Kunio Mayekawa

Kunio Maekawa
Maekawa House in the Edo-Tokyo Open Air Architectural Museum
Born	14 May 1905 Niigata, Niigata
Died	26 June 1986
Nationality	Japan
Occupation	Architect
Practice	Mayekawa Kumio Associates
Buildings	The National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo

Kunio Maekawa (前川 國男, Maekawa Kunio, 14 May 1905 – 26 June 1986) was a Japanese architect especially known for the Tokyo Bunka Kaikan building, and a key figure of modern Japanese architecture.

Kunio Mayekawa was born in 1905 in Niigata Prefecture in Japan. He entered First Tokyo Middle School in 1918, and then Tokyo Imperial University in 1925. After graduation in 1928, he travelled to France to apprentice with Le Corbusier. In 1930 he returned to Japan and worked with Antonin Raymond (a student of Frank Lloyd Wright), and in 1935 established his own office Mayekawa Kunio Associates. His own house has been described as his starting point, in which he brought the idea of piloti inside the house, to create a two-storey space. The original house has been dismantled and relocated to the Edo-Tokyo Open Air Architectural Museum.

In 1955 he designed and build his first project: the Kanagawa Concert Hall and Library. His perhaps most famous work, the Tokyo Bunka Kaikan, located in Tokyo's Ueno Park was completed in 1961. The building contains a main, large concert hall, a recital hall, as well as a rehearsal room and a music library.

Kanagawa Prefectural Library and Music Hall, Yokohama (1954)

The International House of Japan, Tokyo (1955)

Fukushima Education Center, Fukushima (1956)

Setagaya Ward Office

Tokio Marine & Nichido Fire Insurance Head Office (1974)