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Minoru Yamasaki (December 1 1912–February 6 1986) was a Japanese-American architect, born in Seattle, Washington, a second-generation Japanese American. A prolific architect, he is best known for his design of the World Trade Center the two main towers of which were destroyed in the September 11, 2001 attacks as well as the failed Pruitt Igoe housing project in St. Louis.
Biography Despite poor background, Minoru Yamasaki earned a bachelor's degree from the University of Washington; he earned money to pay for his tuition by working at an Alaskan salmon cannery when not attending classes. After moving to New York City in the 1930s, he enrolled at New York University for a master's degree in architecture and got a job with the architecture firm Shreve, Lamb and Harmon, designers of the Empire State Building. In 1964 Yamasaki received a D.F.A. from Bates College. His first significant project was the Pruitt-Igoe housing project in St. Louis, Missouri, 1955. Despite his love of Japanese traditional design, this was a stark, modernist concrete structure. It was so unpopular that it was demolished in 1972. Its destruction is considered by some to be the beginning of postmodern architecture. He also designed several "sleek" international airport buildings and was responsible for the innovative design of the 1,360 foot (415 metre) towers of the World Trade Center, for which design began in 1965, and construction in 1972. Many of his buildings are loosely inspired by Gothic architecture and make use of extremely narrow vertical windows. It is often reported that this narrow-windowed style arose from his own personal fear of heights. He was first married in 1941 and had two other wives before marrying his first wife again in 1969. Yamasaki did not live to see the destruction of the towers on September 11 2001, since he died of cancer in 1986. Works | ||||||||
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