Kazuo Shinohara: The Umbrella House Project

The Umbrella House is the smallest residential home by Japanese architect and mathematician Kazuo Shinohara (1925–2006). This book tells the story of his unique masterpiece, which was first built in Tokyo in 1961. More than sixty years later, a stroke of good fortune made it possible to save the Umbrella House from demolition and move it to a new location, where it now stands on the Vitra Campus in Weil am Rhein (Germany). The wooden house’s post-and-beam construction references traditional Japanese domestic and temple architecture. Experts from Japan and Europe supervised the dismantling of the house in Tokyo and its reassembly in Weil am Rhein. The book traces the long journey of the Umbrella House in lavish illustrations including impressions from 1960s Japan, architectural designs and plans, and photographs that document its dismantling and reassembly or show the house in its new location. Texts by Ryue Nishizawa (SANAA), Shin-ichi Okuyama, and David B. Stewart discuss the Umbrella House against the background of Japanese architectural discourse between 1960 and the present.