Esoteric Survey

In June I went to visit  Mu  (1950) by Isamu Noguchi. It's hiding  on the third floor terrace on Keio University's Mita Campus in Tokyo. Shin Banraisha interior, Keio University, Tokyo, Japan Noguchi was invited to design a space within the Shin Banraisha, ''Building of Welcome," for Keiyo University in Tokyo. Also known as the Noguchi Room, it was a collaborative interior and garden space designed by Isamu Noguchi and architect Yoshirō Taniguchi. It was built between 1951-1952.   The room was as a memorial to his father, Yonejiro Noguchi—a poet and professor. A graduate of Keio University's Department of Literature, Yonejiro would teach there for forty years, before his death in 1947. Noguchi creating Mu (1950), which he created two of. Mu at an exhibition in Japan.  Source: Arts & Architecture, 1950  In addition to the room, Isamu designed his first garden, where Mu was installed.  Photo: Isamu Noguchi by Altshuler, Bruce 1961  Source:...

  The Imperial Hotel (1923-1968) by Frank Lloyd Wright was located in Tokyo. It was the second building by Wright at the Imperial Hotel site.  The first was a temporary annex he designed when the original hotel annex burned down. In 1913, after a couple years of correspondence with the hotel's owner, Aisaku Hayashi, Wright was asked to design and build a new larger structure to replace the main hotel. Construction started in 1919.  As you might recall from a  previous post , Antonin and Noémi Raymond worked on the project. Antonin was the project architect, and Noémi worked on decorative art design elements. Koichi Kitazawa and Kyosuke Matono were also architects working on the project under Antonin.  Rendering from 1923  Image:  Old Tokyo The new hotel, seen here, opened in 1923. By the 1960's the hotel was in disrepair. Most notably was the deterioration of the carved oya stone Wright used for the Maya revival elements. In 1968, despite attempts...

Hotel Il Palazzo by Aldo Rossi and Morris Adjmi (1989) with the original interior design by Shigeru Uchida. Located in Fukuoka, Japan. Uchida was actually commissioned to design the hotel and called on Rossi to do the architectural design while Uchida did the interior.   It's a post-modern icon and is seen as one of Rossi's most important projects.  Here is the original 1989 design by Shigeru Uchida.   Photo: Nacása & Partners Inc The hotel has changed hands at least couple times over the years. The original furniture was sold off long ago and for very cheap according to a collector friend in Japan.   Photo: Nacása & Partners Inc This is what one of the original Japanese style rooms looked like. All the rooms are western style rooms now as far as I know.  Photo: Nacása & Partners Inc The latest redesign was done by Uchida Design Studio in 2021, since Uchida passed away  in 2016. It's great that they went back to his firm. ...