Riken Yamamoto (RY): This is bit difficult to answer, as there were many things. My father was an engineer, an electrical engineer, and he was working in Beijing during World War II. My family returned to Japan from Beijing after the war, but my father died, when I was five years old. So, growing up it was me, my mother, and my brother. My mother was a pharmacist in Yokohama. She often told a memory of my father, a beautiful story, in which I wanted to be like him, be an engineer. I don't know if this was the starting point or not, but my mother's story was very important for me. At that moment, architecture was engineering.

JH: Were there any architects, or engineers, who were then influential on your path to becoming an architect? 
RY: Many, but especially Mr. Hiroshi Hara. He was a professor at Tokyo University and was a very strong influence for me. After I graduated with a master’s from the Tokyo University of the Arts, I joined Mr. Hara’s laboratory. We started the investigation old villages, visiting many traditional villages all over the world. That was a very strong experience for me. 

RY: Yes, after returning from the village investigations, I started my own office. I was 28 years old.

JH: Is the experience with Mr. Hara why you called it Field Shop?
RY: [Laughs] I did a lot of field work with the investigations of the village communities, so field work is most important work for me — not only at the villages, but also with the buildings I design. So field work is something of a manifesto.

JH: It seems to me that your buildings don't have a distinct, recognizable style, especially compared to other architects from Japan who have won the Pritzker Prize. Is that intentional on your part? Are there parts of your design process that lead to a diversity of formal solutions?
RY: It is my intention, because I design architecture with the environment, and every time the environment is different. My designs are strongly influenced by their characteristic environments — every time a different design, different materials, appropriate to the environment. That is the reason I change my design process every time.

JH: And is that an extension of what you learned doing field work with Hiroshi Hara?
RY: Yes, that's right.

RY: I remember that article. The reason is because I'm very shy. [Laughs] I was wondering how to explain my design, and every time I would say something like, “I made the design like this because of something related to the environment.” I am like a translator between the environment and the client, and I try to persuade my clients why I make this kind of architecture. But it's not enough to just make a design concept; design is not just conceptual thinking. It is a little bit difficult to explain this, but sometimes there is no reason; it is hidden, only inside of me, in my thinking. But, very frankly speaking, I'm very good architect, a good designer. [Laughs] I believe that. But it is very, very difficult to explain design. I think of architecture as a social situation within an environment.

JH: I have some familiarity with your buildings from a distance, via things like the Toto book, magazines, and websites. Actually, when I was practicing as an architect in Chicago a couple decades ago, your SOHO project in Beijing was a particularly good reference for the large-scale mixed-use projects I was working on at the time. But the only building of yours I've so far experienced firsthand is The Circle in Zurich. So, how do you approach design in places outside of Japan, like the projects in Beijing and Zurich?
RY: Of course, I change the way I design based on the country. China and Switzerland, Zurich and Beijing, they have very different situations, different politics. But both of them are very big projects. 

Beijing in 2000 was quickly changing. It followed the postmodern time and already there were a lot of strange-shaped buildings. Since it was a large project and would be a strong influence, a future model for Beijing, I was careful with my design, very logical with it. With the strong government in China, I explained my design to them, the people in the Communist party, and the client; my design was new but very easy to explain: I shifted the orientation of the buildings from the Beijing grid, maybe 30 degrees from north, to make the sunlight hit each surface. This was very successful and resulted in something with some character. Also, there are five stories near the ground level — two above and three below — with different functions: marketplace, pedestrian space, parking. Each layer changed based on the activity. The model was 1920s European architecture, something I improved in Beijing.

Initially, the client wanted to make condominium apartments, but those projects in Beijing at the time were gated communities; the city was not successful then and there were many homeless people around the site. I wanted to open it to the outside, so I had many discussions telling the client that, since this is the center of the city, it’s not good to make a gated community. So this was the first experience for the client in having everything open to the outside, and it was the first example in the center of Beijing. Since it was possible to make a lot of commercial spaces for them, spaces that make money, the client found it very successful. For the city of Beijing, this is very good as another public open space. Finally, it is now a place that tourists come to. The name, Jian Wai SOHO, means Small Office Home Office — a name I made at that time and the client agreed to. So, it’s not just people living there; they use this place as an office sometimes. Many early 20th-century architects, like Ludwig Hilberseimer or Le Corbusier, would have liked to make such a cityscape. It was not so successful in the 20th century, but it was very successful at the change to the 21st century.

In Zurich, the client for The Circle was the airport. They wanted to make a very large commercial project, but I wanted to make a small city next to the airport. To be successful, the project needed to be useful for travelers but also for the people of Zurich and the village of Kloten. My proposal was less like architecture and more like a city: open 24 hours (no gate), a Gasse (a narrow street, in German), and an open plaza. There is a simple roof covering, but no air conditioning. It’s open even in the winter, so it can be very cold, but it’s very successful; many people enjoy this space. I won the competition, and it was a very good relationship between the client and me.

RY: Just beside this artificial hill — the small city — is this natural hill. Yes, many people enjoy the natural hill and this small city, together. 

JH: I assume there are a number of young architects in your studio. What sort of wisdom do you find yourself imparting on them? And, similarly, is there advice that you have for people that are entering the field now?
RY: Discussions with younger architects is very important for me: how to recognize the circumstances of the environment, the political situation, the client. These discussions are necessary. Explanation is also very important for making architecture. It’s the architect’s responsibility to persuade and explain. Don’t hesitate to explain your idea directly to the client, to persuade them, before undertaking the architecture itself.

RY: The Taoyuan Museum of Art is two parts. The Children’s Museum, which opened last year, is here [pointing to angled volume in above image], and here is the main art museum [pointing to steel structure] that is under construction. 

JH: Are there other projects you're working on, ones you can talk about?
RY: This is the main project. Another project we will be starting is in Venezuela, which I just visited. It would be like city planning. In Venezuela, the ideas of the late president Hugo Chávez are gradually coming to fruition. Meanwhile, communities around the world are in decline. So I would like to help them with some work on city planning.

JH: Thank you very much for taking the time.