From disappearing post-war landmarks to pioneering new approaches to materials, nature and technology, Japan’s architectural story is one of constant reinvention. Our latest release, Vanishing Japan, documents around ninety mid-century buildings demolished since 2000, while KA ME RA reveals the photographers who shaped how we see Japan’s extraordinary architecture. We also explore the intricacies of the Japanese house, Kengo Kuma’s influential practice and the imagined cities of anime.
1. Vanishing Japan
Vanishing Japan is a visual record of Japan’s demolished post-war architectural gems, exploring what was lost and why, from theatres and shopping centres to offices and civic landmarks. Built mainly between the 1950s and 1970s, these structures represent important milestones in Japan’s history, with examples drawn from across the country.
High real-estate values, cost and improvements to construction techniques in a country plagued by earthquakes are just some of the reasons that buildings regularly get torn down in Japan. This and more is explored in this smart, accessible book designed in elegant duotone that will have readers looking at their own built environment in a different light.
Discover Vanishing Japan: Modern Architecture, Gone But Not Forgotten by Naomi Pollock.
2. KA ME RA
A richly illustrated exploration of Japan’s post-war architecture and the photographers who shaped how we see it, KA ME RA surveys nine photographers whose work has defined the global image of Japan’s remarkable modern buildings, offering a glimpse of these structures through their distinctive lenses. Alongside stunning photography, Ari Seligmann explores the evolution of architectural photography in post-war Japan and questions how these images have shaped our understanding of the built environment.
Combining photobook, biography and photographic history, it celebrates both Japan’s extraordinary architecture and the photographers who brought it to the world.
Discover KA ME RA: by Ari Seligmann.
3. Kengo Kuma: New Works
Kengo Kuma’s second monograph brings together forty projects selected by the architect, from Japan’s Olympic Stadium to community centres, museums, houses and pavilions around the world. Celebrating his distinctive use of natural materials, the projects reflect Kuma’s response to pressing contemporary themes, including climate, disaster, local communities and the need for human connection.
With a substantial introduction by Grace La, the book offers a perceptive look at Kuma’s evolving practice and his place in contemporary architecture.
Discover Kengo Kuma: New Works by Kengo Kuma and Grace La.
4. MAKI OPUS
The definitive survey of Fumihiko Maki’s groundbreaking career, from his earliest projects to his final works, MAKI OPUS brings together fifty landmark buildings by the acclaimed Japanese architect, including the MIT Media Lab, Aga Khan Museum and 4 World Trade Center. Created in close collaboration with Maki’s studio, the 400-page volume features 1,000 illustrations, including previously unpublished photographs and drawings from the practice’s archives.
Exploring Maki’s innovative use of materials, technology and space, MAKI OPUS presents an intimate portrait of an architect whose understated, influential work helped shape contemporary Japanese architecture.
Discover MAKI OPUS by Maki & Associates
5. Point Line Plane
Through a series of essays, Kengo Kuma explores architecture as a dialogue between tradition and innovation, challenging the megastructures and capitalist ideals of the twentieth century. Drawing on art, philosophy and literature, he proposes a more sustainable approach to design – one that breaks down rigid forms into points, lines and planes to create spaces centred on simplicity, nature and human connection.
Discover Point Line Plane by Kengo Kuma.
6. The Japanese House
Featuring ninety-seven houses built over nine decades, The Japanese House Since 1945 traces the evolution of form, materials, technology and family life through some of the country’s most distinctive homes. From experimental courtyards to compact towers, these houses reveal how Japanese architects have continually reimagined domestic living.
Richly illustrated with photographs and drawings, the book places each home in its social, historical and geographical context, while ‘Spotlight’ and ‘At Home’ sections offer closer insights into the spaces and the experience of living in them.
Discover The Japanese House by Naomi Pollock and Tadao Ando.
7. Kengo Kuma: My Life as an Architect in Tokyo
It was around Kengo Kuma’s tenth birthday that he came into contact with Kenzō Tange’s fishlike Yoyogi National Gymnasium, completed for the 1964 Tokyo Olympics, and determined that he would become an architect. In the intervening five or so decades, he has become one of the world’s most fascinating and influential architects.
Through twenty-five stories, this intimate little publication paints a picture of how a building inspired a boy to become an architect, how Japan’s national heritage helped form his thinking, and how his professional experience has made him one of the most successful architects of his generation.
Discover Kengo Kuma: My Life as an Architect in Tokyo by Kengo Kuma.
8. Anime Architecture
The influence of anime, one of Japan’s most successful cultural exports, has been felt across cinema, literature, comic books and videogames for decades, yet the artwork behind the genre remains somewhat enigmatic, particularly in the pre-digital period before the early 2000s.
A genuine behind-the-scenes journey into the original background paintings, storyboards and early drafts of the industry’s most revered directors and illustrators, Anime Architecture presents the otherworldly buildings and megacities of these visionaries as celebrations of – and lessons for – the near future.
Discover Anime Architecture: Anime Architecture: Imagined Worlds and Endless Megacities by Stefan Riekeles
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