Residential Architecture

The first English translation of Kazuo Shinohara’s landmark book on twentieth-century Japanese architecture. Kazuo Shinohara’s (1925–2006) book Residential Architecture is considered one of the most significant pieces of writing on Japanese architecture of the late twentieth century. First published in Japan in 1964 as Jūtaku kenchiku, the book was mandatory reading for generations of students of architecture in Japan and has deeply influenced many of the best-known Japanese designers, such as Toyo Ito, Kazuyo Sejima, Ryue Nishizawa, and others. Translated by architectural historian David B. Stewart (1942–2025) and architects Shin-ichi Okuyama (born 1961) and Kenichi Nakamura (born 1958), Shinohara’s reflections on housing are available in English for the first time, making multifaceted insights into the fundamentals of his outstanding work accessible to a global audience. In the first of three chapters, Shinohara writes about traditional Japanese architecture, thus explaining the foundation of his theory and practice, followed by a description of his design method, which he further illustrates through the examples of his first seven designs for homes. Read more