ABSTRACT
This chapter talks about six architects namely, Tadao Ando, Itsuko Hasagawa, Toyo Ito, Riken Yamamoto, Chiaki Arai and Shin Takamatsu. Of all of the members, Shin Takamatsu undoubtedly presents the most opaque aesthetic face to Western sensibilities. After many small local successes, each architect of note can usually point to one commission that brings them global fame, and for Toyo Ito that happened in Miyagi Prefecture in 2001, with the Sendai Mediatheque, in Sendai City. Yamamoto approached the question of improving social housing from the wider vantage point of how to restructure the city itself to make it more habitable, including inter-relationships between housing units, and the amenities needed to create a sense of community. While there are notable exceptions, such as his impressive restoration of the Warehouse district in Yokohama into shops and restaurants in 2002, Arai has concentrated mainly on the highly technical task of designing Cultural and Community Centers since 1995.
