Architecture News

Tribute: Yoshio Taniguchi 1937–2024

Yoshio Taniguchi died on December 16. The cause, according to a statement by his Tokyo-based firm, Taniguchi and Associates, was pneumonia. He was 87.

The son of a famous architect, Yoshiro Taniguchi, the younger Taniguchi was a virtual unknown in the United States when he was selected in 1997 to design the Museum of Modern Art’s expansion in New York—his first building outside Japan—beating out Herzog & de Meuron, Steven Holl, and Rem Koolhaas for the coveted commission.

Courtyard at the Museum of Modern Art, pictured following the Taniguchi-led expansion. Photo by Alsandro, Wikimedia Commons

Completed twenty years ago, the revamped MoMA opened in 2004, coinciding with the museum’s 75th birthday. The expansion nearly doubled the gallery space, but it was met with mixed reactions. Stories at the time implied that Taniguchi himself—notoriously perfectionist—was disappointed with aspects of the project, lamenting that the execution of details in the United Stated did not compare with that in Japan.

The Gallery of Horyuji Treasures, Tokyo National Museum, 1999. Photo by sailko, Wikimedia Commons

An inaugural exhibition in the new space, Yoshio Taniguchi: Nine Museums, celebrated the museum architecture Taniguchi built in his home country, each building distinctly modern and characterized by pure geometries, rich materials, and artful construction. “Museums comprise a large portion of Taniguchi’s built and future projects, and they are key to understanding his overall approach to architecture and the art of building,” said Terence Riley, MoMA’s then-curator of architecture and design. “Each of his museum designs reflects the influence of overlapping contexts, from the singular aesthetic traditions and history of museums in Japan to the Western, Modernist tradition in which Taniguchi was educated at Harvard University. The results are extraordinary compositions of materials, proportion, circulation, and light.”

D.T. Suzuki Museum, Kanazawa, Japan, 2011 (1); Toyota Municipal Museum of Art, Nishi-Mikawa, Japan, 1995 (2). Photos by 金沢市, Wikimedia Commons (1); Tomio344456, Wikimedia Commons (2)

When Taniguchi designed The Gallery of Horyuji Treasures in the Tokyo National Museum (1999), the architect drew inspiration from the traditional form of the nested box used to safeguard artistic treasures. The ancient objects found in the Horyuji Gallery were originally from a famous Buddhist temple. Out of respect for the sacred artifacts, Taniguchi created glass displays that resist seismic vibration in galleries of concrete, stone, and plaster.

Taniguchi was born in Tokyo in 1937. He earned a Bachelor of Mechanical Engineering degree at Keio University (1960) and a Master in Architecture degree at Harvard University Graduate School of Design (1964). He worked briefly for Walter Gropius, and in the studio of Kenzo Tange between 1964 and 1972, before establishing his own practice. He is survived by his wife, Kumi Taniguchi.