Author Description

Since founding his own studio in the 1980s, Shuhei Endo (born 1960) has been concerned with creating architectural spaces out of continuous strips of material - most often rolled or corrugated steel - that encompass both roof and wall, looping and coiling to enclose interior spaces while leaving much of the structure exposed. Kansai region: a parking structure for bicycles (Cyclestation M), a public toilet facility in an outdoor park in Hyogo (Springtecture H), a railroad station (Transtation O), and a rural agricultural market (Rooftecture B). Responding to their standardized, industrial materials, Endo's projects carry generic names with repetitive suffixes and one-letter IDs, but their form is anything but generic - the projects resemble abstract sculpture more than they do architecture with regular geometries. Of his Springtecture H lavatory facility, Jonathan Glancey of The Guardian wrote: This is a brilliant, unabashed swirl of galvanized corrugated metal, its loops and spirals derived from the structural logic of this malleable material. entries, including an addition to an art museum in northeastern Japan (Springtecture A/Aomori project, 2000), and an addition to the headquarters of the World Intellectual Properties Organization in Geneva (Rooftecture W/Wipo Project, 2000). showcasing 32 of Endo's projects with concise project descriptions, colour photographs, plans, and drawings. It includes a complete illustrated list of projects and a biography.