Articles by Naomi Pollock, FAIA

Shigeru Ban transports his unique Japanese sensibility to a Chelsea condominium with High Line views.

Making the most of a small footprint within a crowded, competitive shopping zone, architect Stephan Jaklitsch married textural layers of materiality with a creative lighting strategy to catch the eye of tony passersby, and to create a subtle yet unique visibility for the American fashion designer Marc Jacobs’s Tokyo flagship.

For quake and tsunami victims left homeless, simple shelters help ease discomfort. Photo courtesy Shigeru Ban Architects Emergency centers set up in gymnasiums and other large structures offer little privacy. In response, Shigeru Ban conceived a partition system made of paper tubes and canvas sheets. “I have been to disaster areas all over the world,” says Shigeru Ban. But never had the Japanese architect and veteran relief worker seen the degree of devastation that struck his homeland on March 11, 2011. The 9.0-magnitude earthquake, followed by the massive tsunami that crashed down on 311 miles of coastline, left thousands of

A cluster of boxes united by irregular, interstitial space, InBetween House mimics the Japanese urban condition on an architectural scale.

Built in 1962, Musashino Art University’s combined gallery-library is one of the school’s treasured original buildings.

Fumihiko Maki During his many decades practicing architecture, Fumihiko Maki has accrued an impressive collection of awards, including the Pritzker Prize (1993) and Japan’s Praemium Imperiale (1999). Now, the American Institute of Architects has announced that this year’s Gold Medal will honor the esteemed architect, known for such projects as the Sam Fox School of Design and MIT Media Lab.  A graduate of both Tokyo University and the Harvard Graduate School of Design, Maki was one of the first Japanese architects to study and work in the United States after World War II. Following his graduation from Harvard in 1954, Maki

In Japan, where few buildings are made to last, trees are mostly dispensable, and real estate remains among the world’s priciest, most architects simply nod politely to the notion of context.

As dazzling as a perfect smile, IWI Orthodontics makes a bold first impression, but its elegant beauty lingers on long after. Filling the fourth floor of an existing building in the heart of Tokyo’s hip Harajuku neighborhood, the clinic specializes in an implant orthodontia system patented by its head doctor. With the goal of creating an equally innovative office space, he hired the New York City—based firm Contemporary Architecture Practice (CAP). The result of their collaboration is a sleek interior that seamlessly merges cutting-edge medical technology with gracious Japanese hospitality. As if greeting guests at a traditional inn, a staff