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Kikutake, Kiyonori
(b Kurume, Fukuoka Prefecture, 1 April 1928). Japanese architect. He graduated from Waseda University, Tokyo, in 1950 and established his own office in 1953, beginning his career with a strong interest in urban design and in the use of advanced technology in architecture. He became known after the completion (1958) of his own residence, the Sky House in Tokyo. The flexible arrangement of both service areas and living spaces in the house, which is supported on tall wall columns, foreshadowed many of the design principles he later pursued. He subsequently became one of the leading figures and main theoreticians of METABOLISM, a movement launched at the World Design Conference in Tokyo (1960) by several young architects, urban planners and critics, who initiated a new direction and a new chapter in modern Japanese architecture (see JAPAN, §III, 5). Kikutake developed his theories by proposing numerous large-scale and futuristic urban schemes, including the Tower-shaped City (1958), Marine City (1959) and Floating City (1960, 1963). He arrived at these schemes through his investigations of the organic and cyclically changing urban environment of the modern city. This led him to promote the use of advanced technology to allow for change, producing designs in which elements with a short lifespan could be easily replaced or updated without disrupting the growth, life and overall form of the whole urban organism. None of these Utopian proposals was realized, although many of the inherent ideas were developed in the designs of his buildings.
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