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Biographical Summary
Joseph Fujikawa was born in 1922 in Los Angeles, California. He
began his study of architecture in 1940 at the University of Southern
California and completed his undergraduate degree at the Illinois
Institute of Technology in 1944. He also completed a master's
degree under Mies van der Rohe at IIT. In 1944 Fujikawa began
his career in the Office of Mies van der Rohe. In 1976, some years
after Mies's death, the name of the firm was changed to Fujikawa,
Conterato, Lohan & Associates. In 1982 Fujikawa joined Gerald
Johnson in founding Fujikawa Johnson & Associates. Throughout
his career Fujikawa remained devoted to the Miesian vocabulary.
He was elected to the College of Fellows of the American Institute
of Architects in 1979. Fujikawa died in Winnetka, Illinois, in
2003.
Interview Highlights
Fujikawa speaks about his interrupted study at the University
of Southern California; study with Mies van der Rohe; comparing
study at IIT with study at UCLA; Mies's Office; Promontory Apartments;
Federal Center; Herb Greenwald: developer and client; Office of
Mies van der Rohe and beyond.
Federal Center; Chicago, 1959-1974.
Illinois Center; Chicago, begun 1967. Photo by John Zukowsky.
Interview Excerpt
"In problem solving, Mies always took the approach of not
jumping to a solution or an answer immediately. That would disturb
him tremendously, because he'd say, 'Well, what have I forgotten?'
So his approach in problem solving, which we used so much, was
to say, 'Well, what else is possible? Regardless of how bad you
think it might be, put it on paper.' He constantly said, 'We'll
put them all down. If you have six possibilities, put them all
down. If you have ten, put them down. Whatever you think is possible,
try it.' If you had an idea, all he'd say was, 'Try it.' You know,
he gave you that freedom. Then by a process of elimination, we'd
line them all up and say, 'This one is better than that one because...,'
so that one goes out. Pretty soon you might end up, hopefully,
with one or two good possibilities, and then he would say, 'Well,
let's take it another step and see which is better, this one or
this one.' So that was his whole process of working on design
problems in architecture." (p. 6)
Other Resources at The Art Institute of Chicago
Architectural drawings may be consulted by appointment in the
Department of Architecture.
See also oral histories of colleagues at IIT: Jacques
Brownson, Werner Buch, Alfred
Caldwell, George Danforth, Charles
Genther, Myron Goldsmith, James
Hammond, Gertrude Kerbis, Reginald
Malcolmson, Carter Manny, William
Priestley, Ambrose Richardson,
A. James Speyer, Gene
Summers, and Y.C. Wong.
Funding for this oral history was provided by the Graham Foundation
for Advanced Studies in the Fine Arts.
About the Chicago Architects Oral History Project
Department of Architecture • Ryerson & Burnham Archives
Send questions or comments to:
Ryerson & Burnham Archives, Chicago Architects Oral History Project
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