Kisho Kurokawa (黒川 紀章, Kurokawa Kishō) (April 8, 1934 – October 12, 2007) was a leading Japanese architect and a founder of the Metabolist Movement.
Born in Kanie, Aichi, Kurokawa studied architecture at Kyoto University, graduating with a bachelor's degree in 1957. He then attended University of Tokyo, where he studied under the supervision of architect Kenzo Tange, a major figure in postwar Japanese architecture and a key influence on the development of the Metabolist Movement. Under Tange's supervision, Kurokawa completed and received a master's degree in 1959 and was exposed to experimental urban design concepts that would later shape his work. Kurokawa then went on to study for a doctorate of philosophy, but subsequently dropped out in 1964. Kisho Kurokawa was conferred an Honorary Doctorate of Architecture by the Chancellor of Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM), Malaysia in Sept. 7, 2002.
Kurokawa had a daughter and a son from his first marriage to his college classmate. His second marriage was to Ayako Wakao (若尾 文子 Wakao Ayako), Kurokawa's younger brother works in industrial design but has also cooperated with Kurokawa on some architecture projects.
Kurokawa founded Kisho Kurokawa Architect & Associates in 1962. The firm became an important platform for this architectural work, producing a wide range of projects including cultural institutions, museums, airports, and large-scale urban developments across Asia and Europe. Through this practice, Kurokawa used his theoretical ideas about modularity, adaptability, and sustainability to built projects. The enterprise's head office is in Tokyo with branch offices in Osaka, Nagoya, Astana, Kuala Lumpur, Beijing and Los Angeles. The company is registered with the Japanese government as a "First Class Architects Office."
Although he had practiced the concept of sustainable and eco-minded architecture for four decades, Kisho Kurokawa became more adamant about environmental protection in his latter years. In 2007, he ran for governor of Tokyo and then for a seat in the House of Councillors in the 2007 Japanese House of Councillors election. Although not elected, Kisho Kurokawa successfully established the Green Party to help provide environmental protection. Also in 2007, Kurokawa created the structure of the Anaheim University Kisho Kurokawa Green Institute, which helps to develop environmentally-conscious business practices. Kurokawa was a stakeholder and founding Chair of the Executive Advisory Board of the Anaheim, California-based university since 1998 and his wife Ayako Wakao-Kurokawa serves as Honorary Chairman of the institute.
Kurokawa wrote extensively on philosophy and architecture and lectured widely. He wrote that there are two traditions inherent in any culture: the visible and the invisible. His work, he claimed, carried the invisible tradition of Japan. In 1972, he received a grant from the Graham Foundation to deliver a lecture at the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago.
While Kurokawa's architecture, particularly within Metabolism, does not explicitly follow traditional Japanese forms, some scholars argue that it retains elements of Japanese aesthetics. However, it is difficult to claim that the modern technologies and material he called on was inherited from the Japanese tradition and that the traditional forms of Japanese architecture can be recognized in his contemporary concrete or steel towers. Some architectural critics suggest that Kurokawa's designs evolved from Japanese traditions, incorporating elements of Japanese aesthetics.
His architecture focused on keeping traditional Japanese concepts invisible, especially materiality, impermanence, receptivity and detail. Kurokawa specifically referred to these four factors in his discussions of new wave Japanese Architecture.
He died of heart failure on October 12, 2007; he was 73.
With colleagues, he cofounded the Metabolist Movement in 1960, whose members were known as Metabolists. It was a radical Japanese avant-garde movement pursuing the merging and recycling of architecture styles within an Asian context. The movement was widely recognized, peaking when its members received praise for the Takara Cotillion Beautillion at the Osaka World Expo 1970. The group was dismantled shortly thereafter.
Kurokawa noted that, with the exception of Kyoto and Kanazawa, most Japanese cities were destroyed during World War II. When Western cities are destroyed, brick and stone remained as proof of their past existence. Kurokawa noted that Japan's cities, primarily built from wood and natural materials, were more susceptible to destruction by fire. He also noted that both Edo (now Tokyo) and Kyoto were almost entirely destroyed during several battles of the Warring States period in the 15th and 16th centuries. The shifting of power caused parts of Japan to be destroyed. On the same note, historically speaking, Japan's cities have almost yearly been hit with natural disasters such as earthquakes, typhoons, floods and volcanic eruptions. This continuous destruction of buildings and cities has given the Japanese population, in Kurokawa's words, “an uncertainty about existence, a lack of faith in the visible, a suspicion of the eternal.”
In addition, the four seasons are very clearly marked in Japan, and the changes through the year are dramatic. Time, then, in Japanese culture is a precious entity that forces every candle, every being, every entity to fade at one point in time. The idea that buildings and cities should seem as natural as possible and that they should be in harmony with the rest of nature, since it is only temporarily there, helped create the tradition of making buildings and cities of “temporary” structure.
This idea of impermanence was reflected in Kurokawa's work during the Metabolism Movement. Buildings were built to be removable, interchangeable and adaptable. The concept of impermanence influenced his work toward open systems, both in time and space.
Kurokawa explains that the Japanese tried to exploit the natural textures and colors of materials used in a building. The traditional tea room was intentionally built of only natural materials such as earth and sand, paper, the stems and leaves of plants, and small trees. Trees from a person's own backyard were preferred for the necessary timbers. All artificial colors were avoided, and the natural colors and texture of materials were shown to their best advantage. This honesty in materials stemmed from the idea that nature is already beautiful in itself. The Japanese feel that food tastes better, wood looks better, materials are better when natural. There is a belief that maximum enjoyment comes from the natural state.
Kurokawa's designs often highlighted the natural properties of materials, a characteristic observed in his treatment of iron, aluminum, and concrete. The tradition of honesty of materiality is present in Kurokawa's capsule building. In it, he showed technology with “no artificial colors." The capsule, escalator unit, elevator unit and pipe and ductwork were all exterior and exposed. Kurokawa opened structures and made no attempt to hide the connective elements, believing that beauty was inherent in each of the individual parts. This approach emphasized the exposure of materials, which some critics regard as an authentic representation of materiality in design.
The notion of receptivity is a crucial Japanese idea—possibly a “tradition." Kurokawa stated that Japan is a small country. For more than a thousand years, the Japanese had an awareness of neighboring China and Korea and, in the modern age, Portugal, Great Britain and America, to name a few. The only way for a small country like Japan to avoid being attacked by these empires was to make continuous attempts to absorb foreign cultures for study and, while establishing friendly relations with the larger nations, preserve its own identity. This receptivity is the aspect that allowed Japan to grow from a farming island into an imperial nation, first using Chinese political systems and Chinese advancement, then Western techniques and knowledge. Japan experienced significant industrial and political changes, culminating in its involvement in World War II. Following the war, Japan incorporated elements of American culture and technology into its post-war rebuilding efforts.