Publisher: Shinkenchiku-sha,  ISBN: 4910019731245, Format: Softcover, 290m x 220 mm, 600pp

The December 2024 issue of a+u magazine features the work of Nikken Sekkei. Founded 125 years ago in 1900, the Nikkei Sekkei group is an organizational design firm with about 3,000 employees. Nikken Sekkei’s designers have worked on numerous building and urban design projects in Japan. When pursuing their work, what do they rely on? And what have they inherited from their predecessors?

As we edited and prepared this issue for publication, we became increasingly interested in Nikken Sekkei’s floor plans and layout plans. Many of the designers who appear in this issue stressed the importance of floor plans and layout plans as a tool that anyone working hard on a project design can use to explore the needs of society and the client. This attitude toward design may be something that they feel they must pass on from one generation to the next as they grow in influence.

Every project profile in this issue includes a 1/750 scale floor and layout plan. The text for each project is based on interviews that not only describe the building but also try to give at least a glimpse into the thinking of the designers. Completed between 2000 and 2024, the projects featured in this issue provide an opportunity to think about the issues and challenges that contemporary architecture and cities face and an opportunity to explore the architecture of the future. (a+u)

Japanese/English