Naomi Pollock, FAIA

Special International Correspondent, Naomi Pollock, FAIA, is the author of Japanese Design Since 1945: A Complete Sourcebook and the editor of NUNO: Visionary Japanese Textiles.

Sengukan Museum by Akira Kuryu Architect & Associates and Lighting Planners Associates

Ise City, Japan

Naomi Pollock, FAIA

May 16, 2014

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Architect Akira Kuryu collaborates with lighting firm to showcase displays from Japan's most sacred sanctuaries.

Snapshot: Teshima Yokoo House: Tower

Naomi Pollock, FAIA

January 16, 2014

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A combination museum and funeral hall, the Teshima Yokoo House is the latest addition to the collection of art venues being developed on islands in Japan’s Seto Inland Sea under the aegis of the Fukutake Foundation.

Ando Museum

Modern to the Core: Challenged to create a building in which to showcase his own work, a celebrated Japanese architect constructs a series of unique spaces within the shell of a historic house.

Naomi Pollock, FAIA

December 16, 2013

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A building within a building, the Ando Museum celebrates work on the Inland Sea island of Naoshima by one of Japan’s most influential architects.

Product Focus: Anatomy of a Dream

Ready to launch in early 2014, a sculptural wood chair by Tadao Ando for Carl Hansen & Søn signals what may be a new era for both. It is the Japanese architect's first design for production, and it is the furniture manufacturer's first collaboration with a non-Danish designer.

Naomi Pollock, FAIA

December 16, 2013

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When architect Tadao Ando first opened his Osaka office in 1969, he purchased four Hans Wegner Wishbone Chairs.

Akihisa Hirata Architecture Office

An imaginative architect is inspired by nature to link people and places.

Naomi Pollock, FAIA

December 16, 2013

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Growing up in a planned community on the edge of Osaka, Japan, Akihisa Hirata dreamed of becoming either a biologist or an architect.

Will Tokyo's Second Olympics Leave a Design Legacy?

Naomi Pollock, FAIA

November 14, 2013

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The new national stadium of Japan, by Zaha Hadid Architects, will be built for the 2020 summer Olympics in Tokyo. In September, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) announced the host city for the Games of the XXXII Olympiad in 2020. A town with a good track record, Tokyo beat out Istanbul and Madrid and took the prize for the third time. The city was first selected for the 1940 summer games, which were canceled due to World War II. Tokyo’s second win was for the 1964 summer Olympics. Symbolizing the end of Japan’s post–World War II reconstruction, new athletic facilities

Quick Take: Shigeru Ban's Cardboard Cathedral

Naomi Pollock, FAIA

September 20, 2013

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On September 1, 2013, the Cardboard Cathedral in Christchurch, New Zealand, had its Civic Opening. Measuring 8,611-square-feet, it is the latest and the largest paper tube structure designed by the Japanese architect and the world’s go-to guy for emergency buildings, Shigeru Ban. Located within the city’s decimated central business district, Ban’s building is a temporary replacement for Christchurch’s Anglican cathedral, a Gothic style structure built in the 19th century but damaged beyond repair by the 6.3 magnitude earthquake that shook the city in February 2011. Inspired by the original building, the Cardboard Cathedral is trapezoidal in plan and triangular in

Pit Stop

Naomi Pollock, FAIA

August 16, 2013

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Ichihara, Japan Forty miles southeast of Tokyo, Sou Fujimoto's transparent outhouse beside a railroad station provides visitors with a restroom–and a view–of their own. Photo by Iwan Baan A single glass-encased stall in the middle of a meadow, Sou Fujimoto's new public toilet is a loo with a view. Located in Ichihara, Japan, a city of 279,000, the tiny restroom is ringed by an oval fence that shields patrons without severing visual ties to the surrounding landscape: low mountains and blossoming cherry trees that draw tourists from near and far. Adjacent to the local railroad station, Fujimoto's facility caters to

Daikanyama Tsutaya Books

Like an Open Book: Klein Dytham architecture composed an airy three-building campus - an ode to the printed page - for Japanese media giant Tsutaya.

Naomi Pollock, FAIA

May 16, 2013

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Bookstores may be closing right and left in cities all over the world, but in January 2012 Tokyo welcomed Daikanyama Tsutaya Books with an enthusiastic embrace.

House K

A Slice of Life for a Modern Family: In sharp contrast to the client's previous Western-style dwelling, this open, loftlike house encourages togetherness, a quality of life still prized by the Japanese.

Naomi Pollock, FAIA

April 16, 2013

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Conceptually, the quirky house on an L-shaped lot in the affluent outskirts of Osaka has a lot in common with a traditional Japanese dwelling.