Book Description:
Since founding his own studio nearly 15 years ago, Shuhei Endo (b. 1960) has been concerned with creating architectural spaces out of continuous strips of material most often rolled or corrugated steel that encompass both roof and wall, looping and coiling to enclose interior spaces while leaving much of the structure exposed. To date, his projects have been small scale, mostly concentrated in the Kansai region: a parking structure for bicycles (Cyclestation M), a public toilet facility in an outdoor park in Hyogo (Springtecture H), a railroad station (Transtation O), a rural agricultural market (Rooftecture B). Responding to their standardized, industrial materials, Endo's projects carry generic names with repetitive suffixes and one letter IDs, but their form is anything but generic the projects resemble abstract sculpture more than they do architecture with regular geometries. Of his Springtecture H lavatory facility, Jonathan Glancey of 'The Guardian' wrote: 'This is a brilliant, unabashed swirl of galvanised corrugated metal, its loops and spirals derived from the structural logic of this malleable material.' In addition to small scale work, Endo has designed two larger competition entries, including an addition to an art museum in northeastern Japan (Springtecture A/Aomori project, 2000), and an addition to the headquarters of the World Intellectual Properties Organization in Geneva (Rooftecture W/Wipo Project, 2000). Endo earned a master's degree from Kyoto City University of Art and worked at Osamu Ishii & Biken Associates in Japan before opening his own office. He was named by Architectural Record as one of nine of the most talented emerging architects in the magazine's 'Design Vanguard 2001,' and received an Architectural Review award in 2000. This book follows the format of Electa's series on contemporary architects, showcasing 32 of Endo's projects with concise project descriptions, excellent color photographs, plans, and drawings. It includes a complete illustrated list of projects, a biography, and bibliography.
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