Maekawa Kunio (1905–1986) stands as one of the central figures in the history of modern Japanese architecture. Having studied under Le Corbusier in Paris during the early 1930s, Maekawa returned to Japan determined to adapt European modernist ideals to a Japanese context. His career bridged the prewar and postwar periods, and he became a crucial architect of reconstruction and modernization in Japan after 1945. His New York World’s Fair pavilion of 1964–65 was a significant milestone, demonstrating how Japanese architects positioned their nation within a global conversation on design, technology, and cultural identity during the Cold War era.

For the 1964–65 pavilion, Maekawa oversaw a modular complex designed for flexibility, rationality, and technological expression. The pavilion structure emphasized prefabricated units and rational planning, echoing his long-standing commitment to industrialized building systems. At the same time, the design retained a sensitivity to Japanese spatial traditions, such as openness, attention to proportion, and a careful balance between structure and environment. The pavilion embodied a tension between tradition and futurism that defined much of Maekawa’s postwar practice.

The pavilion can also be understood as a bridge between two distinct moments in Japan’s architectural trajectory: the early optimism of postwar reconstruction and the ambitious visions realized at Expo ’70 in Osaka. It sought to reconcile Japan’s cultural lineage with an embrace of technological modernity, acknowledging the past while projecting a confident vision of the future. In this respect, the design gave architectural form to Japan’s efforts at national self-redefinition in the decades following the war.

The project also reflects broader theoretical concerns that preoccupied Maekawa throughout his career. He consistently argued that modern architecture in Japan must avoid mere imitation of the West and instead pursue a universalism rooted in locality. This principle is visible in the pavilion’s modular clarity—expressed in an international modernist language—combined with subtle references to Japanese aesthetics. The careful balance between universal and particular, modern and traditional, resonated with fair visitors eager to encounter a peaceful, forward-looking Japan.

The archival record surrounding the pavilion is extensive. Surviving drawings, models, essays, and office records document not only the design process but also the broader intellectual debates among Japanese architects during the 1960s. Questions of national image, technological progress, and cultural authenticity were pressing concerns in this period, and the New York pavilion became one of the sites where such issues were most visibly worked out.

In retrospect, the 1964–65 pavilion can be understood as both a culmination and a beginning. It consolidated Maekawa’s reputation as the leading architect of postwar Japan and set the stage for the architectural spectacle of Expo ’70, where ideas of modularity, technology, and futurism reached their fullest expression. The New York project exemplifies how architecture became a medium through which Japan negotiated its place in a rapidly changing international order.

References 

Matsukuma, Hiroshi. Kenchiku no zen’ya: Maekawa Kunio ron [The Eve of Architecture: Maekawa Kunio]. Tokyo: Kajima Shuppankai, 1994.

Matsukuma, Hiroshi.. Mikan no kenchiku: Maekawa Kunio ron, sengo hen [The Unfinished Architecture: Maekawa Kunio, Postwar]. Tokyo: Kajima Shuppankai, 2001.