This special issue of Japan Architect magazine is devoted to building sites, the places where architectural ideas assume physical forms.

Building sites are used as points of departure to examine the processes of trial and error in which architects engage to realise their buildings. There exists a trend among Japanese architects to be actively involved in on-site developments and to include construction processes in the scope of their designs. In focusing on what transpires at the building site, the moment when an architect’s creative consciousness is sublimated into the building and its spaces can be observed. The issue features seventeen recent projects, as well as examples completed from the 1950s through the ’80s.

This special issue of Japan Architect magazine is devoted to building sites, the places where architectural ideas assume physical forms.

Building sites are used as points of departure to examine the processes of trial and error in which architects engage to realise their buildings. There exists a trend among Japanese architects to be actively involved in on-site developments and to include construction processes in the scope of their designs. In focusing on what transpires at the building site, the moment when an architect’s creative consciousness is sublimated into the building and its spaces can be observed. The issue features seventeen recent projects, as well as examples completed from the 1950s through the ’80s.