Over 30 Architectural Projects Represented In One 3D Object


Courtesy of Fumio Matsumoto

Courtesy of Fumio Matsumoto

Architect and Project Professor at The University of Tokyo, Fumio Matsumoto put together more than 30 iconic buildings into a single 3D printed object called, “Memories of Architecture.” Façades, exterior forms, interior spaces, and structures of significant architectural works were reproduced at 1:300 scale and merged together in order from old to new.


Courtesy of Fumio Matsumoto

Courtesy of Fumio Matsumoto

By integrating architectural elements from ancient Egypt to the present age, notable trends over time emerge. Memories of Architecture demonstrates a shift from large to small forms and from enclosed to open spaces. The architecture in this 3D collage includes Karnak Temple, the Pantheon, Notre-Dame de Reims, Nandaimon Gate of Todaiji Temple, Villa Savoye, and the Moriyama House.


Courtesy of Fumio Matsumoto

Courtesy of Fumio Matsumoto

“Memories of Architecture” is part of “ARCHITECTONICA,” a permanent exhibit in the Koishikawa Annex at the University of Tokyo Museum of Architecture. The museum showcases architectural materials, miniature models and life-sized ethnological materials relating to space around the body.

Projects embedded in “Memories of Architecture” include:

  1. Karnak Temple (hypostyle hall and pylon), Egypt, 18th-12th centuries BC
  2. Persepolis (The Throne Hall), Iran, 520-330 BC
  3. Parthenon (colonnade), Greece, 447-431 BC, Pheidias, Ictinus, Callicrates
  4. Pergamon (retaining wall), Turkey, 3rd-2nd centuries BC
  5. Pont du Gard (three rows of arches), France, 19 BC
  6. Colosseo (exterior wall), Italy, 70-80
  7. Pantheon (dome), Italy, 118-128, Hadrianus
  8. Villa Adriana (wall of Poikile), Italy, 118-138, Hadrianus
  9. Casa di Diana (exterior wall), Italy, mid-2nd century
  10. Nandaimon Gate of Todaiji Temple (Daibutsuyo-style structure), Japan, 1199, Chōgen
  11. Cathédrale Notre-Dame de Reims (nave), France, 1211-1311, Jean d’Orbais
  12. Sainte Chapelle (buttress), France, 1242-1248
  13. Cattedrale di Santa Maria del Fiore (drum opening), Italy, 1296-1436, Giovanni di Lapo, Filippo Brunelleschi and others
  14. Palazzo Ducale, Venezia (colonnade), Italy, 14-15C
  15. Basilica di Sant’Andrea (façade), Italy, 1471-1512, Leon Battista Alberti
  16. Palazzo Farnese (exterior wall), Italy, 1530-1546, Antonio da Sangallo il Giovane, Michelangelo Buonarroti
  17. Basilica Palladiana (colonnade), Italy, 1549-1614, Andrea Palladio
  18. Monasterio de El Escorial (exterior wall), Spain, 1582, Juan Bautista de Toledo
  19. Katsura Imperial Villa (Shingoten), Japan, 1615-1663, Hachijonomiya Toshihito / Toshitada
  20. Bibliothèque Sainte-Geneviève (reading room), France, 1843-1850, Henri Labrouste
  21. Reliance Building (bay window), USA, 1890-1895, John Root, Charles B. Atwood
  22. Bauhaus Dessau (curtain wall), Germany, 1925, Walter Gropius
  23. Villa Savoye (pilotis), France, 1931, Le Corbusier
  24. Johnson Wax Headquarters (workroom), USA, 1939, Frank Lloyd Wright
  25. Kunio Maekawa House (gable roof), Japan, 1942, Kunio Maekawa
  26. Farnsworth House (universal space), USA, 1951, Ludwig Mies van der Rohe
  27. Makoto Masuzawa House (minimal house), Japan, 1952, Makoto Masuzawa
  28. Sky House (Elevated floor), Japan, 1958, Kiyonori Kikutake
  29. Gallaratese Housings (colonnade), Italy, 1969-1974, Aldo Rossi, Carlo Aymonino
  30. Moriyama House (small boxes), Japan, 2005, Ryue Nishizawa