Naomi Pollock, FAIA

A former city hall in Mie Prefecture by Junzo Sakakura, a Japanese architect who worked for Le Corbusier, is revitalized with a new use.

Designed by Manabu Chiba, a new outpost of shabu-shabu chain Kyoto Hyōto swaps the usual shoji screens for honeycomb panels in a dazzling arrangement of heights and sizes.

The ethereal Anabuki Arena Kagawa transforms a landfill site into a public space that people are free to move in and around 24 hours a day.

Although based in Tokyo, the celebrated architect—winner of the 1993 Pritzker Prize and the 2011 AIA Gold Medal—kept close ties to the U.S., where he was educated and had launched his career.

Strategic interventions, such as a sculptural steel stair and double-height corridor, transform the School of the Art Institute of Chicago's disjointed Flaxman Library into a cohesive learning hub.

The Japanese architect speaks to RECORD about the importance of community as a social construct and as the driving force of his architectural design over five decades of practice.

Wrapped in a textured stucco facade, this home for one in Tokyo contains a rich material palette and a trove of exquisite details.

Long, linear, and devoid of visual boundaries, the floating arts center is one of multiple commissions by the Japanese architect in the Bailuwan development.

Nanyang Technological University’s new addition—the largest mass-timber building in Asia—welcomes students, faculty, and nature.

The RECORD contributor draws on her 30-year residence in the country to explore the social, technological, and historical context of 98 unique houses.