Arata Isozaki, a Pritzker-winning Japanese architect often known as a post-modern big who blended tradition and historical past of the East and the West in his designs, has died aged 91.

Isozaki died on Wednesday at his residence on Japan’s southern island Okinawa, based on the artwork journal Bijutsu Techo. It reported that he died of outdated age.

Isozaki gained the Pritzker Architecture Prize, internationally the best honour within the area, in 2019.

He started his architectural profession underneath the apprenticeship of Japanese legend Kenzo Tange, a 1987 Pritzker laureate, after finding out structure on the University of Tokyo.

Isozaki based his personal workplace, Arata Isozaki and Associates, which he known as Atelier, round 1963, whereas engaged on a public library for his residence prefecture of Oita — considered one of his earliest works.

He was one of many forerunners of Japanese architects who designed buildings abroad, transcending nationwide and cultural boundaries, and in addition as a critic of city improvement and metropolis designs.

Among Isozaki’s best-known works are the Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles and the Palau Sant Jordi stadium in Barcelona constructed for the 1992 Summer Games. He additionally designed well-known buildings such because the Team Disney Building and the headquarters of the Walt Disney Company in Florida.

Born in 1931 in Oita, he was 14 when he noticed the aftermath of the US atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagaski in August 1945, which killed 210,000 folks.

That led to his idea that buildings are transitory but in addition ought to please the senses.

Isozaki stated his residence city was bombed.

“So I grew up near ground zero. It was in complete ruins, and there was no architecture, no buildings and not even a city,” he stated when he obtained the Pritzker. “So my first experience of architecture was the void of architecture, and I began to consider how people might rebuild their homes and cities.”

Isozaki was additionally a social and cultural critic. He ran workplaces in Tokyo, China, Italy and Spain, however moved to Japan’s southwestern area of Okinawa about 5 years in the past.

He has taught at Columbia University, Harvard and Yale. His works additionally embrace philosophy, visible artwork, movie and theatre.