For years, the Japanese have been infatuated with Manhattan real estate. Timeless and elegant, New York landmarks fronting gracious avenues are everything that the vast majority of Tokyo buildings are not.
While four national institutions hold major collections, the crowds at blockbuster traveling exhibitions of masterworks by native artists (Hokusai) or foreign ones (Monet) have catapulted Tokyo and Japan into the front ranks of museum attendance.
The London- and Edinburgh-based lighting design firm Speirs and Major Associates’ portfolio boasts a gamut of neon-hued urban landmarks, ranging from the Bridge of Aspiration in London to developments in Dubai.
While Foster + Partners was building a new home for the University of Toronto’s pharmacy school, the university commissioned Moriyama & Teshima to transform the 25-year-old building that the pharmacy school had just vacated, converting the sacred halls of academe into a spiritual center for the university community.