The Umbrella House Project is the smallest residential house by Japanese architect and mathematician Kazuo Shinohara (1925-2006). This book tells the story of his unique masterpiece, first built in Tokyo in 1961. More than sixty years later, a stroke of luck made it possible to save The Umbrella House Project from demolition and move it to its current location.
The post and beam structure of the wooden house references traditional Japanese house and temple architecture. Japanese and European experts supervised the dismantling of the house in Tokyo and its reassembly in Weil am Rhein.
The book traces the Umbrella House’s long journey through generous illustrations, including impressions of 1960s Japan, architectural designs and plans, and photographs documenting the dismantling and reassembly of the house or showing it in its new location. Texts by Ryue Nishizawa (SANAA), Shin-ichi Okuyama and David B. Stewart discuss the Umbrella House against the background of Japanese architectural discourse between 1960 and the present.
The strength of my belief that `A House is a Work of Art’ was born from my struggle with this small house. Located in the doma (earthen floor room) of an old Japanese farmhouse, I wanted to express the power of space, this time through the geometric structural design of the karakasa (Japanese umbrella made of oiled paper). Umbrella House was published in the Japanese architectural journal Shinkenchiku in October 1962 (vol. 37, no. 10; first published in English in The Japan Architect, vol. 38, no. 2 in February 1963).
- Hardcover, screen printing
- 18 × 25 cm, 0.38 KG
- 120 pages, approx. 80 images
Language: English
