Fumihiko Maki

(b. Tokyo, Japan 1928)

Fumihiko Maki was born in Tokyo in 1928. He studied at the University of Tokyo, at the Cranbrook Academy of Art in Bloomfield Hills, and at the Harvard Graduate School of Design. After he worked for Skidmore, Owings, and Merrill in New York and for Sert Jackson and Associates in Cambridge he spent several years teaching and working independently. In 1965 he established Maki and Associates in Tokyo.

Maki returned to Japan in 1960 and helped establish the Metabolism Group. With an obsessive interest in new technology and rational design, Maki uses modular systems in planning and standardized building components in construction. His favorite materials are metal, glass, and poured concrete. Despite his keen interest in theory and technology, Maki is a populist, and his buildings display a warmth and sense of excitement that is rarely found in contemporary architecture.

Maki's designs exhibit carefully manipulated shapes and textures that humanize their total effect. Maki displays a constant concern with contextual response. Maki applies his belief in standardized parts and adaptability in a very pragmatic way. His design attention is not the glorification of his theories, but the successful employment of them to create effective architecture that meets human needs.

Maki has been studying traditional Japanese architecture which he has begun incorporating into his design work. Maki's design work is remarkably mature, not merely in choice of concept, but in terms of compositional sophistication as well.

References
Muriel Emmanuel. Contemporary Architects. New York: St. Martin's Press, 1980. ISBN 0-312-16635-4. NA 680-C625. p504-506.

Details

Recipient of the Pritzker Architecture Prize, 1993.

Maki and Associates
Hillside West Building C
13-4 Hachiyama-cho
Shibuya-ku
Tokyo 150-0035
Japan
vox ++81 3 3780 3880
fax ++81 3 3780 3881

Fumihiko Maki, Alex Krieger, Botond Bognar. Fumihiko Maki : Buildings and Projects. Princeton Architectural Press, September 1997. ISBN 1568981090. — Available at Amazon.com

  Find books about Fumihiko Maki

Search the RIBA architecture library catalog for more references on Fumihiko Maki
 

Fumihiko Maki Pritzker Prize — Several pages of good background information, at the Pritzker Prize site.

Fumihiko Maki at Archiplanet — Find, add, and edit info at the all-buildings collaboration

   Search the web for Fumihiko Maki

We appreciate your  suggestions  for links about Fumihiko Maki.