenants and office workers to
views of how high they actually were in
the building.
Yamasaki’s courtyard mimicked Mecca’s assemblage of holy sites- the QA’BA (a cube)
containing the sacred stone and the holy spring- by including several sculptural features,
including a fountain and he anchored the composition in a radial circular pattern, similar to
MECCA’s.

Yamasaki described its

plaza as a MECCA, a
great relief from the
narrow streets and
sidewalks of the
surrounding wall street
area.
ISLAMIC
ARCHITECTURE IN THE
TWIN TOWERS
At the base of the towers, Yamasaki used
implied pointed arches- derived from the
characteristically pointed arches of Islam- as a
transition between the wide column spacing
below and the dense structural mesh above.
Here, Yamasaki was following the Islamic
tradition of wrapping a powerful geometric
form as in the inlaid marble pattern work of
the TAJ MAHAL or the ornate carvings of the
courtyard and domes of the ALHAMBRA.
Bin Laden's special complaint with the
World Trade Center.
– Having rejected modernism and the Saudi royal family, it's no
surprise that Bin Laden would turn against Yamasaki's work in
particular. He must have seen how Yamasaki had clothed the
World Trade Center, a monument of Western capitalism, in the
raiment of Islamic spirituality. Such mixing of the sacred and the
profane is old hat to us.
– To Bin Laden, the World Trade Center was probably not only an
international landmark but also a false idol.
The Lambert Airport at St. Louis was a prominent design of Yamasaki. The arching floors,
ceiling windows, and 36- foot dome ceilings dedicate it as a GRAND CENTRAL STAION for
AIR. Using huge concrete shell vaults, it gave a dramatic interior effect.

you must consider every

“

element of a building
because this helps in
bringing out unity”.
Lambert airport (1953-
1955)
Rainier Tower
Rainier Tower is a 31-story, 156.67 m
(514.0 ft) skyscraper in the Metropolitan
Tract of Seattle, Washington.
The skyscraper has an unusual appearance, being
built atop an 11-storey, 37 m (121 ft) concrete
pedestal base that tapers towards ground level, like
an inverted pyramid.
Locals often refer to it as the "Beaver Building" as
its physical appearance looks like a tree being felled
by a beaver. It has also been referred to as the "golf
tee" building.
Pacific Science Center
arches
The centerpiece of this museum was
built for the 1962 Seattle World’s Fair.
Surrounding the arches are six
exhibition halls, each with tracery-
adorned white facades, and in the
center of the complex are reflecting
pools.
With the five arches resembling the
vaults of cathedrals, Yamasaki’s design
was seen as a temple to science and
technology.
Conclusion

So…
“the purpose of
architecture is to
create an
atmosphere in which
man can live, work
and enjoy.
Thank YOU!!