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Architecture

Shoei Yoh

Shoei Yoh's work connects furniture, glass and timber buildings with experiments in architectural form.

Shoei Yoh was a Japanese architect from Kumamoto. He established his design office in 1970. His work includes the WXYZ chair, the House of Light Lattice, the Oguni Dome and the Sea Pyramid ferry terminal at Misumi Port.

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          The design analysis1 min read

          A practice across materials

          Shoei Yoh was a Japanese architect from Kumamoto. He established his design office in 1970. His work includes the WXYZ chair, the House of Light Lattice, the Oguni Dome and the Sea Pyramid ferry terminal at Misumi Port.

          Projects at different scales

          His glass designs received the Mainichi Design Award in 1983, and his series of timber buildings in Oguni received an Architectural Institute of Japan award in 1989. He also taught at Columbia University and Keio University.

          What to examine

          Begin with one piece of furniture and one building. Examine how material, joints and scale affect the form in each, rather than expecting a shared outline to explain the relationship. His range makes that comparison worthwhile: questions about light and construction can be followed across very different objects while the requirements of each project remain visible.

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