How Japanese Architects Have Built on the Work of Frank Lloyd Wright
The design philosophy of the U.S. architect, who worked for a time in Japan, has been kept alive by generations of Japanese architects
In Part 1 of our two-part series on Frank Lloyd Wright’s influence on Japanese residential architecture, we looked at the first “generation” of Wright apprentices in Japan — Arata Endo, Antonin Raymond, Kameki Tsuchiura and Yoshiya Tanoue — whose careers owed a great deal to Wright’s direct influence. These men would go on not only to create their own masterpieces and alter Japan’s cityscapes, but also to mentor a new generation of architects, who then influenced the next generation, and they, the next.
In Part 2, we look at these later generations of Wright-inspired Japanese architects and their work, which continues today.
In Part 2, we look at these later generations of Wright-inspired Japanese architects and their work, which continues today.
Photo by Kazumi Yao
Yao House by Raku Endo. After seeing magazine photos of Frank Lloyd Wright’s work, the Yaos decided that they wanted a Prairie home for their family of four in Osaka, and set about finding a local architect. They quickly reached Raku, with whom they worked closely on the design until the 1995 Kobe earthquake struck, causing a halt to construction, and a shortage of manpower and materials. Nevertheless, the house — large by Japanese standards at 2,314 square feet (215 square meters) — was completed in early 1996.
The two-story wooden structure, pictured in the photo above and the previous photo, features living, dining and kitchen spaces on the second floor, along with a piano room and a tatami-mat guest room. The bedrooms are downstairs, a configuration that Raku often favored because the top floor had better views and more light. The downstairs bedrooms face the back garden, with a pond just outside the master bedroom.
Raku preferred to design few floor-to-ceiling walls, leaving the spaces open above the wooden lintels to create rooms that continue throughout the house. His batten seams were more show than structural, here highlighting the unusual angles in the ceiling.
Yao House by Raku Endo. After seeing magazine photos of Frank Lloyd Wright’s work, the Yaos decided that they wanted a Prairie home for their family of four in Osaka, and set about finding a local architect. They quickly reached Raku, with whom they worked closely on the design until the 1995 Kobe earthquake struck, causing a halt to construction, and a shortage of manpower and materials. Nevertheless, the house — large by Japanese standards at 2,314 square feet (215 square meters) — was completed in early 1996.
The two-story wooden structure, pictured in the photo above and the previous photo, features living, dining and kitchen spaces on the second floor, along with a piano room and a tatami-mat guest room. The bedrooms are downstairs, a configuration that Raku often favored because the top floor had better views and more light. The downstairs bedrooms face the back garden, with a pond just outside the master bedroom.
Raku preferred to design few floor-to-ceiling walls, leaving the spaces open above the wooden lintels to create rooms that continue throughout the house. His batten seams were more show than structural, here highlighting the unusual angles in the ceiling.
Photo by Minoru Akiyama
Nakada House by Raku Endo. This home for a doctor and his family was built in 1996 on a sloped lot, with a basement on one side that becomes a first-floor sunroom on the other. The three-story structure is crafted of wood and tile, with oya accents. Interior surfaces are polished Japanese pine, with lighting recessed in the high ceiling, as well as in cutout squares at the lintel level.
Nakada House by Raku Endo. This home for a doctor and his family was built in 1996 on a sloped lot, with a basement on one side that becomes a first-floor sunroom on the other. The three-story structure is crafted of wood and tile, with oya accents. Interior surfaces are polished Japanese pine, with lighting recessed in the high ceiling, as well as in cutout squares at the lintel level.
Photo by Minoru Akiyama
The home features a cantilevered balcony outside the spacious living-dining room, which has no dividing partition. There are other balconies, both exterior and interior, with interior windows on the master bedroom that look down upon the great room. Ample windows provide views of mountainside greenery.
The home features a cantilevered balcony outside the spacious living-dining room, which has no dividing partition. There are other balconies, both exterior and interior, with interior windows on the master bedroom that look down upon the great room. Ample windows provide views of mountainside greenery.
Photo by Wasaku Kuno
Matsudaira House by Raku Endo. This small 2003 home with an asymmetrical gabled-roof design is the essence of cozy. Located in the resort town of Karuizawa, in the mountains near Nagano, it is surrounded by forested land and affords beautiful views.
Matsudaira House by Raku Endo. This small 2003 home with an asymmetrical gabled-roof design is the essence of cozy. Located in the resort town of Karuizawa, in the mountains near Nagano, it is surrounded by forested land and affords beautiful views.
Photo by Wasaku Kuno
There is a large oya-and-brick fireplace at the foot of the stairs, facing the dining room and, a step lower, the living room. Also on this level is a tatami room with hori-gotatsu sunken floor seating. The second-floor master bedroom features folding panels that can be opened to overlook the living room just below, putting everyone within earshot, and bringing the family literally and metaphorically closer together.
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There is a large oya-and-brick fireplace at the foot of the stairs, facing the dining room and, a step lower, the living room. Also on this level is a tatami room with hori-gotatsu sunken floor seating. The second-floor master bedroom features folding panels that can be opened to overlook the living room just below, putting everyone within earshot, and bringing the family literally and metaphorically closer together.
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2. Second Generation: Kunio Maekawa, Bridging Antonin Raymond and Europe
Wright apprentice Antonin Raymond hired Kunio Maekawa just after he returned in 1930 from Le Corbusier’s office in Paris, and worked with him until Maekawa started his own office in 1935. “I think there may have been an extreme influence from Raymond transmitted through Maekawa,” says historian David Stewart. “I think he created possibilities for younger Japanese architects that they had never thought about.”
Maekawa understood, perhaps before Raymond did, that Corbusian modernism encouraged constant innovation rather than formal design guidelines. He found it easily adaptable to Japan’s cultural and climatic context, and would become one of the 20th century’s most prolific modernists — along with Kenzo Tange, whom he would later mentor.
Maekawa House by Kunio Maekawa. Young architects show their true colors when they design their own habitats. Maekawa and his 1942 home, above, are no exception. Some historians, intent on maintaining Le Corbusier’s vaunted position in the Maekawa canon, have suggested that the architect built small and in wood because of the restrictions imposed by the Japanese government on size and materials needed for the war effort. They have also posited that Maekawa was attempting to “bring [Le Corbusier’s] idea of piloti [piers, or columns] inside the house.” Yet one has only to catch a glimpse of the plunging neo-Japan-esque roofline, the oya entryway to the front path and the dramatic double-height windows — facing north, with contrasting akari shoji screens to filter light — to understand the synthesis at play.
Wright apprentice Antonin Raymond hired Kunio Maekawa just after he returned in 1930 from Le Corbusier’s office in Paris, and worked with him until Maekawa started his own office in 1935. “I think there may have been an extreme influence from Raymond transmitted through Maekawa,” says historian David Stewart. “I think he created possibilities for younger Japanese architects that they had never thought about.”
Maekawa understood, perhaps before Raymond did, that Corbusian modernism encouraged constant innovation rather than formal design guidelines. He found it easily adaptable to Japan’s cultural and climatic context, and would become one of the 20th century’s most prolific modernists — along with Kenzo Tange, whom he would later mentor.
Maekawa House by Kunio Maekawa. Young architects show their true colors when they design their own habitats. Maekawa and his 1942 home, above, are no exception. Some historians, intent on maintaining Le Corbusier’s vaunted position in the Maekawa canon, have suggested that the architect built small and in wood because of the restrictions imposed by the Japanese government on size and materials needed for the war effort. They have also posited that Maekawa was attempting to “bring [Le Corbusier’s] idea of piloti [piers, or columns] inside the house.” Yet one has only to catch a glimpse of the plunging neo-Japan-esque roofline, the oya entryway to the front path and the dramatic double-height windows — facing north, with contrasting akari shoji screens to filter light — to understand the synthesis at play.
There is a small second-story loft with display cases acting as interface with the first floor, on which is the kitchen, a bedroom and study, as well as a central living-dining-everything room. Space flows, unimpeded, through this room, and from front to back garden. Maekawa also designed the furnishings and light fixtures. When his office burned down in a U.S. air raid during the war, he moved operations to this home, and one can imagine that it was a stimulating setting in which to create.
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Photo by Wasaku Kuno
3. Second-Generation: Junzo Yoshimura, East-West Alchemist
Another second-generation architect, Junzo Yoshimura, had completed his first credited design with his mentor, Antonin Raymond, when he was just 21, in 1931. The small villa they designed in Nikko fused inspirations from Wright with traditional minka farmhouses.
Yoshimura would continue working with Raymond, both in Japan and in New Hope, Pennsylvania, until opening his own practice in 1941. Later, he would earn fame for his many modern structures, like the Japan Society in New York City, the first contemporary Japanese design in America.
House in the Woods by Junzo Yoshimura. But Yoshimura’s heart was always in his residential projects — like his own 1962 villa, House in the Woods (Mori no naka no Ie), above, in Karuizawa. This small, neo-Japan-esque structure in wood is cantilevered over a concrete podium containing an entrance stair and utilities. The living spaces achieve a level of oneness with nature, of comfort, and of serenity that seems to emanate across the forest and down through the generations.
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3. Second-Generation: Junzo Yoshimura, East-West Alchemist
Another second-generation architect, Junzo Yoshimura, had completed his first credited design with his mentor, Antonin Raymond, when he was just 21, in 1931. The small villa they designed in Nikko fused inspirations from Wright with traditional minka farmhouses.
Yoshimura would continue working with Raymond, both in Japan and in New Hope, Pennsylvania, until opening his own practice in 1941. Later, he would earn fame for his many modern structures, like the Japan Society in New York City, the first contemporary Japanese design in America.
House in the Woods by Junzo Yoshimura. But Yoshimura’s heart was always in his residential projects — like his own 1962 villa, House in the Woods (Mori no naka no Ie), above, in Karuizawa. This small, neo-Japan-esque structure in wood is cantilevered over a concrete podium containing an entrance stair and utilities. The living spaces achieve a level of oneness with nature, of comfort, and of serenity that seems to emanate across the forest and down through the generations.
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Yoshimura and Okumura’s 1973 Hoshino Sanso villa echoes Yoshimura’s earlier mountain villa with its concrete base, Corbusian piloti and large living-room hearth. Historic photo courtesy of Hiroo Maruya
4. Third Generation: Akio Okumura and Hiroo Maruya, Eco Innovators
In the early 1970s, Yoshimura partnered with one of his students at Tokyo University of the Arts, Akio Okumura, and began incorporating floor heating in their designs. Yoshimura had first experienced it with Raymond in Pennsylvania, and it had become a popular feature of Wright’s Usonian homes, reflecting his constant efforts to implement energy-efficient HVAC.
Yoshimura and Okumura devised a system of forced-air heating using a kerosene furnace, and installed it in their first collaborative project, the 1973 Hoshino Sanso villa.
4. Third Generation: Akio Okumura and Hiroo Maruya, Eco Innovators
In the early 1970s, Yoshimura partnered with one of his students at Tokyo University of the Arts, Akio Okumura, and began incorporating floor heating in their designs. Yoshimura had first experienced it with Raymond in Pennsylvania, and it had become a popular feature of Wright’s Usonian homes, reflecting his constant efforts to implement energy-efficient HVAC.
Yoshimura and Okumura devised a system of forced-air heating using a kerosene furnace, and installed it in their first collaborative project, the 1973 Hoshino Sanso villa.
Hoshino Sanso’s living room and hearth. Historic photo courtesy of Hiroo Maruya
Miyagino Sanso was designed by Hiroo Maruya.
Their efforts then led them to start using fan heaters and to incorporate solar energy. From this grew the OM Solar Association, launched by Okumura and Hiroo Maruya in 1987, and now operating in over 25,000 homes around Japan. Through innovations in technology, architectural design and building materials, the group promotes healthier homes that consume a minimum of resources, reducing the residential carbon footprint.
Maruya is also now leading the nonprofit Eco House Movement, which promotes the idea of sustainable homes that use natural materials — wood, earth, thatch — in construction, combined with natural air circulation, natural (nonfossil fuel) energy and natural insulation. An “open system” that doesn’t advocate one method of construction or climate control over another, the group instead focuses on promulgating an eco-friendly lifestyle.
Both Eco House and OM Solar have won converts following the triple disaster at Fukushima in 2011, and the ensuing shutdown of most nuclear plants in Japan.
Their efforts then led them to start using fan heaters and to incorporate solar energy. From this grew the OM Solar Association, launched by Okumura and Hiroo Maruya in 1987, and now operating in over 25,000 homes around Japan. Through innovations in technology, architectural design and building materials, the group promotes healthier homes that consume a minimum of resources, reducing the residential carbon footprint.
Maruya is also now leading the nonprofit Eco House Movement, which promotes the idea of sustainable homes that use natural materials — wood, earth, thatch — in construction, combined with natural air circulation, natural (nonfossil fuel) energy and natural insulation. An “open system” that doesn’t advocate one method of construction or climate control over another, the group instead focuses on promulgating an eco-friendly lifestyle.
Both Eco House and OM Solar have won converts following the triple disaster at Fukushima in 2011, and the ensuing shutdown of most nuclear plants in Japan.
5. Fourth Generation: Ryosuke Isoya, Master of the Usonian
Firmly positioned in the current fourth “generation” of Wright’s influence is Taliesin apprentice Ryosuke Isoya, a ship designer who read The Natural House Book in the 1990s and decided that he wanted to build Usonian homes instead. Wright had developed small single-story Usonians for middle-income families in the late 1930s, pioneering large cantilevered overhangs for passive solar heating and natural cooling (as well as the first carports), natural lighting via clerestory windows, and radiant-floor heating.
Isoya met with Raku Endo, who was involved in the process of selecting Japanese students for the Frank Lloyd Wright School of Architecture, and went to Scottsdale, Arizona, for several years. After returning, he founded Isoya Architectural Firm with his wife, Yukie, in 1995, and began acting on his dream.
“Usonian houses are special because they feel bigger than they look, and interact closely with the garden, like traditional Japanese houses once did,” he says. “Especially for small lots, Usonians are ideal.”
Firmly positioned in the current fourth “generation” of Wright’s influence is Taliesin apprentice Ryosuke Isoya, a ship designer who read The Natural House Book in the 1990s and decided that he wanted to build Usonian homes instead. Wright had developed small single-story Usonians for middle-income families in the late 1930s, pioneering large cantilevered overhangs for passive solar heating and natural cooling (as well as the first carports), natural lighting via clerestory windows, and radiant-floor heating.
Isoya met with Raku Endo, who was involved in the process of selecting Japanese students for the Frank Lloyd Wright School of Architecture, and went to Scottsdale, Arizona, for several years. After returning, he founded Isoya Architectural Firm with his wife, Yukie, in 1995, and began acting on his dream.
“Usonian houses are special because they feel bigger than they look, and interact closely with the garden, like traditional Japanese houses once did,” he says. “Especially for small lots, Usonians are ideal.”
Irifune House by Ryosuke Isoya. This concrete-and-stucco Usonian house, above, was completed in 2007 in Tokyo. Isoya designed it to be flexible and expandable, since the family was still growing.
The V-shaped, three-story structure sits on a tiny lot with a 120-degree corner facing the road. Entry is via stairs leading to the second floor, which contains the family spaces. Bedrooms are on the first and third floors, with interior stairs framed by double-height windows. The mitered windows on the second level allow the best views of the beautiful wooden interior spaces.
Here, Isoya stands near one of Wright’s trademarks of Usonian design, the perforated panels that were inspired by Japanese ranma screens. They are used to create clerestory friezes throughout Usonian homes, casting patterns of filtered light during the daytime, often drawing the outside in. At night, the homes take on the appearance of Japanese lanterns, with soft illumination glowing from within.
The V-shaped, three-story structure sits on a tiny lot with a 120-degree corner facing the road. Entry is via stairs leading to the second floor, which contains the family spaces. Bedrooms are on the first and third floors, with interior stairs framed by double-height windows. The mitered windows on the second level allow the best views of the beautiful wooden interior spaces.
Here, Isoya stands near one of Wright’s trademarks of Usonian design, the perforated panels that were inspired by Japanese ranma screens. They are used to create clerestory friezes throughout Usonian homes, casting patterns of filtered light during the daytime, often drawing the outside in. At night, the homes take on the appearance of Japanese lanterns, with soft illumination glowing from within.
Kannami House by Ryosuke Isoya. Sited on a hillside to accommodate stunning views of Mount Fuji throughout the home, this two-story Usonian built of brick tile and red cedar spirals up the slope to a rooftop deck. Designed for a retired engineer and his wife, it is built on piles to anchor it in soft soil.
Photo by Ryosuke Isoya
Entry is through a cantilevered carport at the top of the house, with a circular sawtooth veranda that casts spectacular shadows throughout the great room. Bedrooms and a craft room are downstairs. Isoya has incorporated the latest technologies in the home, including increased insulation and roof sealant that will prevent leaking.
Entry is through a cantilevered carport at the top of the house, with a circular sawtooth veranda that casts spectacular shadows throughout the great room. Bedrooms and a craft room are downstairs. Isoya has incorporated the latest technologies in the home, including increased insulation and roof sealant that will prevent leaking.
Wright’s Enduring Influence
Since 2003, Japanese homeowners have also had the opportunity to build a Prairie or Usonian house via Japan Organic Architecture, an authorized licensee of the Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation.
The residences, offered in base styles designed by Wright himself or John Rattenbury, a former apprentice who was a principal architect and planner for Taliesin Architects, are approved by the foundation (and not available outside Japan). They vary in layout and size, but are generally compact modular structures targeted at clients who plan to raise children and pass the homes on to them. Propelled by Wright’s organic principles, smart building technologies and a network of world-class Japanese construction companies, they have proved to be quite popular.
Since 2003, Japanese homeowners have also had the opportunity to build a Prairie or Usonian house via Japan Organic Architecture, an authorized licensee of the Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation.
The residences, offered in base styles designed by Wright himself or John Rattenbury, a former apprentice who was a principal architect and planner for Taliesin Architects, are approved by the foundation (and not available outside Japan). They vary in layout and size, but are generally compact modular structures targeted at clients who plan to raise children and pass the homes on to them. Propelled by Wright’s organic principles, smart building technologies and a network of world-class Japanese construction companies, they have proved to be quite popular.
Nearly 60 years after his death and over 100 years since his first design for Japan, Frank Lloyd Wright’s enduring influence can be found in these customized originals, as well as in the evolving works of his apprentices and their own successors. His is a legacy that inspires an ongoing dialogue between traditional Japanese, modern and organic architecture.
Japan’s cities may be drowning in concrete, but for residential designers, in particular, Wright’s crusade to enrich life through architecture continues to be a beacon for buildings that nourish the soul rather than stifle it.
“Frank Lloyd Wright’s work makes us passionate about what architecture can achieve,” says architect Kumiko Inui. “I think that’s so important.”
Japan’s cities may be drowning in concrete, but for residential designers, in particular, Wright’s crusade to enrich life through architecture continues to be a beacon for buildings that nourish the soul rather than stifle it.
“Frank Lloyd Wright’s work makes us passionate about what architecture can achieve,” says architect Kumiko Inui. “I think that’s so important.”
Ryosuke Isoya, master of the Usonian, puts it this way: “You would think his work is dated, but it’s not. He was creating designs that still feel fresh. Wright really belongs to the future.”
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1. Second Generation: Raku Endo, Wright’s Last Japanese Apprentice
Raku Endo, son of architect Arata Endo, was schooled first by educators Motoko and Yoshikazu Hani at Jiyu Gakuen (built by Frank Lloyd Wright and Raku’s father, Arata), next by his father and, finally, by Wright himself. Raku developed a philosophy that synthesized all these influences — and then some.
After graduating from high school in 1945 and working for another architectural firm, Raku joined his father until Arata’s death in 1951. Raku finally saved enough money to travel to Taliesin in 1957. Wright was in his final years when Raku arrived, and he was to be the last Japanese apprentice to share the drafting room with Wright.
After returning to Japan, Raku quickly won clients for Wrightian residential designs, eventually creating more than 250 of them. “Frank Lloyd Wright was always telling us, ‘Don’t copy me, or you’ll erase yourself and lose your own identity,” Raku recalled. “He said, ‘You must find your own way.’”
Raku’s way was to develop an understanding of the nature of materials that rivaled his master’s, and to insist on using wood when most Japanese residences were being built of concrete. His fireplaces often included oya (lava tuff) elements, not only in homage to Wright and the Imperial Hotel, but also to soften the space. He would argue that the hearths — a key feature of his residential designs, placed in the heart of the house — had been crafted with superior workmanship, ensuring fires that burned better than his mentors’ designs.