Antonin Raymond - Inter-war Years

Inter-war Years

In the Tokyo Women's Christian College, commenced in 1924, Raymond's architecture can be seen to still be heavily influenced by Wright. Its low, hipped roof and overhanging eaves are reminiscent of Wright's Prairie Houses. This early work also demonstrates his interest in Czech Cubism and the work of Auguste Perret.

After their own house was destroyed in the Great Kantō earthquake, Raymond designed a new one, the Reinanzaka House, in Azabu, Tokyo. His desire to free himself from Wright's influence led him to explore spatial relationships between living, working and dining areas and how spaces could be closed off with folding screens. The house is built almost entirely of in situ concrete. Raymond's workforce were enthusiastic in their use of this new material, likening it to the walls of traditional (kura (蔵?)) storehouses. The house itself had metal fenestration, tubular steel trellises and traditional rain chains rather than rainwater downpipes. The interior too was well in advance of other houses of the International Style with the use of cantilevered tubular steel furniture.

After a number of staff changes, the practice was renamed Antonin Raymond, Architect.

Despite becoming a naturalized American citizen in 1916, Raymond became the honorary consul for the Czechoslovak Republic, representing the government of T. G. Masaryk. This gave him influence outside those circles normally associated with an architect of his age. From 1928 to 1930, Raymond designed and remodelled the American, Soviet and French embassies. He also undertook work for the Rising Sun Petroleum Company, designing 17 earthquake-proof and fireproof employee houses, the general office building, the manager's residence and two prototype service stations, one in steel and the other in concrete. All were constructed in an International Modern Style.

Since the Reinanzaka House, Raymond had been interested in the work of French architect Le Corbusier. He acknowledged that further contribution of Corbusier's ideas to the practice came in 1930, when Kunio Maekawa (who had just returned from two years working for Le Corbusier in his Paris Office) joined. He later applied Le Corbusier's ideas to vernacular Japanese architecture. Based upon Le Corbusier's unbuilt residential scheme for Mr Errazuris in Chile, he designed a summer house for himself in Karuizawa, Nagano. Where Corbusier had used rough masonry and a tiled roof, Raymond used cedar with larch thatch. Although the design was criticised by an American reviewer for being a copy of Le Corbusier's design, the Frenchman was so flattered and surprised that he included a photo of it in the third volume of his Oeuvre Complet:

Please be assured that there is no bitterness between us, but–as you yourself say–you made a slight mistake, that is you neglected to send me a note when you published the images of your Tokyo house, which is very pretty, by the way. Extract of a letter from Le Corbusier to Antonin Raymond, 7 May 1935.

-Helfrich & Whittaker, 2006, The Architecture and Design of Antonin and Noemi Raymond, Princeton Architectural Press, p332

In 1922, Raymond had been admitted to Tokyo Golf Club and when it relocated to Asaka, Saitama in 1932, he was asked to design it. His links to golfer Shiro Akaboshi also led to several residential commissions.

In 1937 in Tokyo, Articles of Association forming a new firm, Reymondo Kenchiku Sekkei Jimusho, were signed by Antonin, Noémi and a number of Japanese architects, including Junzō Yoshimura.