Isozaki seized upon this blankness with daring and optimism. He designed avant-garde civic buildings in his town such as the brutalist gems Ōita Medical Hall and the Ōita Prefectural Library (aka Oita Art Plaza).”When it comes to peacetime, you cannot be adventurous, but quite mild and tame. However there is a time when anything is alright as long as it is interesting.”

Art Tower, MITO
Art Tower, MITO
Image: Courtesy of Yasuhiro Ishimoto

Abroad, Isozaki dazzled with avant-garde structures starting with Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles, the red-brick postmodern gem paved the way to many international commissions. Among them is the Palau Sant Jordi in Barcelona, the Shenzhen Cultural Center, Qatar National Convention Center, the Shanghai Symphony Hall, and his favorite, the Museo Domus in northwest, Spain. Isozaki doesn’t subscribe to one architecture style, but his most famous buildings are categorized as Brutalist and Post Modernist.

Well into his 80s, Isozaki is working to create structures that inspire awe. Now, he’s focused on realizing aspects of his bold proposal called “City in the Air.” Originally conceived for Tokyo’s Shinjuku ward in 1962, Isozaki is winning over Chinese and Middle Eastern developers to his vision of “elevated layers of buildings, residences and transportation suspended above the aging city.”

Museum of Contemporary Art Los Angeles is Isozaki’s first international commission
Museum of Contemporary Art Los Angeles is Isozaki’s first international commission
Image: Courtesy of Yasuhiro Ishimoto
Palau Sant Jordi, Barcelona Spain
Palau Sant Jordi, Barcelona Spain
Image: Courtesy of Hisao Suzuki

Japan’s winning streak

Over the last four decades, a committee of architecture experts (chaired by a US Supreme Court judge this year), selects a living architect (or architects) whose work has made a “significant contributions to humanity.”

Pritzker Prize juries have been particularly attentive to Japanese architects. Isozaki’s mentor Kenzō Tange won the Pritzker in 1987, the first of eight Japanese-born architects to garner the prestigious international prize, considered by many as the industry’s Nobel Prize. The US also has eight laureates, counting Frank Gehry who holds dual citizenship in Canada and the US.

Winning the Pritzker isn’t only a great honor for individual architects, but it tends to draw an international spotlight to the architecture of their counties. The selection of Balkrishna Doshi as last year’s Pritzker laureate, for instance, was considered an overdue acknowledgement of the genius of South Asian architecture and urban design.

📬 Sign up for the Daily Brief

Our free, fast, and fun briefing on the global economy, delivered every weekday morning.