Isozaki + Suzuki

Arata Isozaki

Born in 1931. He has been active in curating exhibitons of architecture, art and culture, and has recieived many awards, including the Japanese Culture and Design Award (1993). He believes in the validity of quotation and the reuse of successful design elements and themes from different periods and styles, a recycling which he calls ‘maniera’. Chosen elements are blended to make a coherent, autonomous whole in works that must always be responsive and adapted to their cultural context. Such theories and practices have made him an influential architect world-wide.

Tadashi Suzuki

Tadashi Suzuki is the founder and director of the Suzuki Company of Toga (SCOT) based in Toga Village, located in the mountains of Toyama prefecture. Suzuki’s methodology for approaching theatre and performance comes from understanding ancient Greek theatre and experiencing the Japanese 

performance styles of Noh and Kabuki, both of which emphasize strength in traditional values, discipline, and physical control. Not just one of the world’s foremost theatre directors, Suzuki is also a seminal thinker and practitioner whose work has a powerful influence on theatre everywhere. Suzuki’s primary concerns include: the structure of a theatre group, the creation and use of theatrical space, and the overcoming of cultural and national barriers in the interest of creating work that is truly universal. 

His philosophies concerning the humanistic relationship between man and earth, one that defies spirituality in the traditional sense of the term, manifest in rigorous training practices that demand an extreme level of body control and physical exertion.

 Together Isozaki and Suzuki have designed and built theaters, rehearsal rooms and art complexes.