The Most Famous

ARCHITECTS from Japan

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This page contains a list of the greatest Japanese Architects. The pantheon dataset contains 518 Architects, 10 of which were born in Japan. This makes Japan the birth place of the 11th most number of Architects behind Austria, and Netherlands.

Top 10

The following people are considered by Pantheon to be the top 10 most legendary Japanese Architects of all time. This list of famous Japanese Architects is sorted by HPI (Historical Popularity Index), a metric that aggregates information on a biography’s online popularity. Visit the rankings page to view the entire list of Japanese Architects.

Photo of Tadao Ando

1. Tadao Ando (b. 1941)

With an HPI of 67.85, Tadao Ando is the most famous Japanese Architect.  His biography has been translated into 48 different languages on wikipedia.

Tadao Ando (安藤 忠雄, Andō Tadao, born 13 September 1941) is a Japanese autodidact architect whose approach to architecture and landscape was categorized by architectural historian Francesco Dal Co as "critical regionalism". He is the winner of the 1995 Pritzker Prize.

Photo of Kenzō Tange

2. Kenzō Tange (1913 - 2005)

With an HPI of 66.91, Kenzō Tange is the 2nd most famous Japanese Architect.  His biography has been translated into 63 different languages.

Kenzō Tange (丹下 健三, Tange Kenzō, 4 September 1913 – 22 March 2005) was a Japanese architect, and winner of the 1987 Pritzker Prize for Architecture. He was one of the most significant architects of the 20th century, combining traditional Japanese styles with modernism, and designed major buildings on five continents. His career spanned the entire second half of the twentieth century, producing numerous distinctive buildings in Tokyo, other Japanese cities and cities around the world, as well as ambitious physical plans for Tokyo and its environments. Tange was also an influential patron of the Metabolist movement. Influenced from an early age by the Swiss modernist Le Corbusier, Tange gained international recognition in 1949 when he won the competition for the design of Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park. He was a member of CIAM (Congres Internationaux d'Architecture Moderne) in the 1950s. Tange handled urban redevelopment projects after World War II. His ideas were explored in designs for Tokyo and Skopje. Tange's work influenced a generation of architects across the world.

Photo of Arata Isozaki

3. Arata Isozaki (1931 - 2022)

With an HPI of 62.12, Arata Isozaki is the 3rd most famous Japanese Architect.  His biography has been translated into 40 different languages.

Arata Isozaki (磯崎 新, Isozaki Arata; 23 July 1931 – 28 December 2022) was a Japanese architect, urban designer, and theorist from Ōita. He was awarded the Royal Gold Medal in 1986 and the Pritzker Architecture Prize in 2019. He taught at Columbia University, Harvard University, and Yale University.

Photo of Fumihiko Maki

4. Fumihiko Maki (1928 - 2024)

With an HPI of 57.65, Fumihiko Maki is the 4th most famous Japanese Architect.  His biography has been translated into 34 different languages.

Fumihiko Maki (槇 文彦, Maki Fumihiko, 6 September 1928 – 6 June 2024) was a Japanese architect. In 1993, he received the Pritzker Prize for his work, which often explores pioneering uses of new materials and fuses the cultures of east and west. Maki died on 6 June 2024, at the age of 95.

Photo of Kisho Kurokawa

5. Kisho Kurokawa (1934 - 2007)

With an HPI of 57.48, Kisho Kurokawa is the 5th most famous Japanese Architect.  His biography has been translated into 27 different languages.

Kisho Kurokawa (黒川 紀章, Kurokawa Kishō) (April 8, 1934 – October 12, 2007) was a leading Japanese architect and one of the founders of the Metabolist Movement.

Photo of Shigeru Ban

6. Shigeru Ban (b. 1957)

With an HPI of 56.07, Shigeru Ban is the 6th most famous Japanese Architect.  His biography has been translated into 31 different languages.

Shigeru Ban (坂 茂, Ban Shigeru, born 5 August 1957) is a Japanese architect, known for his innovative work with paper, particularly recycled cardboard tubes used to quickly and efficiently house disaster victims. Many of his notable designs are structures which are temporary, prefabricated, or incorporate inexpensive and unconventional materials in innovative ways. He was profiled by Time magazine in their projection of 21st-century innovators in the field of architecture and design. In 2014, Ban was named the 37th recipient of the Pritzker Architecture Prize, the most prestigious prize in modern architecture. The Pritzker Jury cited Ban for his innovative use of material and his dedication to humanitarian efforts around the world, calling him "a committed teacher who is not only a role model for younger generation, but also an inspiration."

Photo of Kazuyo Sejima

7. Kazuyo Sejima (b. 1956)

With an HPI of 55.47, Kazuyo Sejima is the 7th most famous Japanese Architect.  Her biography has been translated into 35 different languages.

Kazuyo Sejima (妹島 和世, Sejima Kazuyo, born 29 October 1956) is a Japanese architect and director of her own firm, Kazuyo Sejima & Associates. In 1995, she co-founded the firm SANAA (Sejima + Nishizawa & Associates). In 2010, Sejima was the second woman to receive the Pritzker Prize, which was awarded jointly with Nishizawa. They were only the second partnership to be honored with this prize.

Photo of Kengo Kuma

8. Kengo Kuma (b. 1954)

With an HPI of 54.15, Kengo Kuma is the 8th most famous Japanese Architect.  His biography has been translated into 23 different languages.

Kengo Kuma (隈 研吾, Kuma Kengo, born August 8, 1954) is a Japanese architect and emeritus professor in the Department of Architecture (Graduate School of Engineering) at the University of Tokyo. Frequently compared to contemporaries Shigeru Ban and Kazuyo Sejima, Kuma is also noted for his prolific writings. He is the designer of the Japan National Stadium in Tokyo, which was built for the 2020 Summer Olympics. He is married to architect Satoko Shinohara, and they have one son, Taichi, also an architect. He is an advisor for Kitakyushu-city in Japan.

Photo of Kunio Maekawa

9. Kunio Maekawa (1905 - 1986)

With an HPI of 49.04, Kunio Maekawa is the 9th most famous Japanese Architect.  His biography has been translated into 18 different languages.

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 own architectural language after establishing his own 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.: 142  He is particularly known for his designs of the Tokyo Bunka Kaikan and the National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo, as well as the Tokyo Kaijo Building, a 25-story tall skyscraper that became the flashpoint for the bikan ronso debates in 1970s Tokyo surrounding urban beautification and building height regulation. Many noted modernist architects began their careers in Maekawa's office, including Kenzō Tange and Miho Hamaguchi. His home (and one-time office), which he designed and completed in 1942, has been preserved and permanently installed in the Edo-Tokyo Open Air Architectural Museum.

Photo of Kiyonori Kikutake

10. Kiyonori Kikutake (1928 - 2011)

With an HPI of 46.76, Kiyonori Kikutake is the 10th most famous Japanese Architect.  His biography has been translated into 15 different languages.

Kiyonori Kikutake (菊竹 清訓, Kikutake Kiyonori) (April 1, 1928 – December 26, 2011) was a prominent Japanese architect known as one of the founders of the Japanese Metabolist group. He was also the tutor and employer of several important Japanese architects, such as Toyo Ito, Shōzō Uchii and Itsuko Hasegawa.

People

Pantheon has 11 people classified as Japanese architects born between 1905 and 1966. Of these 11, 5 (45.45%) of them are still alive today. The most famous living Japanese architects include Tadao Ando, Shigeru Ban, and Kazuyo Sejima. The most famous deceased Japanese architects include Kenzō Tange, Arata Isozaki, and Fumihiko Maki. As of April 2024, 1 new Japanese architects have been added to Pantheon including Kiyonori Kikutake.

Living Japanese Architects

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Deceased Japanese Architects

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Newly Added Japanese Architects (2024)

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Overlapping Lives

Which Architects were alive at the same time? This visualization shows the lifespans of the 5 most globally memorable Architects since 1700.