Hiroyuki Suzuki (architectural historian)

Hiroyuki Suzuki (鈴木 博之, Suzuki Hiroyuki, May 14, 1945 – February 3, 2014) was a prominent Japanese architectural historian who also established a reputation abroad.

For most of his career Suzuki was Professor of the History of Architecture at the University of Tokyo (1974-2009), and for a period was also Chairman of Tokyo University's Graduate School of Architecture.[1] Later in life he joined the faculty of the School of Cultural and Creative Studies at Aoyama University. He was the author of over a dozen books and countless articles in Japanese, but was best known to English readers as the co-author (with Reyner Banham and Kobayashi Katsuhiro) of Contemporary Architecture of Japan, 1958-1984 (New York: Rizzoli, 1985) and Shuhei Endo: Paramodern Architecture (Phaidon Press, 2006),[2] among others.

His Japanese-language scholarship ranged from research on such prominent Meiji-period figures as Josiah Conder[3] and Itō Chūta (伊東忠太),[4] to many works on contemporary Tokyo, a city to which he was strongly attached. He was among the first architectural historians inside or outside Japan to focus on Meiji and Taisho-period architects and architecture, and argue for continuities between this and the later post-war period when Japanese 'modern' architecture became globally influential.[5]

Suzuki was a strong proponent of preserving "modern", and not just "traditional" Japanese architecture, and did not shy from wading into development controversies.[6] As chairman of the Japanese branch of the Paris-based conservation group Docomomo International, he oversaw drafting of a list of 135 "modern" Japanese structures worthy of protection.[7] He was a prominent member of the Architectural Consortium that in 2012 received the World Monuments Fund / Knoll Modernism Prize for saving and restoring the Hizuchi Elementary School in Shikoku, designed by Masatsune Matsumura in the late 1950s.[1] He also consulted on the restoration of Tokyo Station.[8]

For twelve years (1996-2008) Suzuki was one of three members of the Ad Hoc Group of Experts at the Coordinating Committee of Angkor (ICC), advising the Cambodian government on the preservation of Angkor Wat[2]

Among many honors, Suzuki was a recipient of Japan's Medal of Honor (褒章 hōshō) with Purple Ribbon for his service to scholarship.

References

  1. ^ "On the Record". Archived from the original on 2016-03-04. Retrieved 2014-02-09.
  2. ^ Suzuki Hiroyuki, ed.,Shuhei Endo: Paramodern Architecture (Phaidon Press, 2006)
  3. ^ Hiroyuki Suzuki, "The Business Practices of the Architect Josiah Conder - Focusing on the Takanawa Residence of Iwasaki Yanosuke" in K. Kawanabe et al, Josiah Conder: A Victorian Architect in Japan (Exhibition Catalogue)Tokyo: East Japan Railway Cultural Foundation, 1997
  4. ^ 伊東忠太を知っていますか 王国社 2003
  5. ^ Reyner Banham, Suzuki Hiroyuki, and Kobayashi Katsuhiro, Contemporary Architecture of Japan, 1958-1984 (New York: Rizzoli, 1985)
  6. ^ "Tokyo's demolition drama". 26 November 2008.
  7. ^ "Urban struggle: Tokyo's tussle with preservation of architecture". 12 June 2009.
  8. ^ Obituary, Mainichi Shinbun, Feb. 6, 2014