Architecture,  Features,  Modern Art,  Museums

The Dawn of a New Architecture

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Toyo Ito. Sendai Mediatheque, Miyagi, Japan. 1995–2001. © Naoya Hatakeyama

The Museum of Modern Art announces A Japanese Constellation: Toyo Ito, SANAA, and Beyond, an exhibition focused on the work of architects and designers orbiting Pritzker Prize winners Toyo Ito and SANAA, on view from March 13 to July 4, 2016.

Providing an overview of Ito’s career and his influence as a mentor to a new generation of Japanese architects, the exhibition offers a retrospective of recent works by three generations of internationally acclaimed designers, including Kazuyo Sejima, Ryue Nishizawa, Sou Fujimoto, Akihisa Hirata, and Junya Ishigami. Displaying models, drawings, and images of more than 40 architectural designs, the exhibition highlights the renewed prominence and innovation of contemporary architecture from Japan since the 1990s.

As many of the featured architects have been involved in the reconstruction of Japan after the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake, the exhibition will also reflect how the architecture field is responding to current societal change with a combination of strong aesthetic positions and a commitment to users’ emotional needs.

Junya Ishigami. Kanagawa Institute of Technology Workshop, Kanagawa, Japan. 2005–08. © Junya.Ishigami + Associates
Junya Ishigami. Kanagawa Institute of Technology Workshop, Kanagawa, Japan. 2005–08. © Junya.Ishigami + Associates
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Kazuyo Sejima. Nishinoyama House, Kyoto, Japan. 2010–14. © Kazuyo Sejima & Associates
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Ryue Nishizawa. Hiroshi Senju Museum, Nagano, Japan. 2007–10. © Daici Ano
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Ryue Nishizawa. Teshima Art Museum, Kagawa, Japan. 2004–10. © Office of Ryue Nishizawa
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Junya Ishigami. House with Plants, Japan. 2009–12. © Junya.Ishigami + Associates

Given the experimental and avant-garde character of these architects’ work, the exhibition will confront the current role of architecture in a context in which mainstream practices are increasingly constrained by economic, legal, and functional considerations.

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Toyo Ito. Sendai Mediatheque, Miyagi, Japan. 1995–2001. © Naoya Hatakeyama
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Ryue Nishizawa. Towada Art Center, Aomori, Japan. 2005–08. © Office of Ryue Nishizawa
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SANAA. 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art, Kanazawa, Japan. 1999–2004. © SANAA
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Sou Fujimoto. House NA, Tokyo. 2007–11. © Iwan Baan

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