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MULTIPLE IDENTITIES VIA SPIRITUALITY, HISTORIES AND CULTURAL RE-PRESENTATIONS 153In the early 70s, Arata Isozaki, the new generationarchitect of that time, became widely recognizedthrough many of his important architectural creationssuch as The Kitakyushu City Museum of Art,Fukuoka and The Museum of Modern Art, Gunma(finished in 1974). Kisho Kurokawa, anotherimportant architect from the same generation,designed the Saitama Prefectural Museum of ModernArt (finished in 1982).The works produced during this period took the firststep into the realm of late Modernism where geometricforms were not distinctively visible. Instead, thearchitecture played with the diversity of form andspace, which seemed to allow the Japanese architects toconceptualize and crystallize their own architecturalnotion and identity.The Third Generation Art Museum (1980-1990)This decade marked the time when art museums grewsubstantially both in terms of size and function.Theaters, concert halls, and workshop areas were thepopular add-ons that allowed viewers to have a morecollective experience in museums. Since the venueswere getting bigger physically, areas such as a café and arestaurant were put in, mainly to accommodate theviewers so that they could spend more time in themuseums.This period can, more or less, be considered as theRenaissance of art museum construction due to themassive financial injection art museums enjoyed fromthe country’s bubble economy. Japan entered therealm of architectural transformation, stepping intothe third generation with the rise of influentialarchitects of the era, particularly the renownedprotégés of Kenzo Tange: Kisho Kurokawa, FumihikoMaki, Arata Isozaki, Yoshio Taniguchi, etc. Thesearchitects had had the chance to work on several artmuseum projects, both in and outside Japan, since theearly days of their profession back in the 70s. But it wasthe 80s that was considered the true golden era of thisgroup of architects.In an interview, Professor Hiroyuki Suzuki (2010 ), 3 aprominent architectural historian of JapaneseArchitecture, notably the Modern era, explained thenature of the social movements that were influencingJapanese architecture at the time. In 1969, universitystudents in Japan were actively participating in thepolitical movement that called for several changes inJapanese society then. Professor Suzuki was a studentat Tokyo University where the architecturalmovement emphasized the search for the manner bywhich to initiate massive residential projects, inresponse to the expansion of the urban fabric and theincreasing population. Nonetheless, when Japandeveloped into a country of better-quality living,which was the result of its post-war economic revivaland advanced technology, Japanese architecture veeredtoward a more individual direction. Such change canbe seen in the abundant births of architectureconceived in the 80s and the early 90s—the timeswhen Japan’s bubble economy reached its highestcapacity prior to the explosion that led the country toeconomic recession.Kyoto National Museum of Modern Art, Kyoto, Architect Fumihiko Maki (1986). Photos by Aroon Puritat.The Work of the 2010/2011 API Fellows