Profile
Born in Nagano Prefecture in 1951. He is known for his unique designs that use poetry and music as motifs. He has been involved in many public and private projects, and was the architectural producer for the Japanese Pavilion at the 2015 Milan Expo (over 120 countries participated, and the Japanese Pavilion won the first ever Gold Prize). He has designed the stage for the modern ballet One of a Kind, which has been performed at the Paris Opera and other venues around the world; the urban planning and landscape design for Aria, an industrial park in Yamanashi Prefecture, which won the Good Design Award; and the design for the Mikimoto Pavilion at Basel World.
Until March 2019, he has been teaching at his alma mater, Tokyo University of the Arts, where he has also developed research projects with students such as “Theatrical Urban Planning” and “Ueno Forest Art and Culture City Concept”.
He has received the Architectural Institute of Japan Award, the Togo Murano Award, the Grand Prize of the Architectural Institute of Japan, the Japan Design Award of the American Institute of Architects, the Gold Medal of the Arcasia Architecture Award, the Kenneth F. Brown Pacific Rim Architecture and Culture Award, and the Italy IA Prize. In 2010, he was awarded the Japan Art Institute Prize. 27 of his works, including models and drawings, are in the collection of the Centre Georges Pompidou in Paris (French National Museum of Modern Art).
President of the Kitagawara Institute of Architecture and Urbanism. Professor Emeritus at Tokyo University of the Arts.
