Contemporary Japanese Architecture on Display

Contemporary Japanese Architecture on Display at School of Architecture

Aucklanders have an opportunity to see best examples of modern Japanese architecture from the boom years of the late 1980s and early 1990s, at a comprehensive photographic exhibition hosted by The University of Auckland School of Architecture.

Deputy head of the School of Architecture Brian Taggart says visitors to the exhibition can expect to see some very dramatic buildings.

“Japanese architects during this period were very experimental and embraced modern architecture with gusto, producing some outstanding and highly eclectic buildings,” he explains. “The Japanese came late to modern architecture, but absorbed it very quickly, perhaps because it is, in spirit, so close to traditional Japanese architecture, and rapidly showed a willingness to push the boundaries.”

The exhibition will be held from August 3rd until August 18th in Architecture Exhibition Studio, at the School of Architecture Building, 26 Symonds St, and will be open to the public from 10am to 4pm.

The exhibition includes work by leading Japanese and European architects, including acclaimed Japanese architect Toyo Ito, whose visit to Auckland last year attracted an enormous amount of interest.

Others include Kenzo Tange, Tadao Ando, Phillippe Starck, Richard Rogers, Renzo Piano and Rem Koolhaus.

The booming Japanese economy during the late 1980s contributed to this outstanding period of architecture, Mr Taggart says.

“The capital cost of building being such a relatively insignificant part of overall development costs in Japan because of high land values and quick returns meant developers could afford to be far less conservative than their European or American counterparts,” he explained.

It is being co-sponsored by the Consulate General of Japan, the Japan Foundation and the Auckland Branch of the New Zealand Institute of Architects.

In association with the exhibition, Dr Koung Nyunt, of the School of Architecture, will give a lecture on the traditional shop houses of Kyoto on Thursday 8 August 2002 at 6.00pm in the School of Architecture Design Theatre.

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