[Architect Arata Isozaki]

Arata Isozaki is an architect who is tied to Kitakyushu City. Did you know that he designed five public facilities in Kitakyushu City? All of them are distinctive and worth seeing.

In 2019, he was awarded the Pritzker Prize, the Nobel Prize in architecture, and 2022, at 91, he closed his life. The Pritzker Prize is the most prestigious in the architectural industry. It is awarded annually to one or a group of living architects from around the world based on the criterion of “consistent and meaningful contributions to humanity and the environment through architecture." Since its establishment in the United States in 1979, the award has been presented to famous Japanese architects such as Kenzo Tange and Tadao Ando. Arata Isozaki is the eighth Japanese to receive the award. This year, in 2024, Riken Yamamoto was the ninth Japanese to receive the award, making Japan the country that has received the most awards.

Arata Isozaki's architectural works, which number more than 100 in Japan and abroad, include the former Oita Prefectural Library (Art Plaza) in 1966, the Museum of Contemporary Art Los Angeles in 1979, the Tsukuba Center Building in 1983, and Art Tower Mito in 1990, to name but a few. In addition to being a driving force behind postmodern architecture, Isozaki has curated architecture and art exhibitions around the world, chaired international symposiums, and has been active internationally in a wide range of fields, including thought, art, design, cultural theory, and criticism.

The buildings designed by Arata Isozaki can be visited within an 8-kilometer radius of Kitakyushu City, and are even featured as a sightseeing course. The Kitakyushu Municipal Museum of Art (1974) in Tobata Ward stands on top of a hill with a great view, and a rectangle protrudes from the building. The two squares resemble the eyes of a giant robot, giving the impression of looking out over the city from the hilltop. The Kitakyushu Municipal Museum of Art, said to be one of his early masterpieces, is nicknamed “Binoculars on the Hill." The Kitakyushu Municipal Museum of Literature and Central Library (1974) in Kokurakita Ward has a brightly colored greenish-blue copper roof that undulates and curves like a tube. The curious shape is obvious when viewed from the sky. Both have distinctive arched ceilings that make you feel as if you are inside an airship or spaceship. The Nishinihon Exhibition Hall (1977), also built along the sea in Kokurakita Ward, has steel pillars reminiscent of the masts of a sailing ship, with wires suspending the tension of the building from the outside. Looking at the walls, it looks like a huge ship or several ships in a row. The Kitakyushu International Conference Center (1990) is unique in that it appears to be a large yellow box on a wavy red roof. The windows and walls are made of many squares and look like toy blocks piled up.

I have visited five architectural structures in Kitakyushu City and Art Plaza in Oita Prefecture, and I am attracted not only by the uniqueness of the exterior, but also by the beauty and wonder of the structure when viewed from the inside, and the site planning and approach to the building. The architecture left behind by Arata Isozaki is all very modern, and you can feel the excitement of stepping into a different space. Although he was born in Oita City, Oita Prefecture, about 50 years ago, the former mayor of Kitakyushu City commissioned Arata Isozaki to build public buildings for the city of Kitakyushu because he was expected to become a major architect, and in his 30s and early 40s, a young age for an architect, he left numerous buildings in Fukuoka Prefecture as well as his home prefecture of Oita, his birthplace, It is said that the reason why he left many architectural works in Fukuoka Prefecture as well as in his hometown in Oita Prefecture is because he was supporting the development of architects from Kyushu in Kyushu.

When you visit the Wakamatsu Showroom, why not take a short walk to see the architecture of Arata Isozaki? From each location, you can enjoy a view of a vast park with beautiful lawns, the keep of Kokura Castle, the sea from Kokura Port, or the city from the top of a hill, all with a good view of Kitakyushu City.

Wakamatsu Showroom
https://www.shokunin.com/en/showroom/wakamatsu.html

References
https://isozaki.co.jp/profile/
https://kmma.jp/exhibition/コレクション展Ⅲ-特集-磯崎新「還元」シリーズ/
https://www.gururich-kitaq.com/model-course/20
https://kenchiku-pers.com/photo/list/a0080-arata-isozaki/