Considered one of the most controversial architects in the last ten years, Junya Ishigami is known for his exceptionally delicate, artistic works that redefine an intimate relationship between art and architecture.

Dr Peter Armstrong, Senior Lecturer, Faculty of Architecture, Design and Planning is full of praise of Ishigami’s forward thinking work:  “In the unstable world of threatening environmental and economic disaster, Ishigami has created masterly buildings that respond to place and time, a veritable architecture of the floating world.”

In just over a decade, Junya Ishigami has built a prolific body of international work that extends across buildings, landscape, installations and furniture.  He has earned an enviable list of international awards and has participated in several prestigious exhibitions including the Venice Architecture Biennale in 2008 and 2010.

In 2008 Junya Ishigami completed his first building, the Kanagawa Institute of Technology’s KAIT Workshop, a floor to ceiling, glass-enclosed, rectangular structure in which the interior space is divided by 305 slender pillars. He also completed the Yohji Yamamoto New York flagship boutique, located on a narrow triangular site in lower Manhattan. His radical design saw the existing building split in two to create a pedestrian way, connecting the two streets.

He is possibly best known for his art installation ‘Balloon’, a helium filled, floating, steel-like structure that is the size of a five-storey building, which to the visitor’s eye is seemingly heavy, yet is set afloat within the Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo.

Junya Ishigami will deliver his first public lecture at The University of Sydney for industry and staff and students from the Faculty of Architecture, Design and Planning. The architect will give a personal insight to projects from his early years and more recent signature works.

What:            Junya Ishigami – Public Lecture at The University of Sydney
Where:         The Wallace Theatre, The University of Sydney, Camperdown
When:           Friday, 7 February, 6.30-7.30pm (welcome drinks from 5.30pm)
Cost:              Free. Bookings essential via https://www.eventbrite.com.au

ABOUT JUNYA ISHIGAMI

Born in Kanagawa, Japan, Junya Ishigami graduated in 2000 from Tokyo National University of Fine Arts and Music with an MFA in Architecture. He joined the office of Kazuyo Sejima & Associates in the same year. Then in 2004, he established his own practice Junya Ishigami+ Associates in Tokyo.

His office has won several awards including the Lakov Chernikhov International Prize for Young Architects (2008), the Architectural Institute of Japan Prize (2009) for KAIT Workshop, and the Golden Lion for the Best Project of the 12th International Architecture Exhibition of the Venice Biennale for “Architecture as Air: Study for Chateau la Coste” (2010).

In 2010 he became an Associate Professor at Tohoku University in Japan and in 2014 he is the Kenzo Tange Design Critic at the Harvard Graduate School of Design in the United States.

His published works include ‘Balloon and Gardens’, ‘Another Scale of Architecture’, and ‘How Vast? How Small? How Architecture Grows’.