FOBA

Book excerpt: "FOBA has reached far beyond the aesthetics of minimalism in vogue with most other young, contemporary Japanese architects. FOBA: Buildings, the first monograph on this Kyoto-based firm, features ten projects of surprising range, with undulating lines, overlapping cubes, interpenetrating forms, and unexpected juxtapositions. Included in the monograph are Aura, whose gently curving planes glow serenely in the heart of chaotic Tokyo: Pleats, composed of interior boxes nested asymmetrically within its shell; Strata, a microcosm of the city created by the accumulation of seemingly disparate elements; and Stack, whose carefully misaligned volumes shape unexpected spaces. This collection of FOBA's buildings reveals a spectrum of architecture that is as subtle and simple as it is inviting, provocative, inspired, and complex." "The book also chronicles the FOB Homes system, an unexpectedly individual and creative response to the generic mass-produced prefabricated housing available in Japan. With five basic prototypes that can be easily adapted to any site or client, FOB Homes redefines the concept of standardized housing as anything but standard. FOBA's simple, neutral white boxes counter the visual, chaos of contemporary Japan and offer the elegance and experience of "architecture" to the general public - the reunion of modernist aesthetics with the modernist ideology of democratic, affordable design."--BOOK JACKET.