Hiroyuki Suzuki (鈴木 博之,Suzuki Hiroyuki; May 14, 1945 – February 3, 2014) was a prominent Japanese architectural historian who also established a reputation abroad.
For most of his career Suzuki was Professor of the History of Architecture at theUniversity of Tokyo (1974-2009), and for a period was also Chairman of Tokyo University's Graduate School of Architecture.[1] Later in life he joined the faculty of the School of Cultural and Creative Studies atAoyama University. He was the author of over a dozen books and countless articles in Japanese, but was best known to English readers as the co-author (withReyner Banham and Kobayashi Katsuhiro) ofContemporary Architecture of Japan, 1958-1984 (New York: Rizzoli, 1985) andShuhei Endo: Paramodern Architecture (Phaidon Press, 2006),[2] among others.
His Japanese-language scholarship ranged from research on such prominent Meiji-period figures asJosiah Conder[3] andItō Chūta (伊東忠太),[4] to many works on contemporary Tokyo, a city to which he was strongly attached. He was among the first architectural historians inside or outside Japan to focus on Meiji and Taisho-period architects and architecture, and argue for continuities between this and the later post-war period when Japanese 'modern' architecture became globally influential.[5]
Suzuki was a strong proponent of preserving "modern", and not just "traditional" Japanese architecture, and did not shy from wading into development controversies.[6] As chairman of the Japanese branch of the Paris-based conservation groupDocomomo International, he oversaw drafting of a list of 135 "modern" Japanese structures worthy of protection.[7] He was a prominent member of the Architectural Consortium that in 2012 received theWorld Monuments Fund / Knoll Modernism Prize for saving and restoring the Hizuchi Elementary School in Shikoku, designed byMasatsune Matsumura in the late 1950s.[1] He also consulted on the restoration ofTokyo Station.[8]
For twelve years (1996-2008) Suzuki was one of three members of the Ad Hoc Group of Experts at the Coordinating Committee of Angkor (ICC), advising the Cambodian government on the preservation ofAngkor Wat[2]
Among many honors, Suzuki was a recipient of Japan'sMedal of Honor (褒章 hōshō) with Purple Ribbon for his service to scholarship.
