32 - Fumihiko Maki

Fumihiko Maki (Tokyo 1928 – 2024 Tokyo), ,Perspective study for the TEPIA Science Pavilion in Aoyama, Tokyo, before 1989, ink-pen drawing on glassine paper, colored with colored pencils, signed in pencil lower right, 25.6 x 36.2 cm, A tear in the upper right corner extends beyond the image; mounted on backing board and set under glass and a mat in a white anodized aluminum frame; overall size: 44 x 44 cm; limit 405,- Completed in 1989, the TEPIA building in Tokyo’s Aoyama district is considered an outstanding masterpiece by Japanese architect Fumihiko Maki. It combines the principles of Western modernism with the precision and spatial philosophy of Japanese tradition. The building’s purpose—a pavilion for exhibiting cutting-edge high-tech developments—is directly reflected in its groundbreaking architecture: The interplay of reflective glass and matte-gloss metal surfaces refracts the light so intensely that the building’s rigid volume appears to dissolve in places—an effect known in architectural theory as dematerialization. Here, Maki applies the traditional Japanese spatial theory of “oku.” Spaces are not simply separated by doors, but are gently delineated from one another through visual layers, axes, and transitional zones.