Sam Fox School to Host Panel on Celebrated Architect Fumihiko Maki

The Sam Fox School will host a panel discussion on Pritzker Prize-winning architect Fumihiko Maki (1928-2024). Known for his involvement in the midcentury Metabolist movement, his legacy and contributions to architecture and urban planning span the globe.

Maki launched his career as a young associate professor of architecture from 1956-62 at Washington University in St. Louis. Half of the Sam Fox School’s six buildings are Maki’s designs — including his first built work, Steinberg Hall (1960) — along with Walker Hall and the Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum. He also co-founded WashU’s Master of Urban Design Program in 1962.

Maki’s seminal work, Investigations in Collective Form, was published by WashU in 1964, and it has had continuing worldwide influence for urban designers. It articulates his theory of group form, which drew inspiration from the spatial organization of traditional towns and villages and emphasized architecture’s social and sequential aspects.

This panel celebrates the legacy of Maki’s theories of urban design in many contexts — notably in Asian cities — examining not only his major works, but also the ways he has shaped thinking about urban design for later generations of architects.

The panel, which is free and open to the public, takes place in Steinberg Hall on Friday, November 22, at 11:30 a.m. – 1:30 p.m.

Panelists include:
Cynthia Weese, BS ‘62 / BArch ‘65
Principal, Weese Langley Weese Architects
Dean of Washington University in St. Louis School of Architecture, 1993-2005

Ken Tadashi Oshima
Professor of Architecture, University of Washington

Colleen Chiu-Shee
Assistant Professor of Urban and Regional Planning, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign

Neeraj Bhatia
Principal, The Open Workshop
Associate Professor of Architecture, California College of the Arts

Michelle L. Hauk, moderator
Assistant Professor in Architectural History and Theory, Sam Fox School of Design & Visual Arts, Washington University in St. Louis

Friday, November 22, 2024
11:30 a.m. – 1:30 p.m.

Steinberg Auditorium
Sam Fox School of Design & Visual Arts
Washington University in St. Louis