Review

The great strength of this book is its fascinating and compelling examination of a short but fertile moment in architecture history through the multiple lenses of Horiguchi, Yamada, and Raymond . . . a long overdue study of the germinal stage of modernism in Japan.

Author: Alice Y. Tseng Source: CAA reviews

Review

Anyone who has followed the evolution of architecture in the first half of the twentieth century will have long been aware of the fertile Japanese contribution. However, until this brilliant study of three of its most prominent, pioneering practitioners, we have not only lacked sufficient documentation but also any kind of comprehensive analysis that does justice to the richness and rigor of these architects: Sutemi Horiguchi, Mamaru Yamada and the émigré Czech―American Antonin Raymond, whose unique contribution in the interwar years in Japan was to be fully integrated into the local architectural culture. What Ken Oshima demonstrates is that far from being a reductive abstract manner solely dependent on foreign models, this Japanese 'international style' yielded a regionally inflected, modern architecture that was particularly appropriate to the modernization of Japan. This is a seminal work, to be valued as much for its relevance to Japanese cultural studies as for the important contribution it makes to the history of modern architecture as a whole.

Author: Kenneth Frampton, Ware Professor of Architecture, Columbia University

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