joseph (joe)) fujikawa, 81, died december 31, 2003, at his winnetka home.
joseph fujikawa, born 1922 in los angeles, was an american architect who worked with ludwig mies van der rohe and took over his office after mies died.
his architecture was heavily influenced by his teacher and boss. his associates would say joe wanted to be more like mies than mies himself.
he began his studies of architecture in 1940 at the university of southern california and finished his undergraduate degree at the illinois institute of technology in 1944.
he also did a master’s degree under mies van der rohe at iit. in 1944 fujikawa started his architectural 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 (jerry) johnson and founded fujikawa johnson & associates.
fujikawa’s was forced to relocate to a colorado internment camp during his junior year of college led him to iit. he said, “i was there for about three months until i was admitted to iit. i applied because i heard mies was director, and i knew mies only by reputation from a book called the international style. the barcelona pavilion of mies’s was in there. that really impressed me.” mies said, “ja, come,” and fujikawa remained devoted to the miesian vocabulary for all his life.
survivors include his wife, grace; his daughter, elizabeth; his son, stephen; two sisters, aster ikezoye and mary nakatsu; and a brother, john fujikawa.
[ notable buildings ]
55 east erie, chicago
the buckingham, 360 east randolph, chicago
chicago mercantile exchange, 20 south wacker drive, chicago above > chicago mercantile exchange | 1987
columbus plaza, chicago
fairmont hotel, 200 north columbus drive, chicago
metcalfe federal building, 77 west jackson boulevard, chicago
north harbor tower, 175 north harbor drive, chicago
three illinois center, 303 east wacker drive, chicago
mutual benefit life building, chicago
two illinois center, chicago
fujikawa conterato lohan: formerly the office of mies van der rohe, was my second client in my own newly formed business. the first being chicago mayor michael (j) daley. i was asked by joe to create an identity and an award (above) for the world trade association in chicago. there i met the president of the association, robert s ingersoll. mr. ingersoll was chairman and chief executive of the chicago-based borg-warner corporation as well as former ambassador to japan. this began a great run of commercial real estate projects for my business. and i picked up mentors in both joe and jerry.
