ABSTRACT
In 1993, the International Union of Architects commissioned an international study of change in private practice. The UIA report on Japan, written by Weld Coxe and Mary Hayden, argued that architectural practice there ". . . runs the entire range of options found elsewhere in the world."1 It is not that Japan offers a completely different model for practice. Rather, it encompasses a range of opportunities for designers, some more familiar to readers in one community than another. The breadth available to architects, however, is notable and worthy of study. There is no Single accepted model for practice; the organizations that offer architectural services have a number of different corporate structures and support a diversity of approaches to practice. Construction firms handle about 40 per cent of all building. design in Japan, from detached Single-family homes to soaring office towers, as part of design-build packages. Independent architectural firms, ranging from small, Single-principal studios to some of the field's largest corporate entities, do the remaining 60 per cent.
