Kiyonori Kikutake

Edo-Tokyo Museum, designed by Kiyonori Kikutake

Kiyonori Kikutake (菊竹 清訓, Kikutake Kiyonori) (April 1, 1928 – December 26, 2011) was an important Japanese architect. He start the Japanese Metabolist group of architects. He also taught several important Japanese architects, such as Toyo Ito, Shōzō Uchii and Itsuko Hasegawa.

Early life

Kikutake was born in 1928 in Kurume, Japan. He graduated from Waseda University in 1950.

Career

Kikutake's most important work is his "Marine City" project in 1958. This project became part of the Metabolist Manifesto at the World Design Conference in Tokyo in 1960. Kenzo Tange and Kisho Kurokawa were asked to show work at the "Visionary Architecture" exhibition in New York of 1961. This made the Metabolists known internationally.

He became assistant professor at Waseda University in 1959 in the Faculty of Science and Engineering. He became a professor at Chiba Institute of Technology in 1989. He returned to Waseda from 1993-1998 as a visiting professor in the Research Institute for Science and Engineering.

Kikutake worked until he died in 2011. He designed several important public buildings in Japan. He also taught internationally. He was President and then Honorary President of the Japan Institute of Architects.

Awards

Kikutake won many awards both in Japan and internationally. These include the Japan Academy of Architecture Prize (1970) and the UIA (Union Internationale des Architectes) Auguste Perret Prize (1978).

List of works

• Sky House, Tokyo, 1958
• Marine City, 1958
• Tatebayashi Civic Centre, 1963
• Administrative building of Izumo Shrine, 1963
• Pacific Hotel, Chigasaki, 1966
• Miyakonojo Civic Hall, 1966
• Expo Tower, Expo '70, Osaka, 1969
• Matsumi Tower, 1976
• Tanabe Art Museum, 1979
• Hotel Seiyo, Ginza, Tokyo, 1987
• Edo-Tokyo Museum, 1993
• Hotel Sofitel, Tokyo, 1994
• Shimane Art Museum, 1999
• National Showa Memorial Museum, 1999
• Kyushu National Museum, 2005

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  Tatebayashi Civic Centre, 1963
• 
  Administrative building of Izumo Shrine, 1963
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  Miyakonojo Civic Hall, 1966
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  Osaka Expo Tower, 1970
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  Matsumi Tower, 1976
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  Hotel Seiyo, Ginza, Tokyo, 1987
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  Hotel Sofitel, Tokyo, 1994
• 
  National Showa Memorial Museum, 1999

References

• Kisho Kurokawa, "The Origin and History of the Metabolist Movement" - Charles Jencks, Kisho Kurokawa. Studio Vista, 1976
• Botond Bognar, "Beyond the Bubble: Contemporary Japanese Architecture" ; Phaidon, 2008

Other websites

• K. Kikutake Architects
• Marine City, 1958