Riken Yamamoto

"one of the things we need most in the future of cities is to create conditions through architecture that multiply the opportunities for people to come together and interact. By carefully blurring the boundary between public and private, Yamamoto contributes positively beyond the brief to enable community. He is a reassuring architect who brings dignity to everyday life. Normality becomes extraordinary. Calmness leads to splendour.“
--Jury Chair Architect Alejandro Aravena
Riken Yamamoto is a Japanese architect. In 2024, he received the Pritzker Architecture Prize, becoming the 9th Japanese architect to receive such honour.
Born: 1945, Beijing, China
Nationality: Japanese
Alma mater:
Nihon University, Tokyo University of the Arts
Occupation: Architect
Awards:
Architectural Institute of Japan Award
Pritzker Architecture Pritzker Prize
Early life and education:
Yamamoto was born to Japanese parents in Beijing, China. His parents had moved from Japan to China for his father's work as an engineer. In 1947, the family returned to a Japan devastated by World War II. In 1949, after his father's death when he was four, Yamamoto moved to his mother's hometown of Yokohama.
In 1967 he completed his bachelor's degree from Nihon University and in 1971 his master's degree from the Tokyo University of the Arts. Afterwards he continued his studies at the University of Tokyo under Hiroshi Hara.
Career:
Yamamoto founded the Yamamoto & Field Shop Co. Ltd in 1973.
From 2000 to 2011 he was a professor at Yokohama National University and at the Graduate school of Engineering of the Nihon University. As of 2015 he taught at his alma mater Nihon University.
Some of his most representative works are the Rotunda Building (Yokohama, 1981); the Hamlet Building (Tokio, Shibuya-Ku, 1988), or the apartment blocks Ryukoentoshi (Yokohama, 1992).
Design philosophy:
Riken Yamamoto believes in the concept of transparency, in need for the space to reflect its functionality.
The principle of integrating buildings into the landscape of the surroundings and attaining harmony with the environment is also emphasised upon.
He claims that the distribution of spaces determines the character of the building, which in turn reveal the relation of the building with the exterior.
Yamamoto’s notion is that buildings should enhance their social contexts and work to facilitate community.
Awards:
The Japan Institute of Architects Award for the Yokosuka Museum of Art (2010)
Building Contractors Society Prize for the Namics Techno Core (2010),
Building Contractors Society Prize for the Yokosuka Museum of Art (2008) or the 25th Fukushima Architecture Culture Award,
highest award for the Fukushima ecoms Pavilion, SUS Fukushima Factory (2007).
Pritzker Architecture Prize 2024.
Notable works:
1977: Yamakawa Villa.. ...
1986: GAZEBO.. ...
1991: Hotakubo Housing.. ...
1996: Iwadeyama Junior High School. ...
1999: Saitama Prefectural University.. ...
2000: Hiroshima Nishi Fire Station. ...
2000: Future University of Hakodate. ...
Shinonome Canal Court CODAN.
2004: Ecoms House, Japan,
2004: Jian Wai SOHO, China
2005: Future University Hakodate Research Building, Hokkaido; SUSTRG Office Project, Fukushima
2007: Yokosuka Museum of Art, Kanagawa Prefecture
2008: Namics Techno Core, Niigata; Guan Yuan Housing, Beijing; Dragon Lily's House, Gunma
2008: Fussa City Hall, Japan,
2009: Utsunomiya University Centre for Optics Research Tochigi
2010: Pangyo Housing, South Korea,
2012: Tianjin Library
2018: The Circle at Zürich Airport
2018: Koyasu Elementary School, Japan,
2022: Nagoya Zokei University, Japan,
Quotes:
“I suggest to students to create a new system for residents to live in community rather than in isolation.”
“The threshold on one side was for family, and on the other side for community. I sat in between.”