World-famous architect Shoei Yoh ’66 lives the liberal arts as he draws on interests in economics, art and natural phenomena as building blocks for design. “The synchronization and harmony of man, nature and technology is the basis of all of my projects.”
By Leigh Hall ’13
Travel along the coast of Fukuoka, Japan, away from the bustling megalopolis of Tokyo, and one structure rises above the rest: a glass house, suspended 140 meters above sea level. Jutting from the cliff and balancing on the horizon, the glass house is home to one of the world’s leading architects, Shoei Yoh.
Described as one of the “most motivating architects of Japan,” Yoh has inspired the world for more than three decades with his innovative designs, which promote harmony between nature and humanity.
Yoh’s connection to Wittenberg University began at age 12, when an alumnus taught a class at his junior high school in Kumamoto City, Japan. Years later, while studying economics at Keio Gijuku University of Tokyo, Yoh crossed paths with several more alumni who knew Don Dunifon, the late professor of art and an expert in architectural restoration and interior design.
“The reason why I came to the states was that when I was working in Tokyo, I was struck by interior design,” Yoh explains. “And I hated architects because architects always say, ‘This is the regulation, this is the budget. So limited.’ That’s what they always say. So there’s no freedom or liberty to design. But design has no limit, I thought at the time. I wanted to be an interior designer first of all.”
The summer after graduating with a B.A. in economics, Yoh pursued additional studies in fine and applied arts at Wittenberg, where he was influenced by the work of another professor of art, the late Ralston Thompson. Under the direction of Dunifon and Thompson, Yoh leveraged his liberal arts experiences, which opened the door for a productive career as one of the forerunners of digital architecture.
“Thus it was at Wittenberg where an economist met an interior designer and a fine artist,” Yoh recalls. “I seldom have the opportunity to talk about Wittenberg, but I proudly announce that I majored in economics at Keio University and in fine and applied arts at Wittenberg because I have never been educated to be an architect. It is an unbelievable to be one of the four founding architects of digital architecture in the world since the 1980s. I would tell others that my odyssey of 60 years has been fortunate to be a part of Wittenberg.”
After working as a city economist, Yoh set up his agency, Shoei Yoh + Architects, in Fukuoka in 1970. Drawing inspiration from Modernists such as Philip Johnson, founder of the Department of Art and Architecture at the Museum of Modern Art, and Mies van der Rohe, who both designed glass houses, Yoh’s signature style blends glass and steel, form and function into contemporary structures known for uniting indoor and outdoor environments.
“The synchronization and harmony of man, nature and technology is the basis of all of my projects,” he explains in an interview for the Canadian Center for Architecture. “Whatever we do, we are surrounded by nature, and nature is economical. Artificial things are unnatural. Artificial means we are asking for the easier way. But nature does not waste.”
In the late 1980s, Yoh experimented with wooden structures to understand how to translate the design of natural phenomena into numerical data. With his background in using computers to make economic predictions, he introduced computers to calculate the effects of stress on structures, enabling him to minimize the use of materials.
When tasked with his first public building project, the Oguni Dome, Yoh’s budget restrictions made wood the most reasonable building material, but the government prohibited building wooden structures larger than 3,000 square meters because the safety had never been calculated. Using computers, Yoh designed and tested the dome’s primary feature, curved timber trusses in a space grid.
“The computer helps make all kinds of different shapes, so production cost doesn’t exceed our budget,” Yoh explains. “We tested the connection of wood and steel with epoxy-filling interface to ransmit forces. Then we could start calculation for structural analysis by computer for the first time to obtain the official approval. It took us three years. The Oguni Dome (1987) received an award in Japan as well as in Germany.”
Merging his background in economics and design, Yoh’s innovation brought choice back into architecture, allowing him to realize his philosophy that design has no limits.
“Design does not mean that there is only one solution, but unlimited, diverse solutions to be found and selected individually. In architecture, I wonder if there are any obstacles to overcome. I do not see obstacles concerning structural materials such as steel, concrete, wood and bamboo. All the possibilities are in our hands,” he explains.
Yoh’s favorite works, which are both elegant and astonishing, exemplify his dedication to thinking differently about how structures respond to natural phenomena. His glass cube coffee house, Ingot, for example, emerges from the ground with a “non-architectural ambience as it responds to the surrounding environment,” while Stainless Steel House with Light Lattice “performs a silent symphony as the daylight transits through all day long, year round.” Along with Yoh’s home, Another Glass House Between Sea and Sky, which has been growing together with its surrounding cherry trees for more than 20 years, Yoh’s works demonstrate his unique spirit of exploration and foster an appreciation for architecture that collaborates with nature.
As one ArcProspect International Foundation writer observes about Yoh’s influence, “Following his passions in response to the natural phenomena, we will find something that stimulates and invites us to consider the solution of certain unknowns, to travel unexplored paths, to discover something new, and to think differently.”
Believing in infinite possibilities, Yoh finds motivation to seek out new solutions for design and to continually rediscover the world from new vantage points.
“Ignorance helps me climb up a mountain as high as possible, to look around, and to find that a peak and a water fountain is a river flowing all the way down to sea.”