Yoshinobu Ashihara

National Museum of Japanese History

Yoshinobu Ashihara ( Japanese 芦 原 義 信 ; born July 7, 1918 in Tōkyō ; died September 24, 2003 ) was a Japanese architect of the Shōwa period .

life and work

Ashihara Yoshinobu graduated from the Faculty of Engineering at the University of Tokyo in 1942 (hereinafter referred to as "Tōdai") and then worked as an engineer in the Navy until the end of the war. He then worked in the studio of Sakakura Junzō (1904–1968). In 1953 he went to the USA, where he continued his education under Marcel Breuer . Back in Japan in 1954, he set up his own architecture office. His first major work was the building for Chūōkōron-Verlag in 1956, which was praised for its good balance between building and street area. In 1961 he was promoted to Dr. Ing. PhD. In 1970 he became a professor at Tōdai and in 1985 president of the "Japanese Society for Architecture" ( 日本 建築 学会 Nihon Kenchiku Gakkai ). He was a member of the Japanese Academy of Arts and was named "Meiyo Kyōju" by the Tōdai in 2003.

Ashihara advocated urban planning that focuses on people. His style is characterized by the clarity of the plan, combined with the preservation of social structures. His other works include the Nikkō ( 日 航 ) Hotel on Ginza in Tōkyō in 1959, the Takanodai campus of the Musashino Art School in 1964 and the Ginza Sony building in 1966. In 1984 he received the award for his design of the National Museum of Japanese History of the Academy of Arts . In 1991 he was honored as a person with special cultural merits , followed in 1998 as the crowning glory of the cultural medals .

In addition, Ashihara dealt with the translation and adoption of western theories of landscape design. For his contribution "Aesthetics of the streets" („ 並 み の 美学 Machinami no bigaku ) he received the Mainichi Culture Prize in 1949 .

Remarks

1. ↑ Meiyo Kyōju ( 名誉 教授 ), about "honorary professor " is a sparingly awarded honorary title. The term is sometimes incorrectly translated as “honorary professor”, which describes an employment relationship.

literature

• Tazawa, Yutaka: Ashihara Yoshinobu . In: Biographical Dictionary of Japanese Art. Kodansha International, 1981. ISBN 0-87011-488-3 .

Web links

Commons : Yoshinobu Ashihara  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Japanese name: As is common in Japan, the family name comes before the first name in this article . Thus Ashihara is the family name, Yoshinobu the first name.