Maekawa Kunio: Prefabrication and Wooden Modernism 1945-1951

Abstract

This paper examines the Japanese architect Maekawa Kunio’s works and practices during the years immediately after the end of WWII. As an acclaimed advocate of modernism and in the face of the devastation in the wake of the war, Maekawa embarked on a series of noteworthy architectural projects creatively translating his knowledge of European modernism into the social contexts of his native soil. Exploring scarce material resources and responding to the severe housing shortage after the war, Maekawa’s intervention included the production of various wooden buildings with cutting-edge modernist aesthetics as well as innovative prefabricated houses: both were inspired by his study with the French architect Le Corbusier (1887-1965).

Keywords

• Maekawa Kunio
• Wooden Modernism
• Prefabricated
• Construction
• PREMOS
• WWII
• Japanese Architecture