Pritzker Prize-winning Japanese architect Arata Isozaki has passed away at his home on the prefecture of Okinawa, aged 91.
Isozaki died on 28 December 2022 of “natural causes,” a statement from his office read. A private funeral service was held for close relatives only.
Isozaki was born in Oita, Japan, in 1931, and studied architecture and engineering at the University of Tokyo, graduating in 1954 before completing his doctoral program at the same university in 1961. He maintained that his path to architecture was deeply influenced by the destruction he witnessed in the Hiroshima bombings during World War II, when he was just 14 years old.
MOMA Gunma, Japan, opened 1974.
Image: Yasuhiro Ishimoto
“My first experience of architecture was the void of architecture, and I began to consider how people might rebuild their homes and cities,” Isozaki said during his Pritzker Prize acceptance speech in 2019. The 46th recipient of the prestigious prize, Isozaki was also awarded the RIBA Royal Gold Medal in 1986 and the Leone d’Oro at the Venice Architectural Biennale in 1996.
Isozaki leaves behind a six-decade career in architecture, with more than 100 buildings to his name across Asia, Europe, North America, the Middle East and Australia, including the Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles (1986), Kitakyushu Central Library in Fukuoka (1974), and Ark Nova with artist Anish Kapoor (2013).
His style “defies categorization,” the Pritzker jury said, embracing the avant-garde and frequently challenging the status quo. His buildings, written works, exhibitions and lectures have had a notable impact on the industry across both the East and the West, and he is often cited as the first Japanese architect to forge a deep and lasting relationship between the two cultures.
The 2019 jury described Isozaki as “a versatile, influential, and truly international architect.”
