Towering over a street corner in Tokyo’s Ginza district, the new Louis Vuitton Ginza Namiki store greets shoppers with its psychedelic facade. Reinventing a site that’s been held by the brand since 1981, the building’s super modern appearance responds to the reflections of light upon the surface of water; it’s at once poetic yet playful, mesmerising and rhythmic. The store is the result of a collaboration between architects Peter Marino and Jun Aoki – the latter recently joining the inDETAIL speaker series to share the experiences of an inspiring career.
Hosted by architect Stephen Varady and presented by Brickworks Building Products, the latest episode of inDETAIL featuring guest architect Jun Aoki was broadcast live from the Brickworks studio in Sydney on October 21. You’re invited to catch up on the episode, the sixth in the inDETAIL series, by watching the video above. Plus, register now for an invitation to future events.
About Jun Aoki, AS
Born in Yokohama, Japan, in 1956, architect Jun Aoki graduated from the University of Tokyo in 1982. After working with Arata Isozaki and Associates, he founded his eponymous studio Jun Aoki & Associates in 1991, driven by the motivation to do “anything that seemed interesting,” he recalls.
His body of work to-date has traversed the fields of architecture, interiors and art with a portfolio showcasing a series of residences, public facilities and experiential artworks such as U bis (2002) and Red and Blue Line (2013). He’s also been the go-to architect for a number of the high-end boutiques belonging to luxury fashion retailer Louis Vuitton, including the 2021 unveiling of the Ginza Namiki store, created in collaboration with American architect Peter Marino.
Aoki-san received the Architectural Institute of Japan Annual Award in 1999 and the Minister of Education’s Art Encouragement Prize in 2005. He is currently a professor at Tokyo University of the Arts and the director of Kyoto City Museum of Art. In 2020, Jun Aoki and Associates was reorganised and renamed AS, signalling the partnership of Jun Aoki and Masatoshi Shinagawa.
Love the inDETAIL speaker series by Brickworks? Watch more episodes below. Keep up-to-date on the latest in design news and architecture events at Daily Architecture News. Plus, subscribe to the newsletter for weekly updates delivered directly to your inbox.
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