Hitoshi Abe

This is the first comprehensive monograph on the work of Hitoshi Abe (b.1962), one of the most interesting of Japan's new generation of architects. Abe's architecture is internationally renowned for its structural innovation and spatial complexity, and in 2007 he was appointed Professor and Chair of the Department of Architecture and Urban Design at the University of California, Los Angeles. It includes all Abe's major works from the 1990s to the present, including the Miyagi Stadium, Rifu (2000), Reihoku Community Hall (2002) - for which he won the Architectural Institute of Japan Award in 2003 - and the Kanno Museum, Shiogama (2006). Every project is illustrated with a wealth of interior and exterior photographs, as well as drawings by the architect and computer renderings. It explores Abe's distinctive aesthetic in detail, which combines an emphasis on everyday use with innovative engineering solutions.