Terunobu Fujimori
Terunobu Fujimori (藤森 照信, Fujimori Terunobu; November 21, 1946) is a Japanese architect and architectural historian. During the 1970s and 1980s he made studies of the city about early Western buildings and unusual occurrences, and did not turn to architecture until he was in his forties. His work is considered by many to be eccentric but is characterised by his use of natural materials.
Terunobu Fujimori

準建築人手札網站 Forgemind ArchiMedia · Flickr · CC BY 2.0
- Born
- 1946.
- Nationality
- Japan.
- Occupation
- architect, historian, critic, architectural historian and university teacher.
VALÉORINE Encyclopedia
VALÉORINE documentary reading
Documentary summary
Terunobu Fujimori (藤森 照信, Fujimori Terunobu; November 21, 1946) is a Japanese architect and architectural historian. During the 1970s and 1980s he made studies of the city about early Western buildings and unusual occurrences, and did not turn to architecture until he was in his forties. His work is considered by many to be eccentric but is characterised by his use of natural materials.
Admitted source layer · organised and presented by VALÉORINE
Note VALÉORINE
Terunobu Fujimori (born 1946) is a Japanese architect, architectural historian and critic, among other activities. The architect was born in Chino.
Terunobu Fujimori studied at Tohoku University and University of Tokyo. The architect worked for Kogakuin University and University of Tokyo. Terunobu Fujimori is active in history of Japan.
Languages used include Japanese. The architect received Japan Art Academy Prize.
Composed from admitted, traceable facts · 26 September 2026
VALÉORINE
Reference Check
Propose documentary evidence for Terunobu Fujimori. A contribution is never written directly as fact: identity, source, rights and evidence gates still decide.
Sign in to contribute
Documentary evidence
Evidence Panel
not yet certified
- Identity
- resolved
- Independent source families
- 0
- Admitted assertions
- 0
- Open conflicts
- 0
Authority files
getty · 500231994 · gnd · 1023759977 · wikidata · Q3134309 · wikipedia · Terunobu Fujimori
In this article
Career
Career
Although he is well known in Japan as a cultural commentator he was not widely known in the West until he represented Japan at the 2006 Venice Biennale.
Fujimori was born in Miyakawa-mura (part of modern-day Chino City) in Nagano Prefecture, Japan. He studied at Tōhoku University before entering graduate school at the University of Tokyo. He is currently a professor at the University of Tokyo's Institute of Industrial Science. Whilst writing his thesis in the 1970s Fujimori formed the Architecture Detectives. In this group he and his colleagues searched the city to find and photograph early Western-style buildings. Twelve years of work on this subject resulted in the publication of the book Adventures of an Architectural Detective: Tokyo (1986). In 1986 Fujimori formed the Roadway Observation Society with Genpei Akasegawa, Shinbo Minami, Joji Hayashi, Tetsuo Matsuda. The group records unusual but naturally occurring patterns in the city, for example the pattern left by a tree on a concrete wall or a rubbish bin that has been bent over to form a seat. Their studies have been compared to Venturi and Scott-Brown's Learning from Las Vegas. In 1991, Fujimori began to practice architecture with his first work, the Jinchōkan Moriya Historical Museum (神長官守矢史料館 Jinchōkan Moriya Shiryōkan) in Chino, Nagano. Architectural influences for his work include Le Corbusier, Claude Nicolas Ledoux, Takamasa Yoshizaka, the Ise Shrine and Callanish Standing Stones. His architecture is characterised by eccentricity and humour, experimental use of natural materials and the subversion of traditional techniques. Although the Jinchōkan Moriya Historical Museum has been criticised for merely wrapping a concrete structure in natural materials, it was praised by architect Kengo Kuma as "generating fond feelings of familiarity in people who had never seen it before". Well known in Japan as an author, cultural commentator and TV host he was relatively unknown in the West until he represented Japan in the 2006 Venice Biennale. His display in the Japanese pavilion showed houses sprouting leeks and dandelions. As the theme of the Biennale was the "city" Fujimori included a woven rice twine hut housing a slide presentation of the work of ROJO. In 2010 he contributed the Beetle's House to one of seven designs for the V&A's "1:1 Architects Build Small Spaces" exhibition. His work with ROJO has left an impression on younger architects like Yoshiharu Tsukamoto and Momoyo Kajima of Atelier Bow-Wow. Like Fujimori they surveyed the city for "no-good" architecture and published their findings in the book Made in Tokyo. In 2018 he served as advisor of exhibition Japan in Architecture: Genealogies of Its Transformations curated by Director of Mori Art Museum Fumio Nanjo
Takasugi-an Tea House (2003–2004)
Takasugi-an Tea House (2003–2004)
Situated in Chino in Nagano Prefecture, the Takasugi-an Tea House is a four and a half tatami mat tea house supported six metres above the ground on two load-bearing trees (the name literally means "too high tea house"). Rather than using the traditional method of entering a tea house by stooping low, the visitor climbs a ladder to the top. Fujimori played with the traditional elements of a tea house in a modern way. For example, the picture scroll (kakejiku) that normally gives a clue about the time of year is replaced with a large window that frames a view to the town where Fujimori grew up. It is supported on two chestnut trees that were cut and moved to the site from a nearby mountain.
Lamune Onsen (2004–2005)
Lamune Onsen (2004–2005)
Lamune Onsen is situated in Takeda in Ōita Prefecture. Lamune is the name of a popular fizzy drink that resembles the warm carbonated water that is characteristic of the area. The onsen is owned by the owner of a nearby traditional inn and is used by guests and members of the public alike. The façade is composed of alternate vertical bands of charred yakisugi cedar and white mortar. Its many towers act as exhausts for letting out steam and are roofed with hand-rolled copper sheets. The apex of each tower is planted with a live pine tree. The waiting room has furniture carved from burnt cedar and one wall in the men's section has mother-of-pearl shells pressed into it.
Nemunoki Museum of Art (2004–2006)
Nemunoki Museum of Art (2004–2006)
The Nemunoki Museum of Art is situated in Kakegawa in Shizuoka Prefecture. It was designed to house works of art by physically disabled children from an institute formed by the Japanese singer and actress Mariko Miyagi in 1967. Jutting out of the hillside, Fujimori compares its design to a "hairy mammoth". The hand-rolled copper roof is connected to the hill by a line of living grass along the ridge. The route through the museum is choreographed to take the visitor from the reception into a landscaped garden before re-entering the museum through a small door at the back. This route is designed to offer an interlude for purification and contemplation from everyday life before viewing the works of art. The simple white interior is punctuated with a lattice-like screen above the main gallery that is reminiscent of the mammoth's spine.
Selected projects
Selected projects
Jinchōkan Moriya Historical Museum (1991), Chino, Nagano Dandelion House (1995), Kokubunji, Tokyo Nira House (Leek House) (1997), Machida, Tokyo Fuku Akino Art Museum (1998), Hamamatsu City, Shizuoka Prefecture Takasugi-an Tea House, (2004), Chino, Nagano Chocolate House, (2009), Kokubunji, Tokyo Roof House (2009), Shiga Prefecture Beetle’s House (2010), 1:1 – Architects Build Small Spaces, Daylit Gallery, V&A, London
Life and career
Dated record
Life and career
The full dated record · 1 entries
1946
Terunobu Fujimori was born in 1946.
Primary material
Documents and archives
scholarly publication
- A Study on the Piercing Column of Terunobu Fujimori Architecture, Journal of architectural history, 2012
Scholarly · Crossref registry · 2012
authority file
- Getty Union List of Artist Names 500231994, Terunobu Fujimori + Yoshio Uchida.
Unverified · The Getty Research Institute
reference work
- “Terunobu Fujimori”, English Wikipedia, consulted as further reading
Reputable secondary · Wikipedia
Awards
Mainichi Publication Culture Award (for Meiji Plans for Tōkyō) Suntory Prize for Social Science and Humanities (for Adventures of an Architectural Detective: Tokyo) Japan Grand Art Prix for the Nira (Leek) house Architectural Institute of Japan Prix for the Student Dormitory of Kumamoto Agricultural College (2001)
Notes from the source article
Cited by Wikipedia
Notes from the source article
These works are cited by the source article, in its own numbering. They are recorded as its citations, not as sources VALÉORINE has verified.
- 1.Sumner & Pollock (2010), p108
- 2.Venice Biennale: 10th International Architecture Exhibition 2006. Architecture of Terunobu Fujimori and ROJO.
- 3.Sumner (2009), p34
- 4.McGuirk (2007), p64
- 5.Gillin, Jaime. Terunobu Fujimori. Dwell. 2009-04-14.
- 6.McGuirk (2007), p9
- 7.McGuirk (2007), p61
- 8.Guardian. 1:1 with the V&A's Small Spaces. Jonathan Glancey. 9 June 2010.
- 9.Etherington, Rose. 1:1 Architects Build Small Spaces at the V&A. Dezeen. 2010-06-15.
- 10.Sumner (2009), p37
- 11.Architecture in Japan, between myth, genealogies and transformation.
- 12.Sumner & Pollock (2010), p122
- 13.Xu Lin. Takasugi-an, Japan. Top 10 most dangerous structures in the world. China.org.cn. 16 January 2013.
- 14.Sumner & Pollock (2010), p83
- 15.施設案内/浜松市. www.city.hamamatsu.shizuoka.jp.
- 16.Hamamatsu City Fuku Akino Art Museum iN HAMAMATSU.COM. www.inhamamatsu.com.
- 17.Thomas, Abraham. Raising Terunobu Fujimori's Beetle's House. V&A Blog. 27 May 2010.
- 18.Etherington, Rose. 1:1 Architects Build Small Spaces at the V&A. Dezeen. 2010-06-15.
- 19.Stathaki, Ellie. 1:1 – Architects Build Small Spaces at the V&A. Wallpaper. 29 June 2010.
- 20.Glancey, Jonathan. 1:1 with the V&A's Small Spaces. The Guardian. 9 June 2010.
References
Citations
References
Each reference names the institution holding it, so a reader may go to the document itself.
scholarly publication
A Study on the Piercing Column of Terunobu Fujimori Architecture, Journal of architectural history, 2012Crossref registry
Verifiedauthority file
Getty Union List of Artist Names 500231994, Terunobu Fujimori + Yoshio Uchida.The Getty Research Institute
Partially resolvedreference work
Partially resolvedauthority record
Unverified
A further 1 witness is held back from this article because the person or object named in it is not yet resolved to this record. They are kept, not discarded, and return once the identity is established.
The Encyclopedia exists whether or not anything is for sale. Corrections are recorded rather than overwritten, and every version of this record is kept. Published 14 August 2026.
Elsewhere in Design
11,558 published records in this field, each with its sources named.
- Teresa Gisbert CarbonellDesigner
- Teresa MollerDesigner
- Teresa TáboasDesigner
- Terje MoeDesigner
- Tessa SakhiDesigner
- Tetsuro YoshidaDesigner
- Thandi LoewensonDesigner
- Thea AltarasDesigner
Best supported in this field
For owners
Own a work by Terunobu Fujimori?
A specialist will read what you send and tell you what the house can establish, what it cannot, and whether the object is suited to sale. There is no charge and no obligation. The object stays with you throughout; nothing is shipped to us unless it is arranged in writing beforehand.