Architecture—Modern Japan

Architecture—Modern Japan

In the mid-nineteenth century, the profession of architecture was introduced to Japan from abroad, and the first architects were trained to use Western historical styles in their work. At the beginning of the twentieth century, however, the architect and architectural historian Ito Chuta (1867–1954) undertook to develop a modern local architecture, defining Asian traditions stylistically and through proportion. Ito remained tied to historical eclecticism. He moved comfortably between quasi-Japanese forms, illustrated by his Earthquake Memorial Hall (1930), and European styles, exemplified by his neo-Renaissance Kanematsu Lecture Hall at Hitotsubashi University (1927). However, his greatest impact was in encouraging the.....

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