The architecture of Japanese Riken Yamamoto stands out for its commitment to people. With its projects, it reinforces the feeling of community among all those who enjoy its buildings, whether they are the residents of a block of flats, students at a university, workers at a town hall or passers-by who stop on the street to see how some firefighters are exercising.
Fussa City Hall (Tokyo, 2008)
An architect who brings dignity to everyday life
“Yamamoto is a calming architect who brings dignity to everyday life.” This is how the president of the Pritzker Prize jury, the Chilean Alejandro Aravena (Pritzker 2016), has defined the work of the Japanese architect. Aravena has assured that “one of the things we need most in the future of cities is to create conditions through architecture that multiply the opportunities for people to meet and interact.” Yamamoto’s projects blur the border between public and private reinforcing the feeling of community.
Ecoms House (Tosu, Japan, 2004).
A prolific career that spans five decades
Born in China, but emigrated to Japan as a child, right after World War II, Yamamoto’s career (Beijing, 78 years old) spans more than five decades. Among other things, he has designed libraries, museums, schools or colleges in Japan, China, Korea and Switzerland. Among the most notable: the Tianjin Library (Tianjin, China, 2012); THE CIRCLE at Zurich Airport (Zurich, Switzerland, 2020) or Zokei Nagoya University (Nagoya, Japan, 2022). Likewise, he is also the author of numerous residential buildings, such as Hotakubo (Kumamoto, Japan, 1991), and private residences, such as the Ecoms house (Tosu, Japan, 2004).
Yamakawa House (Japan, 1977).
Graduated from Nihon University in 1968, and with a master’s degree in Architecture from the Tokyo University of the Arts in 1971, in 1973 he founded his studio: Riken Yamamoto & Field Shop. During the first years of his career he dedicated himself to traveling. In 1972 he traveled by car along the Mediterranean coast with his mentor, architect Hiroshi Hara. He was in France, Spain, Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Italy, Greece and Turkey. He later traveled to Mexico, Guatemala, Costa Rica, Colombia and Peru. He also served in Iraq, India and Nepal. All these trips led him to the conclusion that the idea of a “threshold” between public and private spaces was universal.
Pangyo residential building (2010) in South Korea.
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Homes designed for people to interact
Regarding his housing projects, Tom Pritzker, President of the Hyatt Foundation, sponsor of the award, has said that his works are always connected to society and that “Yamamoto develops a new architectural language that does not limit itself to creating spaces for families to live, but creates communities for families to live together.” The Pangyo residential building (Seongnam, South Korea, 2010): a complex of nine low-rise housing blocks, it is designed with transparent volumes on the ground floor that favor the relationship between neighbors. A common deck on the second floor encourages interaction, ensuring that residents living alone do not feel isolated. The building also has meeting spaces, play areas, gardens and bridges that connect the housing blocks.
Hiroshima Nishi Fire Station (Hiroshima, Japan, 2000).
Pritzker to an architecture designed for people
“The current architectural approach emphasizes privacy, denying the need for social relationships. However, we can still honor the freedom of each individual while living together in architectural space as in a republic, fostering harmony between cultures and phases of life. life,” Yamamoto has said about his work.
Saitama Prefectural University (Koshigaya, Japan 1999).
Thus, the Pritzker rewards an architecture that, at a time when we live more and more isolated, seeks for people to relate, to make the places it designs their own, to make the private become public. It happens with the aforementioned homes. Also with the Saitama Prefectural University (Koshigaya, Japan 1999). Specialized in nursing and health sciences, Yamamoto designed a complex of nine buildings connected by terraces that give way to walkways that lead to transparent volumes that allow you to see from one classroom to another, but also from one building to another, promoting interdisciplinary learning. .
Fussa City Hall (Tokyo, 2008).
Good examples of this way of projecting are the Fussa Town Hall (Tokyo, 2008), surrounded by an esplanade with gentle hills where workers can walk or sit and rest for a while; wave Hiroshima Nishi fire station (Hiroshima, 2000), whose interior is not hidden from passersby, who can see the day-to-day life of the firefighters from outside or in various areas set up for this purpose, thus seeking to familiarize them with the work of those who protect them. Yamamoto will receive the Pritzker at the Art Institute of Chicago on May 16.