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Sou Fujimoto Architects: The Latest Architecture and News

Sou Fujimoto Reveals Design for Torch Tower in Tokyo, Japan

Sou Fujimoto Architects has unveiled its design for the top part of the tallest skyscraper in Japan “Torch Tower” in Tokyo, collaborating mainly with Mitsubishi Jisho Sekkei, Inc. Standing tall at 390m, the highrise building planned to be ready by 2028, takes on a large plaza at around 300m, generating a space for people.

Oyler Wu Collaborative and Ren Lai Architects to Re-Envision the Kaohsiung Museum of Fine Arts in Taiwan

Oyler Wu Collaborative and Taiwanese partner Ren Lai Architects have won a competition to re-envision the Kaohsiung Museum of Fine Arts in Taiwan. Selected among finalists including Asif Khan with C.M.Chao Architects, Sou Fujimoto Architects with WSAA Design Team, and Liao Architects and Associates, the winning project proposes a newly renovated exterior that seeks to reconnect the building with its evolving context.

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Recent Images Highlight Completed Structure for Sou Fujimoto's House of Hungarian Music in Budapest, Hungary

The House of Hungarian Music, part of the Liget Budapest Project, has won the World's Best Use of Music in Property Development at the Music Cities Awards. Also selected as one of the top three Best European Development category, the intervention, designed by Sou Fujimoto is under construction on the former site of the demolished Hungexpo office buildings in Budapest, Hungary. Scheduled to open in 2021, the structure of the building is complete, and the iconic roof is taking shape, as well as the monumental glass walls, the largest of their kind in Europe.

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Architects, not Architecture - Virtual Event 03

The current global situation forces us to do all kinds of adjustments and we are seeing this as an opportunity to go out of our comfort zone and try something new. We are going online! This allows us to invite architects from different parts of the world and make it possible for you to get to know them from the “AnA perspective”, no matter where you are located. The first round of events will take place before mid-July. Join us!

Winners of the ArchDaily Building of the Year 2020 Awards

Winners of the ArchDaily Building of the Year 2020 Awards  - Featured Image

Another year, another successful ArchDaily Building of the Year Awards! With more than 95,000 votes gathered over the past 20 days, the results of the 2020 edition are in! Once more, the award has proved to be the largest architecture prize centered around people’s opinion. Crowdsourced, the most relevant projects of the year were both nominated and selected by our readers.

Sou Fujimoto and The Collective Design Co-Living Spaces in New York

The Collective, a global network of co-living that creates private spaces with communal facilities has announced its recent partnership with Sou Fujimoto Architects in New York City. Located in 1215 Fulton Street, in Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn, the building will start welcoming its first tenants in 2022.

Studying the "Manual of Section": Architecture's Most Intriguing Drawing

For Paul Lewis, Marc Tsurumaki and David J. Lewis, the section “is often understood as a reductive drawing type, produced at the end of the design process to depict structural and material conditions in service of the construction contract.” A definition that will be familiar to most of those who have studied or worked in architecture at some point. We often think primarily of the plan, for it allows us to embrace the programmatic expectations of a project and provide a summary of the various functions required. In the modern age, digital modelling software programs offer ever more possibilities when it comes to creating complex three dimensional objects, making the section even more of an afterthought.

With their Manual of Section (2016), the three founding partners of LTL architects engage with section as an essential tool of architectural design, and let’s admit it, this reading might change your mind on the topic. For the co-authors, “thinking and designing through section requires the building of a discourse about section, recognizing it as a site of intervention.” Perhaps, indeed, we need to understand the capabilities of section drawings both to use them more efficiently and to enjoy doing so.

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"The Future is a Spreading Matrix": In Conversation with Sou Fujimoto

This interview was originally published in Metropolis Magazine as "Inside the Mind of Sou Fujimoto."

Hokkaido-born Sou Fujimoto’s breakout masterpiece, the playful and cloud-like 2013 Serpentine Pavilion says a lot about who Fujimoto is and how he thinks about architecture. But even more so do the 100-plus sometimes painstakingly refined, sometimes roughly executed exploratory models that dot the minimalist gallery space of Japan House Los Angeles. This, his retrospective show, Futures of the Future, neatly reflects on Fujimoto’s career, which began when he opened his own Tokyo-and-Paris-based firm in 2000.

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Sou Fujimoto, Nicolas Laisné and Dimitri Roussel to Build 28,000 sqm "Village Vertical" in Grand Paris

Sou Fujimoto, Nicolas Laisné and Dimitri Roussel to Build 28,000 sqm "Village Vertical" in Grand Paris - Image 10 of 4
© Sou Fujimoto, Nicolas Laisné and Dimitri Roussel

Sou Fujimoto, Nicolas Laisné and Dimitri Roussel will be building a new gateway to the city of Rosny-sous-Bois in Grand Paris. Their project, Village Vertical, has been chosen as the winning proposal for the "Inventons la Métropole du Grand Paris" competition. The team includes landscape and urban designers from Atelier Georges and urban developers from La Compagnie de Phalsbourg and REI Habitat.

Sou Fujimoto, Nicolas Laisné and Dimitri Roussel to Build 28,000 sqm "Village Vertical" in Grand Paris - Featured ImageSou Fujimoto, Nicolas Laisné and Dimitri Roussel to Build 28,000 sqm "Village Vertical" in Grand Paris - Image 2 of 4Sou Fujimoto, Nicolas Laisné and Dimitri Roussel to Build 28,000 sqm "Village Vertical" in Grand Paris - Image 4 of 4Sou Fujimoto, Nicolas Laisné and Dimitri Roussel to Build 28,000 sqm "Village Vertical" in Grand Paris - Image 9 of 4Sou Fujimoto, Nicolas Laisné and Dimitri Roussel to Build 28,000 sqm Village Vertical in Grand Paris - More Images+ 6

How Sou Fujimoto Promotes Community By Uniting Seemingly Opposite Elements

This article was originally published by Redshift as "Architect Sou Fujimoto Has Radical Ideas for Familiar Communal Spaces."

The destruction wrought upon Ishinomaki by the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake and Tsunami damaged the city’s civic hall and cultural center beyond repair. To rebuild, Ishinomaki City wanted to create a landmark combining these two facilities into a new complex—one that would be like a city unto itself, serving the community.

In 2016, design proposals were screened in a process that included public presentations, with many locals participating. In the end, Sou Fujimoto, a leader among the next generation of Japan’s architects, was selected for his innovative design.

Sou Fujimoto Architects' Terracing Learning Center Wins Competition at University of St. Gallen in Switzerland

Sou Fujimoto Architects has been selected as the winner of a competition to design the new HSG Learning Center at the University of St. Gallen in Switzerland.

Chosen from a shortlist of 8 teams, Sou Fujimoto Architects’ proposal “Open Grid – Choices of Tomorrow” received the highest marks across the following criteria: architecture and urban planning, innovation in concept execution, functionality, sustainability and economic efficiency. According to the competition jury, the project was notable for its “highly developed didactic concept, compatibility with the district, architectural ambition and affordability.”

Sou Fujimoto Architects and AWAA Win Competition for Delta Tower in Brussels

The Japanese/Belgian team of Sou Fujimoto Architects and AWAA has been selected as the winners of an international competition for the design of a new tower to be located at a significant crossroads in the outer Brussels municipality of Auderghem.

Led by developer Unibra and construction company Thomas & Piron, the competition asked architects to propose a new mixed-use urban development of between 25,000 and 50,000 square meters that would activate the the prominent triangular site at the corner of the Herrmann-Debroux viaduct and the Boulevard du Triomphe.

Early renderings for the project show a series of sloping residential highrises growing out of a mixed-use podium, including one taller tower and a longer building featuring a concave roof. The various structures appear to be connected at key points via lightweight terraces housing plantings.

The Best Architect-Designed Pieces from Design Miami/ Basel 2017

With Design Miami/ Basel 2017 well underway (from June 13-18), ArchDaily has compiled a list of the best architect-designed furniture pieces on display at the event. This year, notable items include works by MAD Architects, Christ & Gantenbien, Trix & Robert Haussman, John Lautner, Jonathen Muecke, Jean Prouvé and Sou Fujimoto.

BIG, Adjaye Among 7 Shortlisted for Ross Pavilion Design Competition

The Ross Development Trust, in collaboration with the City of Edinburgh Council and Malcolm Reading Consultants, has announced the seven finalists teams that will compete for the design of the new Ross Pavilion in the heart of Edinburgh, Scotland. Located in West Princes Street Gardens below Edinburgh Castle and at the intersection of the UNESCO World Heritage recognized Old and New Towns, the £25 million project will feature a landmark pavilion to replace an existing bandstand, a visitors center with cafe, and a subtle reimagination of the surrounding landscape. The new pavilion will host a range of cultural arts programming.

From an entry pool of 125 teams, the following seven were unanimously selected to continue on to the second stage of the competition:

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Peter Zumthor Selected to Design Beyeler Foundation Expansion

The office of Peter Zumthor has been selected to design an expansion to the Beyeler Foundation, located just outside Zumthor’s childhood home of Basel, Switzerland. The Swiss architect was chosen from a prestigious shortlist of 11 firms to add to the existing museum building, designed by Renzo Piano Building Workshop and completed in 1997.

“The sky above Basel, the city and its surroundings–those are the landscapes of my youth,” said Zumthor. “It is heart-warming to be able to design a major building here.”

Sou Fujimoto Installs a "Forest of Light" for COS at 2016 Salone del Mobile

Photographer Laurian Ghinitoiu has captured the collaboration of the Swedish fashion retailer COS and Japanese architect Sou Fujimoto for this year's Salone del Mobile in Milan.

"In this installation for COS, I envisage to make a forest of light," said Fujimoto. "A forest which consists of countless light cones made from spotlights above. These lights pulsate and constantly undergo transience of state and flow. People meander through this forest, as if lured by the charm of the light. Light and people interact with one another, its existence defining the transition of the other."

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Sou Fujimoto and Laisné Roussel Propose Wooden Mixed-Use Tower for Bordeaux

Following an invitation by the city of Bordeaux in December 2015, Sou Fujimoto Architects and laisné roussel have revealed their proposal “Canopia”: a mixed-use development, featuring a 50-meter-tall residential building made of wood and offering 199 homes, 3,770m² of office space and 500m² of retail outlets in Bordeaux, France. The tower would be one of the tallest wooden buildings in the world. Read more about this project after the break.

Sou Fujimoto and Laisné Roussel Propose Wooden Mixed-Use Tower for Bordeaux - Sustainability, Facade, Balcony, ChairSou Fujimoto and Laisné Roussel Propose Wooden Mixed-Use Tower for Bordeaux - Sustainability, Garden, FacadeSou Fujimoto and Laisné Roussel Propose Wooden Mixed-Use Tower for Bordeaux - Sustainability, FacadeSou Fujimoto and Laisné Roussel Propose Wooden Mixed-Use Tower for Bordeaux - Sustainability, Garden, FacadeSou Fujimoto and Laisné Roussel Propose Wooden Mixed-Use Tower for Bordeaux - More Images+ 16

Sou Fujimoto to Create "Forest of Light" for Fashion Brand COS

Sou Fujimoto has been commissioned by Swedish clothing brand COS to design its installation for this year's Salone del Mobile in Milan. Taking place from April 12-17, the event will be the brand's fifth year participating.

"In this installation for COS, I envisage to make a forest of light," said Fujimoto. "A forest which consists of countless light cones made from spotlights above. These lights pulsate and constantly undergo transience of state and flow. People meander through this forest, as if lured by the charm of the light. Light and people interact with one another, its existence defining the transition of the other."