The first monograph on the Japan-born, Sydney-based architect Koichi Takada is a love letter to organic architecture, humanistic values and holistic design. Form follows nature in the projects that grace its features more than 200 pages of photographs, sketches and images of nature interwoven with thoughtful descriptions and introspections penned by contemporary architecture virtuoso and former editor of Philip Jodidio. But this beautifully illustrated volume is much more than a simple ode to Takada’s work. It maps the architect’s progression from Architectural Association (AA) School of Architecture graduate to director of his eponymous practice, through years spent in Tokyo, New York, London and Sydney, and to the development, realisation and considered expression of what he describes as a shift in paradigm from industrial to natural through his designs. “We believe a greater empathy with nature will improve our inner-urban lives,” Takada writes. “So our architecture exists in harmony with the planet and the people who live and work on it.” A celebration of sustainable architecture in all its forms, is a journey through what our buildings, and our cities, could be if aesthetics were weighted and considered alongside the well-being of those that call them home and the environment in which they stand.
