ARCHITECT

Kunio Maekawa

1905 - 1986

Photo of Kunio Maekawa

Icon of person Kunio Maekawa

Kunio Maekawa (前川 國男, Maekawa Kunio; 14 May 1905 – 26 June 1986) was a Japanese architect and a key figure in Japanese postwar modernism. After early stints in the studios of Le Corbusier and Antonin Raymond, Maekawa began to articulate his architectural language after establishing his firm in 1935, maintaining a continuous tension between Japanese traditional design and European modernism throughout his career. Firmly insistent that both civic and vernacular architecture should be rendered through a modernist lens appropriate to the contemporary lifestyle of the Japanese people, Maekawa's early work and competition entries consistently pushed back against the dominant Imperial Crown Style. His postwar prefab housing projects borrowed from manufacturing strategies in the automotive industry to create houses that privileged light, ventilation, and openness against the feudal hierarchical principles perpetuated by the interior divisions found in traditional Japanese homes. Read more on Wikipedia

His biography is available in different languages on Wikipedia. Kunio Maekawa is the 378th most popular architect (up from 392nd in 2019), the 1,193rd most popular biography from Japan (down from 1,178th in 2019) and the 9th most popular Japanese Architect.

Memorability Metrics

Loading...

Page views of Kunio Maekawa by language

Loading...

Among ARCHITECTS

Among architects, Kunio Maekawa ranks 378 out of 518. Before him are Charles Cameron, Fernand de Montigny, Wang Shu, Daniel Burnham, John Douglas, and Lars Sonck. After him are Rudolf Wolters, Herman Sörgel, Martin Gropius, Juan de Villanueva, Walter Burley Griffin, and Arturo Soria y Mata.

Most Popular Architects in Wikipedia

Go to all Rankings
Load previousLoad previous

Contemporaries

Among people born in 1905, Kunio Maekawa ranks 243. Before him are Floyd Gottfredson, Juan O'Gorman, Vicente Trueba, José Tapia, Hadiya Davletshina, and Mikio Oda. After him are Antonio Berni, Konstanty Ildefons Gałczyński, Johannes Käbin, Walther Müller, Erskine Hamilton Childers, and Vladimír Holan. Among people deceased in 1986, Kunio Maekawa ranks 177. Before him are Floyd Gottfredson, Jacques Plante, Lars-Erik Larsson, Hal B. Wallis, Annemarie Selinko, and Vicente Trueba. After him are Gerhard Rohlfs, Daniel Balavoine, Nils Ramm, Michal Vičan, Ernst Haas, and Oldřich Lipský.

Others Born in 1905

Go to all Rankings
Load previousLoad previous

Others Deceased in 1986

Go to all Rankings
Load previousLoad previous

In Japan

Among people born in Japan, Kunio Maekawa ranks 1,193 out of 6,245. Before him are Mikio Oda (1905), Kenji Miyamoto (1908), Tomoko Ohara (1957), Tomoyasu Asaoka (1962), Iccho Itoh (1945), and Utagawa Toyokuni (1769). After him are Kishin Shinoyama (1940), Takuma Sato (1977), Yukitaka Omi (1952), Yoko Tawada (1960), Yūjirō Ishihara (1934), and Takehito Koyasu (1967).

Others born in Japan

Go to all Rankings
Load previousLoad previous

Among ARCHITECTS In Japan

Among architects born in Japan, Kunio Maekawa ranks 9. Before him are Arata Isozaki (1931), Fumihiko Maki (1928), Kisho Kurokawa (1934), Shigeru Ban (1957), Kazuyo Sejima (1956), and Kengo Kuma (1954). After him are Kiyonori Kikutake (1928), and Ryue Nishizawa (1966).

Japanese born Architects

Go to all Rankings
Load previousLoad previous