See the coolest new buildings from Japanese architects

NSo to say that contemporary Japanese architecture is amazing would be an overstatement — it could be the world’s most amazing. The face of the country’s building designs is Tadao Ando, ​​one of the world’s most sought-after architects. A total of seven of its architects have won the Pritzker Prize, and the designs of its architects, both at home and abroad, remain among the most cutting-edge, innovative and beautiful. most globally. It is therefore no surprise that Taschen’s amazing new survey, Japanese contemporary architecture, is our newest pick for Just booked, our series of exciting new travel-related coffee table books.

Edited by Philip Jodidio, the mega tome magazine across Japan and around the globe, from France to the US to China, to introduce readers to some of the architects’ recent spectacular buildings Japan. There’s Sigeru Ban’s Mount Fuji World Heritage Center, with its enchanting wood lattice inverted cone that accentuates book covers, or the totally unexpected Mosaic Tile Museum from Terunobu Fujimori that looks like a piece of earthwork giant with the edge of a pine tree running long and almost amusing. along its edges.

Taschen

The book opens with a history lesson about Japan’s architectural development, which went through 200 years of isolation, dominated by Western architecture to escape its influence in the 20th century. From workplace to workplace, there are many things that people now associate with the Japanese aesthetic — solid concrete forms, light wood, and non-business spaces. While some of the works have an unimaginative style like Go Hasegawa’s lakeside mansion that looks like a Bond villain’s lair, there are also works that thwart aliens’ classification efforts. such as the Teshima Alien Art Museum, Ryue Nishizawa’s spaceship. And for pure fun, don’t miss the Ribbon Chapel by Hiroshi Nakamura & NAP.