Japanese architect Hiroshi Hara dies aged 88

Japanese architect Hiroshi Hara, who designed Osaka's Umeda Sky Buiding and the Kyoto Station building, has passed away aged 88.

Hara died on 3 January. He was a professor emeritus at the University of Tokyo, where he taught renowned Japanese architect Kengo Kuma and Pritzker Prize-winning Riken Yamamoto.

The Kawasaki-born architect designed a number of large-scale projects in Japan, including the 173-metre-tall Umeda Sky Building in Osaka.

Completed in 1993, the skyscraper contains two towers that are connected on the upper levels by a two-storey observatory, which is punctured with a giant hole.

Architect Hiroshi Hara, who designed Kyoto Station Building and Umeda Sky Building, died at 88 on Friday, leaving a remarkable legacy with his distinctive building designs.https://t.co/B8B6sOWxAB

— The Japan News (@The_Japan_News) January 5, 2025

Hara passed away aged 88 on 3 January

The Times named the Umeda Sky Building one of the top 20 buildings in the world in 2008 for its distinctive shape and views over the surrounding city, alongside architectural greats such as the Colosseum in Rome, the Parthenon in Greece and the Sydney Opera House.

In 1997, Hara completed the 15-storey Kyoto Station building, which became Japan's second-largest station.

The glass-and-steel building contains a hotel, a shopping mall, a cinema and platforms for multiple rail lines, including Shinkansen services to Tokyo.

Hara's other notable projects in his native country include the Sapporo Dome stadium in Hokkaido, the Tasaki Museum of Art in Nagano Prefecture and the Yamato International Building in Tokyo.

In 2004, he completed his first Casa Experimental home in Uruguay, which he would go on to design iterations of in Argentina and Bolivia in 2005 and 2010, respectively.

Hara gained three degrees from the University of Tokyo – a bachelor's degree in architecture in 1959, a master's in 1961, and a PhD in 1964.

He went on to become an associate professor at the University of Tokyo's Faculty of Architecture in 1964 before moving to the university's Institute of Industrial Science, where he became a professor in 1982.

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