Fumihiko Maki has practiced architecture for six decades now. His firm, Maki and Associates, has designed iconic buildings both within Japan, including the Spiral Building in Tokyo¡¯s Aoyama district, and abroad, such as the 4 World Trade Center in New York. In 1993, he received the Pritzker Prize, architecture¡¯s highest honor. At the time, he was the second Japanese architect to have won the award, preceded only by his mentor Kenzo Tange who won it in 1987.
At a recent meeting in his Daikanyama office, I sat down with Maki to discuss ¡°City with a Hidden Past,¡± the first English edition of the landmark book ¡°Miegakure-suru Toshi.¡± Originally published more than 30 years ago, the book has gone through 21 printings in Japanese. Maki and his coauthors wrote it as a way to understand the hidden factors that make the seemingly inscrutable city of Tokyo legible. It is a guide to the city¡¯s idiosyncratic streets, the many layers of its urban facade, and the microtopology that brings a sense of place to its many neighborhoods.
How has Tokyo changed since the you first wrote ¡°City With a Hidden Past¡°?
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