Freeing Architecture—an exhibition devoted to the work of Junya Ishigami

The Fondation Cartier pour l’art contemporain presents Freeing Architecture, the first major solo exhibition featuring the work of Junya Ishigami. His architectural projects find context in the natural world of landscapes, clouds, and forests—removing the boundary between the external environment and interior space.

Through over 40 models, as well as numerous films and drawings, the exhibition presents twenty projects from their initial conception to the process of their realization. The show displays Ishigami’s practice of pushing outside the boundaries of architectural thought to create new imaginative spaces. 

Ishigami belongs to the younger generation of Japanese architects who emerged in the 2000s in the wake of Toyo Ito and Kazuyo Sejima. Trained at Tokyo University of the Arts, he gained experience as an architect at SANAA before founding junya ishigami + associates in 2004.

According to Ishigami, architecture can be formed naturally like a stone built over time through sedimentation and erosion. One of Ishigami's projects is for a chef’s restaurant and residence in the south of Japan that is designed “as a rock”. Another integration of natural form can be found between earth and sky in a project that creates a semi-open space for university students in Kanagawa, Japan. Evoking a changing sky, the project is framed by an imaginary horizon to create the Multipurpose Hall. 

The exhibition will be on display from March 30 to June 10, 2018.