Antonin Raymond
Encyclopedia
Antonin Raymond, or , born: (10 May 1888, Kladno
Kladno
Kladno is a city in the Central Bohemian Region of the Czech Republic. It is located 25 km northwest of Prague. Kladno is the largest city of the region and holds a population together with its adjacent suburban areas of more than 110,000 people...

 – 21 November 1976 Langhorne, Pennsylvania
Langhorne, Pennsylvania
Langhorne is a borough in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, United States. The population was 1,622 at the 2010 census.The name "Langhorne" is used broadly to describe the majority of surrounding Middletown Township, which for the most part uses Langhorne's zip code of 19047...

) was a Czech
Czechoslovakia
Czechoslovakia or Czecho-Slovakia was a sovereign state in Central Europe which existed from October 1918, when it declared its independence from the Austro-Hungarian Empire, until 1992...

 architect, who lived and worked in the USA and Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...

. His initial work with American architects Cass Gilbert
Cass Gilbert
- Historical impact :Gilbert is considered a skyscraper pioneer; when designing the Woolworth Building he moved into unproven ground — though he certainly was aware of the ground-breaking work done by Chicago architects on skyscrapers and once discussed merging firms with the legendary Daniel...

 and Frank Lloyd Wright
Frank Lloyd Wright
Frank Lloyd Wright was an American architect, interior designer, writer and educator, who designed more than 1,000 structures and completed 500 works. Wright believed in designing structures which were in harmony with humanity and its environment, a philosophy he called organic architecture...

 gave him an insight into the use of concrete for texture and structure that he would refine throughout his six decade career.

At studio practices in New Hope, Pennsylvania
New Hope, Pennsylvania
New Hope, formerly known as Coryell's Ferry, is a borough in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, USA. The population was 2,528 at the 2010 census. The borough lies on the west bank of the Delaware River at its confluence with Aquetong Creek. A two-lane bridge carries automobile and foot traffic across the...

 and Tokyo
Tokyo
, ; officially , is one of the 47 prefectures of Japan. Tokyo is the capital of Japan, the center of the Greater Tokyo Area, and the largest metropolitan area of Japan. It is the seat of the Japanese government and the Imperial Palace, and the home of the Japanese Imperial Family...

, he explored traditional Japanese building techniques with the latest American building innovations. He applied these principles to a wide range of projects in Japan, America and India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...

.

He is recognized as the father of modern architecture in Japan.

Early life

Raymond was born on 10 May 1888, in Kladno, Central Bohemia
Bohemia
Bohemia is a historical region in central Europe, occupying the western two-thirds of the traditional Czech Lands. It is located in the contemporary Czech Republic with its capital in Prague...

 (now the Czech Republic
Czech Republic
The Czech Republic is a landlocked country in Central Europe. The country is bordered by Poland to the northeast, Slovakia to the east, Austria to the south, and Germany to the west and northwest....

) to Alois Reimann and his wife Růžena. Following the death of his mother and the bankruptcy of his father's shop the family moved to Prague
Prague
Prague is the capital and largest city of the Czech Republic. Situated in the north-west of the country on the Vltava river, the city is home to about 1.3 million people, while its metropolitan area is estimated to have a population of over 2.3 million...

 in 1905. Raymond started at the Reálné gymnasium (secondary school aimed at more technical/practical sciences) in Kladno, then continued on the same kind of school in Prague.

In 1906 he entered the Czech Polytechnic Institute
Czech Technical University in Prague
Czech Technical University in Prague is one of the largest universities in the Czech Republic, and the oldest institute of technology in Central Europe....

, studying under Josef Schultz and Jan Koula. He completed his studies in Trieste
Trieste
Trieste is a city and seaport in northeastern Italy. It is situated towards the end of a narrow strip of land lying between the Adriatic Sea and Italy's border with Slovenia, which lies almost immediately south and east of the city...

 in 1910 before leaving for New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...

. There, he began a three year employment with Cass Gilbert, working on a number of projects including the Woolworth Building
Woolworth Building
The Woolworth Building is one of the oldest skyscrapers in New York City. More than a century after the start of its construction, it remains, at 57 stories, one of the fifty tallest buildings in the United States as well as one of the twenty tallest buildings in New York City...

 and the Austin, Nichols
Austin, Nichols
Austin, Nichols & Company, Inc. USA, is a distilling company producing several brands of beverages, including the Wild Turkey whiskeys. It is a division of Campari Group....

 and Company Warehouse in Brooklyn
Brooklyn
Brooklyn is the most populous of New York City's five boroughs, with nearly 2.6 million residents, and the second-largest in area. Since 1896, Brooklyn has had the same boundaries as Kings County, which is now the most populous county in New York State and the second-most densely populated...

. His experience on the latter of these gave him an insight into the structural and textural properties of concrete.

He began studying painting at the Independent School of Art in the Lincoln Square Arcade Building in 1912, but was forced to curtail a painting trip to Italy and North Africa with the onset of World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...

. On his trip back to New York, he met his future wife and business partner, Noémi Pernessin, and they were wed on 15 December 1914.

Through the influence of a mutual friend, Frank Lloyd Wright agreed to employ Raymond from May 1916.

Employment with Frank Lloyd Wright

Initially, Raymond and Noémi worked with Frank Lloyd Wright at Taliesin
Taliesin
Taliesin was an early British poet of the post-Roman period whose work has possibly survived in a Middle Welsh manuscript, the Book of Taliesin...

 in Spring Green
Spring Green, Wisconsin
Spring Green is a village in Sauk County, Wisconsin, United States. The population was 1,444 at the 2000 census. The village is located within the Town of Spring Green.-Geography:Spring Green is located at ....

, Wisconsin
Wisconsin
Wisconsin is a U.S. state located in the north-central United States and is part of the Midwest. It is bordered by Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake Michigan to the east, Michigan to the northeast, and Lake Superior to the north. Wisconsin's capital is...

. In 1917 he enlisted with the United States Army
United States Army
The United States Army is the main branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for land-based military operations. It is the largest and oldest established branch of the U.S. military, and is one of seven U.S. uniformed services...

 serving overseas with the American Expeditionary Force
American Expeditionary Force
The American Expeditionary Forces or AEF were the United States Armed Forces sent to Europe in World War I. During the United States campaigns in World War I the AEF fought in France alongside British and French allied forces in the last year of the war, against Imperial German forces...

. Upon his discharge from the army and his return to New York, Wright persuaded him to go to Tokyo with him to work on the Imperial Hotel
Imperial Hotel, Tokyo
The Imperial Hotel, Tokyo, Japan, was created in the late 1880s at the request of the Japanese aristocracy to cater to the increasing number of western visitors to Japan. The hotel site is located just south of the Imperial Palace grounds, next to the previous location of the Palace moat...

.

Although he remained as Wright's chief assistant for one year, he soon became bored with the work. He became concerned that "the design had nothing in common with Japan, its climate, its traditions, its people and its culture". Also, whilst his work with Gilbert showed him the great possibilities of concrete, Wright did not see concrete in the same way, preferring to encase it with brickwork or carved Oya Stone
Oya stone
is a igneous rock, created from lava and ash. Ōya stone was famously used in the facing of Frank Lloyd Wright's Imperial Hotel in Tokyo. One reason this stone was used is because it has a warm texture and is easily carved, which allows much versatility...

.

Although Raymond proposed to continue working for Wright, he was eventually dismissed in January 1921. In February of the same year he set up the American Architectural and Engineering Company in Tokyo with Leon Whittaker Slack.

Inter-war years

In the Tokyo Women's Christian College
Tokyo Woman's Christian University
, often abbreviated to or TWCU, is a university in Tokyo Japan.-Founding:TWCU was established by Nitobe Inazō , a Japanese agricultural economist and educator, who was appointed as the first president in 1918. The first classes were held in Tsunohazu...

, commenced in 1924, Raymond's architecture can be seen to still be heavily influenced by Wright. Its low, hipped roof and overhanging eaves are reminiscent of Wright's Prairie Houses. This early work also demonstrates his interest in Czech Cubism
Czech Cubism
Czech Cubism was an avant-garde art movement of Czech proponents of Cubism, active mostly in Prague from 1910 to 1914.Members of this movement realised the epochal significance of the Cubism of Pablo Picasso and Georges Braque and attempted to extract its components for their own work in all...

 and the work of Auguste Perret
Auguste Perret
Auguste Perret was a French architect and a world leader and specialist in reinforced concrete construction. In 2005 his post-WWII reconstruction of Le Havre was declared by UNESCO one of the World Heritage Sites....

.

After their own house was destroyed in the Great Kantō earthquake
1923 Great Kanto earthquake
The struck the Kantō plain on the Japanese main island of Honshū at 11:58:44 am JST on September 1, 1923. Varied accounts hold that the duration of the earthquake was between 4 and 10 minutes...

, Raymond designed a new one, the Reinanzaka House, in Azabu, Tokyo
Azabu
is an area within Minato in Tokyo, Japan, built on a marshy area of foothills south of central Tokyo. Its coverage roughly corresponds to that of the former Azabu Ward, presently consisting of nine official districts: Azabu-Jūban, Azabudai, Azabu-Nagasakachō, Azabu-Mamianachō, Nishi-Azabu,...

. His desire to free himself from Wright's influence led him to explore spatial relationships between living, working and dining areas and how spaces could be closed off with folding screens. The house is built almost entirely of in situ
In situ
In situ is a Latin phrase which translated literally as 'In position'. It is used in many different contexts.-Aerospace:In the aerospace industry, equipment on board aircraft must be tested in situ, or in place, to confirm everything functions properly as a system. Individually, each piece may...

 concrete. Raymond's workforce were enthusiastic in their use of this new material, likening it to the walls of traditional storehouses. The house itself had metal fenestration, tubular steel trellises and traditional rain chain
Rain chain
Rain chains are alternatives to a downspout. They are widely used in Japan. Their purpose is largely decorative, to make a water feature out of the transport of rainwater from the guttering downwards to a drain or to a storage container...

s rather than rainwater downpipes. The interior too was well in advance of other houses of the International Style
International style (architecture)
The International style is a major architectural style that emerged in the 1920s and 1930s, the formative decades of Modern architecture. The term originated from the name of a book by Henry-Russell Hitchcock and Philip Johnson, The International Style...

 with the use of cantilevered tubular steel furniture.

After a number of staff changes, the practice was renamed Antonin Raymond, Architect.

Despite becoming a naturalized American citizen in 1916, Raymond became the honorary consul for the Czechoslovak Republic, representing the government of T. G. Masaryk. This gave him influence outside those circles normally associated with an architect of his age. From 1928 to 1930, Raymond designed and remodelled the American, Soviet and French embassies. He also undertook work for the Rising Sun Petroleum Company, designing 17 earthquake-proof and fireproof employee houses, the general office building, the manager's residence and two prototype service stations, one in steel and the other in concrete. All were constructed in an International Modern Style
International style (architecture)
The International style is a major architectural style that emerged in the 1920s and 1930s, the formative decades of Modern architecture. The term originated from the name of a book by Henry-Russell Hitchcock and Philip Johnson, The International Style...

.

Since the Reinanzaka House, Raymond had been interested in the work of French architect Le Corbusier
Le Corbusier
Charles-Édouard Jeanneret, better known as Le Corbusier , was a Swiss-born French architect, designer, urbanist, writer and painter, famous for being one of the pioneers of what now is called modern architecture. He was born in Switzerland and became a French citizen in 1930...

. He acknowledged that further contribution of Corbusier's ideas to the practice came in 1930, when Kunio Maekawa
Kunio Maekawa
was a Japanese architect.-Formative years:He entered First Tokyo Middle School in 1918, and then Tokyo Imperial University in 1925. After graduation in 1928, he travelled to France to apprentice with Le Corbusier. In 1930 he returned to Japan and worked with Antonin Raymond, and in 1935 established...

 (who had just returned from two years working for Le Corbusier in his Paris Office) joined. He later applied Le Corbusier's ideas to vernacular Japanese architecture
Japanese architecture
' originated in prehistoric times with simple pit-houses and stores that were adapted to a hunter-gatherer population. Influence from Han Dynasty China via Korea saw the introduction of more complex grain stores and ceremonial burial chambers....

. Based upon Le Corbusier's unbuilt residential scheme for Mr Errazuris in Chile
Chile
Chile ,officially the Republic of Chile , is a country in South America occupying a long, narrow coastal strip between the Andes mountains to the east and the Pacific Ocean to the west. It borders Peru to the north, Bolivia to the northeast, Argentina to the east, and the Drake Passage in the far...

, he designed a summer house for himself in Karuizawa, Nagano
Karuizawa, Nagano
is a town located in Kitasaku District, Nagano, Japan.As of January 1, 2008, the town has an estimated population of 17,833 and has a total area of ....

. Where Corbusier had used rough masonry and a tiled roof, Raymond used cedar with larch thatch. Although the design was criticised by an American reviewer for being a copy of Le Corbusier's design, the Frenchman was so flattered and surprised that he included a photo of it in the third volume of his Oeuvre Complet:


Please be assured that there is no bitterness between us, but–as you yourself say–you made a slight mistake, that is you neglected to send me a note when you published the images of your Tokyo house, which is very pretty, by the way.

Extract of a letter from Le Corbusier to Antonin Raymond, 7 May 1935.

-Helfrich & Whittaker, 2006, The Architecture and Design of Antonin and Noemi Raymond, Princeton Architectural Press, p332




In 1922, Raymond had been admitted to Tokyo Golf Club and when it relocated to Asaka, Saitama
Asaka, Saitama
is a city in Saitama Prefecture, Japan. It was named in 1932 after Prince Asaka who was an honorary chairman of the Tokyo Golf Club, which relocated to the area at that time. Asaka town became a city on March 15, 1967....

 in 1932, he was asked to design it. His links to golfer Shiro Akaboshi also led to several residential commissions.

In 1937 in Tokyo, Articles of Association forming a new firm, Reymondo Kenchiku Sekkei Jimusho, were signed by Antonin, Noémi and a number of Japanese architects, including Junzō Yoshimura
Junzo Yoshimura
was a Japanese architect.- Early career:In December 1928, whilst a student at Tokyo's Fine Arts College, Yoshimura began part-time work at Antonin Raymond's office, becoming full time after he graduated in 1931...

.

The New Hope experiment

In 1939, Raymond's architectural practice in the United States began with the purchase and conversion of his farm and studio in New Hope, Pennsylvania. He and his wife's goal was to "create a physical and intellectual environment that mirrored and supported their approach to modern design-one that synthesised International Style developments with lessons learned from Japan's craft tradition". They hoped that the lifestyle and design ethos that they would create, would be simpler and more in tune with nature, similar in set up to Frank Lloyd Wright's Taliesin Fellowship
Taliesin (studio)
Taliesin , near Spring Green, Wisconsin, was the summer home of American architect Frank Lloyd Wright. Wright began the building in 1911 after leaving his first wife, Catherine Tobin, and his Oak Park, Illinois, home and studio in 1909. The impetus behind Wright's departure was his affair with...

.

The Raymonds modified the house to create a more open plan feel, separated by Japanese fusuma
Fusuma
In Japanese architecture, fusuma are vertical rectangular panels which can slide from side to side to redefine spaces within a room, or act as doors. They typically measure about wide by tall, the same size as a tatami mat, and are two or three centimeters thick...

 partitions and shōji
Shoji
In traditional Japanese architecture, a shōji is a door, window or room divider consisting of translucent paper over a frame of wood which holds together a lattice of wood or bamboo...

 screens. The rooms were filled with objects of art, including rugs designed by Noémi and crockery by the Mingei
Mingei
', the Japanese folk art movement, was developed in the late 1920s and 1930s in Japan. Its founding father was Yanagi Sōetsu .-Origins:In 1916, Yanagi made his first trip to Korea out of a curiosity for Korean crafts...

 designer Minagawa Masu.

Raymond developed a prospectus for aspiring architects to come and live and study at New Hope and he attracted at least 20. In addition to teaching practical design solutions, the apprentices had hands-on work with various building trades. Farm work and hay making contributed a physical aspect. Students included Junzō Yoshimura and Carl Graffunder
Carl Graffunder
Carl Graffunder is a mid-century modernist architect whose influence from European modernism, Frank Lloyd Wright and Antonin Raymond manifested in many residential and commercial structures mostly in Minnesota. He was born in Rock Island, Illinois and raised in Hibbing, Minnesota...

, and the farm was visited by people like Eero Saarinen
Eero Saarinen
Eero Saarinen was a Finnish American architect and industrial designer of the 20th century famous for varying his style according to the demands of the project: simple, sweeping, arching structural curves or machine-like rationalism.-Biography:Eero Saarinen shared the same birthday as his father,...

 and Alvar Aalto
Alvar Aalto
Hugo Alvar Henrik Aalto was a Finnish architect and designer. His work includes architecture, furniture, textiles and glassware...

.

Once the students had become settled, Raymond sought real-world projects for them to work upon, to put his theories into practice. Projects included an assortment of houses and extensions in New Jersey, Connecticut and Long Island.

In May 1943, the Raymond vouched for George Nakashima
George Nakashima
George Katsutoshi NakashimaGeorge Katsutoshi NakashimaGeorge Katsutoshi Nakashima( was a Japanese-American woodworker, architect, and furniture maker who was one of the leading innovators of 20th century furniture design and a father of the American craft movement...

 and his family, releasing them from a Japanese internment
Japanese American internment
Japanese-American internment was the relocation and internment by the United States government in 1942 of approximately 110,000 Japanese Americans and Japanese who lived along the Pacific coast of the United States to camps called "War Relocation Camps," in the wake of Imperial Japan's attack on...

 camp in Idaho, so that they could come and live at the New Hope farm.

A long journey home to America

In January 1938, Antonin, Noémi and their son left Tokyo bound for America. This six month journey took them initially to the Indian subcontinent and then on to Europe, including a trip to Prague
Prague
Prague is the capital and largest city of the Czech Republic. Situated in the north-west of the country on the Vltava river, the city is home to about 1.3 million people, while its metropolitan area is estimated to have a population of over 2.3 million...

.

In 1935, Raymond's office had accepted a commission to design a dormitory for the Sri Aurobindo Ashram
Sri Aurobindo Ashram
The Sri Aurobindo Ashram was founded by Sri Aurobindo on the 24 November 1926 . At the time there were no more than 24 disciples in the Ashram...

 in Pondicherry in southeast India. A preliminary site visit was made by George Nakashima and the schematic design was completed in 1936. Although Raymond had envisioned that the dormitory would be completed in six months, Sri Aurobindo was concerned that the noise of construction would disturb the ashram, so he decided that the building would be constructed by its residents.

Initially, Nakashima, Francois Sammer (a Czech architect who had worked for Le Corbusier in Russia) and Chandulal (a devotee who had trained as an engineer), built a full scale model of the dormitory in order to test the feasibility of the design, and then used it as a laboratory to further refine the construction methods. Nakashima's duties included doing very explicit detail drawings showing, for example, the design of the concrete formwork. Devotees even donated brass utensils so that they could be melted down to make door handles and hinges.

Raymond sought to mitigate the effects of the Pondicherry climate and orientated the Golconde dormitory (as it became known), so that its main facades faced north and south to make use of the prevailing breeze. A combination of moveable louvres on the exterior skin and woven teak sliding doors permitted ventilation without compromising on privacy. The building is still in use as an ashram today.

The war years (1941-1945)

With the approach of the Second World War, Raymond moved back to New York, ending the New Hope experiment. He formed a partnership with civil engineer Arthur Tuttle, structural engineer Elwyn Seelye and mechanical engineer Clyde Place. With the country's emphasis on the war effort, the company focused on US army contracts. Their work included: prefabricated houses at Camp Kilmer
Camp Kilmer
Camp Kilmer, New Jersey is a former United States Army camp that was activated in June 1942 as a staging area and part of an installation of the New York Port of Embarkation. The camp was organized as part of the Army Service Forces Transportation Corps. Troops were quartered at Camp Kilmer in...

, New Jersey (1942) and Camp Shanks
Camp Shanks
Camp Shanks, named after Major General David Carey Shanks was a United States Army installation in and around Orangeburg in the Town of Orangetown, New York. Situated near the juncture of the Erie Railroad and the Hudson River, it served as a point of embarkation for troops departing overseas...

, New York (1942–1943) and housing and an airport in Fort Dix, New Jersey (1943). Controversially, in 1943, Raymond was asked to design a series of middle class Japanese style homes on which the Army could test the effectiveness ordnance (specifically incendiaries). These houses were eventually erected on the Dugway Proving Ground
Dugway Proving Ground
Dugway Proving Ground is a US Army facility located approximately 85 miles southwest of Salt Lake City, Utah in southern Tooele County and just north of Juab County...

, nicknamed "Japanese village
Japanese village
Japanese Village was the nickname for a range of residential houses constructed in 1943 by the U.S. army in the Dugway Proving Ground in Utah, roughly a southwest of Salt Lake City....

". Raymond admitted in his autobiography that he was not proud of the work.

Practice with Ladislav Rado

After the war, Raymond's practice with Tuttle, Seelye and Place was dissolved. He formed a new company with another Czech architect, Ladislav Leland Rado (1909–1993), and named it Raymond & Rado. Although this company lasted until Raymond's death in 1976, they practised apart, with Rado in the New York office and Raymond in Tokyo. Whilst Raymond explored pottery and sculpture (making friends with Tarō Okamoto and Ade Bethune
Ade Bethune
Ade Bethune was a Catholic liturgical artist.She was associated with the Catholic Worker Movement, and designed an early masthead of its publication, the Catholic Worker, first used in 1935. She later re-designed this in 1985, replacing one of the men with a woman.Bethune was an advocate of...

), Rado pursued an orthogonal rationalism that Raymond would eventually distance himself from.

Projects in the United States during the late 1940s allowed Raymond to gain a foothold in occupied Japan. This helped to restart the building boom in occupied Japan after the war. This was mainly achieved through contacts made in his previous practice and those that he and Rado made in New York.

Their single storey Great River Station
Great River (LIRR station)
Great River is a railroad station on the Montauk Branch of the Long Island Rail Road, at Connetquot Avenue and Hawthorne Avenue in Great River, New York.-History:...

 on the Long Island Railroad, expressed Raymond's fondness for inexpensive, simple materials. It had fieldstone
Fieldstone
Fieldstone is a building construction material. Strictly speaking, it is stone collected from the surface of fields where it occurs naturally...

 retaining walls and a flat roof supported in each corner with a redwood post. The wide expanse of glazing created a modernist pavilion.

In the Chapel of Saint Joseph the Worker on Negros Island in the Philippines, Raymond worked with liturgical artist Ade Bethune, to produce mosaic murals and a lacquerware
Lacquerware
Lacquerware are objects decoratively covered with lacquer. The lacquer is sometimes inlaid or carved. Lacquerware includes boxes, tableware, buttons and even coffins painted with lacquer in cultures mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere.-History:...

 tabernacle
Tabernacle
The Tabernacle , according to the Hebrew Torah/Old Testament, was the portable dwelling place for the divine presence from the time of the Exodus from Egypt through the conquering of the land of Canaan. Built to specifications revealed by God to Moses at Mount Sinai, it accompanied the Israelites...

 inside the reinforced concrete church. The interior was adorned with colourful fresco
Fresco
Fresco is any of several related mural painting types, executed on plaster on walls or ceilings. The word fresco comes from the Greek word affresca which derives from the Latin word for "fresh". Frescoes first developed in the ancient world and continued to be popular through the Renaissance...

es by Alfonso Ossorio
Alfonso A. Ossorio
Alfonso A. Ossorio was an abstract expressionist artist who was born in Manila in 1916 to wealthy Filipino parents from the province of Negros Occidental. His heritage was Hispanic, Filipino, and Chinese. Between the ages of eight and thirteen, he attended school in England. At age fourteen, he...

. The church acted as a social centre for employees of the Ossorio sugar cane refinery.

The practice were also responsible for a number of parks and recreation buildings across the United States in the late 1940s, built largely to commemorate victory in the war.

The Reader's Digest Building

In 1947, Raymond petitioned General MacArthur for permission to enter occupied Japan in order to participate in the reconstruction process. His staff from Reymondo Kenchiku Sekkei Jimusho had looked after the drawings and documents of the office through the war and Raymond decided to reopen the office.

Raymond received the commission for the Reader's Digest Building from Mrs DeWitt Wallace
DeWitt Wallace
DeWitt Wallace , also known as William Roy was a United States magazine publisher. He co-founded Reader's Digest with his wife Lila Wallace and published the first issue in 1922.Born in St...

 on his return from Japan in 1949. She wanted a design that would show the best that America could offer. The site acquired for the building was opposite the Hirakawa Gate of the Imperial Palace. Its choice was treated with great resentment by the Japanese who felt that favouritism was shown by the Occupation authorities in allowing an American company to utilise a prominent site that would have served better as a park. Taking influence from Le Corbusier, Raymond responded to this criticism by masterplanning the site by using a Ville Radieuse
Ville Radieuse
Ville Radieuse was an unrealised project designed by the French-Swiss architect Le Corbusier in 1924.Although Le Corbusier had exhibited his ideas for the ideal city, the Ville Contemporaine in the 1920s, during the early 1930s, after contact with international planners he began work on the Ville...

 inspired layout with the building set in gardens with sculptures by the Japanese American sculptor, Isamu Noguchi
Isamu Noguchi
was a prominent Japanese American artist and landscape architect whose artistic career spanned six decades, from the 1920s onward. Known for his sculpture and public works, Noguchi also designed stage sets for various Martha Graham productions, and several mass-produced lamps and furniture pieces,...

.

The long, rectilinear, two storey building, had a double cantilevered frame supported on a single row of concrete columns. These columns tilted outwards from a vertical position. Floor to ceiling glazing on the second storey opened out onto a balcony running the length of the building. It included technical innovations from America including acoustic ceiling tiles, underfloor electricity ducts and fluorescent lighting.

It is considered the first large building in which Raymond managed to use his principles of simplicity, economy of materials, elegance and lightness learned from his residential works. Raymond cited the design of the Hiroshima Peace Museum
Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum
Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum is located in Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park, in central Hiroshima, Japan.It was established in August 1955 with the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Hall ....

 by Kenzo Tange
Kenzo Tange
was a Japanese architect, and winner of the 1987 Pritzker Prize for architecture. He was one of the most significant architects of the 20th century, combining traditional Japanese styles with modernism, and designed major buildings on five continents. Tange was also an influential protagonist of...

 as being an external imitation of the Reader's Digest Building.

Experimentation in Tokyo

Raymond purchased land in the Nishi Azabu
Nishiazabu, Minato, Tokyo
is a district of Minato-ku, Tokyo, Japan, which was a part of the former Azabu Ward.Nishiazabu borders Minamiaoyama on the north and west, Hiroo on the south, Moto-Azabu on the southeast, and Roppongi on the northeast....

 district of Tokyo to build his new office and living quarters. The office was built using the traditional Japanese post and lintel
Timber framing
Timber framing , or half-timbering, also called in North America "post-and-beam" construction, is the method of creating structures using heavy squared off and carefully fitted and joined timbers with joints secured by large wooden pegs . It is commonplace in large barns...

 type construction using unplaned timber logs. The office served as a proving ground for the latest American building innovations including veneered plywood and suspended metal ductwork for forced air heating. Taking influence from Le Corbusier's modulor
Modulor
The Modulor is an anthropometric scale of proportions devised by the Swiss-born French architect Le Corbusier .It was developed as a visual bridge between two incompatible scales, the Imperial system and the Metric system...

, Raymond used the traditional Japanese module of the ken
Ken (architecture)
A is a measurement in Japanese architecture. It has two principal uses:* As a proportion for intervals between the pillars of traditional-style buildings. The word is translated in this case in English as "bay". Traditional buildings usually measure an odd number of bays, for example 3×3 or 5×5...

 (based upon the size of tatami
Tatami
A is a type of mat used as a flooring material in traditional Japanese-style rooms. Traditionally made of rice straw to form the core , with a covering of woven soft rush straw, tatami are made in standard sizes, with the length exactly twice the width...

 mats) as a unit of measure to set out the building's structure. Again he used fusuma partitions and shoji screens, but in a modern way to divide up the spaces.

Raymond sought to use the design and construction of the office as a platform to inform prototype dwellings for the post war reconstruction of Japan.

In 1955, Raymond began a commission in Takasaki, Gunma
Takasaki, Gunma
is a city located in Gunma Prefecture, Japan.The city was founded on April 1, 1900.Takasaki is a regional transportation hub because its train station is the junction of several rail lines as well as a Shinkansen stop....

 Prefecture for a Music Centre to house the Gunma Symphony Orchestra. Out of respect for the historic site and the budget constraints, he designed a building built on three premises: it would have an economical structural system, there would be equality of sight lines and acoustics for each seat, and the building would have a low profile without a fly tower
Fly system
A fly system, flying system or theatrical rigging system, is a system of lines , blocks , counterweights and related devices within a theatre that enable a stage crew to quickly, quietly and safely fly components such as curtains, lights, scenery, stage effects and, sometimes, people...

. Raymond achieved these aims by using a series of 12 centimetres (4.7 in) thick, reinforced concrete ribs connected together like an accordion and spanning 60 metres (196.9 ft).

In 1961, he was commissioned to design the Catholic-based Nanzan University
Nanzan University
is a private, coeducational university located in Aichi Prefecture, Japan. The main campus is in the Shōwa Ward of Nagoya City, with another in Seto City and a recently established satellite campus near Nagoya's Takaoka Station on the subway Sakura-dōri Line....

 in Nagoya. It was one of the largest projects that he would undertake. The campus was orientated on a north south axis across rolling hills and the eight buildings were arranged to suit the typography and harmonise with the landscape. In-situ concrete is used throughout the scheme and each building has its own concrete form, some with pilotis, others with shells
Concrete shell
A concrete shell, also commonly called thin shell concrete structure, is a structure composed of a relatively thin shell of concrete, usually with no interior columns or exterior buttresses. The shells are most commonly flat plates and domes, but may also take the form of ellipsoids or cylindrical...

.

Located to the east of the Nanzan Campus is the Divine Word Seminary Chapel (1962). This is a building that exploits the plastic capacity of concrete, with two intersecting shells forming a bell tower. These are punctured with vertical slots which allow light to radiate along the curved interior walls.

Influence of his wife, Noémi

Born in 1889 in Cannes
Cannes
Cannes is one of the best-known cities of the French Riviera, a busy tourist destination and host of the annual Cannes Film Festival. It is a Commune of France in the Alpes-Maritimes department....

 to Swiss-French parents, Noémi moved to New York in 1900, and later studied Fine Art and Philosophy at Columbia Teachers College
Teachers College, Columbia University
Teachers College, Columbia University is a graduate school of education located in New York City, New York...

. Here, she was influenced by the painter and educator Arthur Wesley Dow
Arthur Wesley Dow
Arthur Wesley Dow was an American painter, printmaker, photographer, and influential arts educator....

. During Raymond's period of training as a painter, Noémi supported them both by doing graphic work for publications like the New York Sun and New York Herald Tribune
New York Herald Tribune
The New York Herald Tribune was a daily newspaper created in 1924 when the New York Tribune acquired the New York Herald.Other predecessors, which had earlier merged into the New York Tribune, included the original The New Yorker newsweekly , and the Whig Party's Log Cabin.The paper was home to...

. When they both moved to Taliesin she became interested in 3D design. She also polished her knowledge of Japanese crafts, becoming a broker for clients such as Rudolph Schindler's wife, Pauline Gibling.

Noémi's influence on Raymond during the inter-war years was substantial. She encouraged him to break away from Wright's rigid style and explore the design of the Reinanzaka House. She increased her interest in Japanese art and philosophy, including ukiyo-e
Ukiyo-e
' is a genre of Japanese woodblock prints and paintings produced between the 17th and the 20th centuries, featuring motifs of landscapes, tales from history, the theatre, and pleasure quarters...

 woodblock prints and introduced Raymond to various influential people, including the mystic philosopher Rudolf Steiner
Rudolf Steiner
Rudolf Joseph Lorenz Steiner was an Austrian philosopher, social reformer, architect, and esotericist. He gained initial recognition as a literary critic and cultural philosopher...

.

She expanded her design repertoire to include textiles, rugs, furniture, glass and silverware. Noémi exhibited in Tokyo in 1936 and New York in 1940, and her textiles were chosen by American designers like Louis Kahn
Louis Kahn
Louis Isadore Kahn was an American architect, based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. After working in various capacities for several firms in Philadelphia, he founded his own atelier in 1935...

 to cover furniture in their designs.

Noémi also contributed to the design of the studio in Nishiazabu and a series of Raymond's villas during the 1950s, including the Hayama Villa (1958).

A legacy in concrete


Ignored by Henry-Russell Hitchcock, Jr and Philip Johnson in their curatorial celebration of the International Style in 1932, and despite the homecoming exhibition of his work staged in the Rockefeller Center in 1939 and the AIA New York Chapter Medal of Honor that was awarded to him 17 years later in 1956, one has the feeling that Raymond's achievements were always somehow grudgingly received by his compatriots. And even now, over 50 years later... there remains a silent consensus in the field that is reluctant to acknowledge the unrivalled excellence and breathtaking scope of Raymond's architectural career.

Foreword by Kenneth Frampton

Kenneth Frampton
Kenneth Frampton , is a British architect, critic, historian and the Ware Professor of Architecture at the Graduate School of Architecture, Planning, and Preservation at Columbia University, New York....


-Helfrich & Whittaker, 2006, The Architecture and Design of Antonin and Noemi Raymond, Princeton Architectural Press, p9




When Raymond left Wright and set up his own office, he advertised himself as a specialist in reinforced concrete. He was aware of its textural properties from Cass Gilbert, its structural ones from Wright, and its benefits in relation to earthquake proofing. His first major independent project in 1921 was to design Hoshi Pharmaceutical School
Hoshi University
is a private university in Shinagawa, Tokyo, Japan, specializing in pharmaceutical sciences. The predecessor of the school was founded 1922. After becoming coeducational in 1946, it was chartered as a university in 1950....

, which was one of the first reinforced concrete buildings in Tokyo. Raymond used precast concrete to form decorative elements for the building, such as window mullions. In a partially successful experiment, he used wooden formwork
Formwork
Formwork is the term given to either temporary or permanent molds into which concrete or similar materials are poured. In the context of concrete construction, the falsework supports the shuttering moulds.-Formwork and concrete form types:...

 to imprint a texture onto the concrete (but he chose to cover it up).

On the Reinanzaka House, the labourers were skilled in the use of wood, and helped Raymond engrain the texture of cedar onto the concrete. This was further explored on the Tetsuma Akaboshi and the Morinosuke Kawasaki houses, where the concrete walls of the luxurious interiors were imprinted with cypress textures. On the Karuizawa Studio, workmen polished the concrete with sand and straw to reveal the texture of the aggregate. Whilst at Nanzan University, the south facing facades were cast with checkerboard patterns, with applied metalwork casting abstract shadows on the surface.

Raymond's techniques endeared him to the Japanese architectural psyche, and in 1958, the editor of the architectural magazine Shinkenchiku, Yoshioka Yasugoro remarked, "it is doubtful that concrete is handled with such pains anywhere except in Japan. The idea of an exposed concrete surface seems to fit in with Japanese ideas of decor." Post war architects like Tadao Ando
Tadao Ando
is a Japanese architect whose approach to architecture was once categorized by Francesco Dal Co as critical regionalism. Ando has led a storied life, working as a truck driver and boxer prior to settling on the profession of architecture, despite never having taken formal training in the field...

 have become famous for their use of exposed concrete.

Raymond's use of a traditional post and beam structure in concrete for the Reinanzaka House was a technique that was adopted by post war Japanese architects such as Kenzo Tange.

Predating Le Corbusier's work in Chandigarh
Chandigarh
Chandigarh is a union territory of India that serves as the capital of two states, Haryana and Punjab. The name Chandigarh translates as "The Fort of Chandi". The name is from an ancient temple called Chandi Mandir, devoted to the Hindu goddess Chandi, in the city...

, the Golconde dormitory used a monolithic concrete structure with deep overhangs and louvres to adapt to specific climatic conditions. The building pioneered the use of reinforced concrete in India.


Although Raymond's technique of exposing and perfecting concrete surfaces would come to be seen as "typically Japanese" over time, it is important to note that this entailed polishing and waterproofing the exposed surface rather than covering it with white tiles.

-Helfrich & Whittaker, 2006, The Architecture and Design of Antonin and Noemi Raymond, Princeton Architectural Press, p75




Antonin Raymond died at St. Mary's Hospital in Langhorne, Pennsylvania, on 25 October 1976, aged 88. His wife Noémi died four years later, aged 91. Raymond Architectural Design Office continues to practice in Tokyo.

Selected works

  • Reinanzaka House, Tokyo (1924)
  • Hoshi University Main Building, Tokyo (1924)
  • Embassy Villa, Nikko (1929)
  • Troedsson Villa, Nikko (1931)
  • Tokyo Golf Club, Asaka (1932)
  • Summer House, Karuizawa (1933)
  • Morinosuke Kawasaki House, Tokyo (1934)
  • Tetsuma Akaboshi House, Tokyo (1934)
  • Raymond Farm, New Hope (1939)
  • Raymond House and Studio, Azabu (1951)
  • Reader’s Digest Offices, Tokyo (1951)
  • Cunningham House, Tokyo (1954)
  • St. Anselm Church, Tokyo (1954)
  • Hayama Villa, Hayama (1958)
  • New Studio, Karuizawa (1962)
  • St. Paul Church, Shiki (1963)
  • Nanzan University Campus (1964

Awards

  • 1952 Architectural Institute of Japan
    Architectural Institute of Japan
    The Architectural Institute of Japan, or AIJ, is a Japanese professional body for architects, building engineers, and researchers in architecture....

     Award for the Reader's Digest Building
  • 1956 Medal of Honor by the New York Chapter of American Institute of Architects
    American Institute of Architects
    The American Institute of Architects is a professional organization for architects in the United States. Headquartered in Washington, D.C., the AIA offers education, government advocacy, community redevelopment, and public outreach to support the architecture profession and improve its public image...

  • 1957 First Honor Award of the American Institute of Architects and the Yawata Steel Worker's Union Memorial Hall Award of Merit
  • 1964 The Third Order of Merit of the Rising Sun by Emperor Hirohito
  • 1965 Design Award from the Architectural Institute of Japan for his design of Nanzan University, Nagoya

Publications

  • 1935 Antonin Raymond: His Work in Japan 1920-1935 published by Jônan Shoin, Tokyo
  • 1938 Architectural Details published by the International Architectural Association, Tokyo
  • 1962 The Works of Antonin Raymond Architectural Association Journal
  • 1967 Watakushi to nihon kenchiku (Myself and Japanese Architecture) A collection of writings and lectures, published by Kajima Shuppansha, Tokyo
  • 1970 Jiden (autobiography) published in Japanese by Kajima Shuppansha, Tokyo
  • 1973 Antonin Raymond: An Autobiography published by Charles E. Tuttle Company of Rutland, Vermont and Tokyo, Japan

External links

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