MAKI OPUS

Maki Opus is the definitive book showcasing the life and work of the Japanese architect Fumihiko Maki, known for designing understated yet boundary-pushing buildings in Japan and around the world. At four hundred pages and including one thousand illustrations, this impressive volume on Maki’s work was compiled in close collaboration with his studio both before and after his passing. MAKI OPUS brings together the architect’s own selection of the buildings that have best exemplified his career and seen him pave the way for the next wave of superlative Japanese architects, such as Kengo Kuma and SANAA. Featuring fifty buildings from 1960 to the present day, the book reconsiders Maki’s work in light of his use of materials, changes in building technology, and his relationship with the world outside Japan. In this book, Maki’s team throws open the practice’s archives to find photographs and drawings never before seen in print, allowing the reader a fresh look at his best-known projects. Maki was truly an architect’s architect, respected throughout the industry for his technical innovation and his deep understanding of how people use and experience buildings. Architecture students will find inspiration in his early years starting out under the tutelage of Kenzo Tange, while a general architecture–interested audience will enjoy vibrant full-color photography of his lauded, understated, and much copied style, described by many as the “architecture of simplicity.”