Professor Kevin Nute’s new book, Frank Lloyd Wright and Japan Revisited: Traditional Japanese Architecture as a Means to Modern American Architecture, was published in January, and in March was shortlisted for a London architectural book award. The book re-examines Wright’s interpretations of traditional Japanese forms in the context of otherness, appropriation, translation and myth. Its predecessor, Frank Lloyd Wright and Japan, won an International Architectural Monograph Award from the American Institute of Architects.

In his foreword to the new book, the contemporary Japanese architect Kengo Kuma writes:

“This book has played an important part in the ongoing cultural exchange between Japan and the West. …. Personally, I learned a great deal about this exchange and its significance from the original edition of Frank Lloyd Wright and Japan. It stimulated my own interest in traditional Japanese buildings and gave me renewed confidence in my culture. Until then, traditional Japanese architecture seemed to me to have little relevance to the present or future. My own buildings changed as a result, and I began to participate in that great exchange myself.” 

Kengo Kuma, Professor of Architecture, University of Tokyo

UH News – Prof. Nute’s new book, Frank Lloyd Wright and Japan Revisited