Fumihiko Maki

Fumihiko Maki (born September 6, 1928, Tokyo, Japan—died June 6, 2024, Tokyo, Japan) was a postwar Japanese architect who fused the lessons of Modernism with Japanese architectural traditions.

Maki studied architecture with Tange Kenzō at the University of Tokyo (B.A., 1952). He then attended the Cranbrook Academy of Art in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan (1952–53), and the Harvard Graduate School of Design in Cambridge, Massachusetts (M.A., 1954). He remained in the United States for a time—including a stint working for Skidmore, Owings & Merrill in New York City—but returned to Japan in 1965 to establish his own architectural practice, Maki & Associates.

Early in his career, Maki became affiliated with the Metabolist school of architects, who searched for architectural solutions to the problems facing Japan’s growing cities. Rejecting the imposing “megastructures” proposed by Tange and some of the other Metabolists, Maki proposed large structures that could retain a sense of human scale. The best example of Maki’s style is the Hillside Terrace Apartment development in Tokyo, constructed in multiple stages between 1967 and 1992. This housing and commercial complex is made of classic Modernist materials such as concrete, glass, and metal.

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Architecture: The Built World

Maki often said that he thought of himself as a Modernist, reflecting the influence of his mid-century studies in the United States. His structures were unlike many large-scale Modernist buildings, however, in their sense of human scale. In place of one monolithic, imposing space, Maki created multiple layers of space to invoke a feeling of private courtyards and garden spaces—elements essential to Japanese architecture. This planning embodies Maki’s theories about the interdependence of the parts and the whole, since he hoped that these small, intimate spaces would combine to create an overall sense of community and harmony.

In the 1980s and ’90s, Maki further explored his blend of Modernism and Japanese tradition. In his Fujisawa Gymnasium (1984), he investigated the expressive potential of metal, creating a large stadium with a light, airy stainless steel roof that seems to float above the space. While his pursuit of materials and technology in the gymnasium is Modernist, the airiness of the space recalls Japanese traditions. In his design for the Wacoal Art Centre (1982–85) in Tokyo, he further explored the possibilities of metal, creating an aluminum facade that contains a series of geometric shapes and textures. He remained committed to the human scale, as seen in his Nippon Convention Centre (1990) in Tokyo, an enormous convention center made to feel personal in its ground-level plan.

Maki’s firm continued to be successful and prolific in the 21st century. Among Maki’s many Japanese projects were two performing arts centerse, in Hiroshima (2007) and in Shizuoka (2012). At the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Maki designed the new Media Lab, which included laboratory, office, and meeting spaces (completed 2009). In 2013 Maki’s 72-story building at 4 World Trade Center in New York City became the first to open as part of the new design for that area by architect Daniel Libeskind. Also in 2013 Maki completed the Aga Khan Museum for Islamic arts and culture in Toronto.

Maki taught throughout his career, with posts at Harvard, the University of Tokyo, and Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri. He received the Pritzker Prize (1993) and the Japan Art Association’s Praemium Imperiale prize for architecture (1999).

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