Antonin Raymond - The Reader's Digest Building

The Reader's Digest Building

In 1947, Raymond petitioned General MacArthur for permission to enter occupied Japan in order to participate in the reconstruction process. His staff from Reymondo Kenchiku Sekkei Jimusho had looked after the drawings and documents of the office through the war and Raymond decided to reopen the office.

Raymond received the commission for the Reader's Digest Building from Mrs DeWitt Wallace on his return from Japan in 1949. She wanted a design that would show the best that America could offer. The site acquired for the building was opposite the Hirakawa Gate of the Imperial Palace. Its choice was treated with great resentment by the Japanese who felt that favouritism was shown by the Occupation authorities in allowing an American company to utilise a prominent site that would have served better as a park. Taking influence from Le Corbusier, Raymond responded to this criticism by masterplanning the site by using a Ville Radieuse inspired layout with the building set in gardens with sculptures by the Japanese American sculptor, Isamu Noguchi.

The long, rectilinear, two storey building, had a double cantilevered frame supported on a single row of concrete columns. These columns tilted outwards from a vertical position. Floor to ceiling glazing on the second storey opened out onto a balcony running the length of the building. It included technical innovations from America including acoustic ceiling tiles, underfloor electricity ducts and fluorescent lighting.

It is considered the first large building in which Raymond managed to use his principles of simplicity, economy of materials, elegance and lightness learned from his residential works. Raymond cited the design of the Hiroshima Peace Museum by Kenzo Tange as being an external imitation of the Reader's Digest Building.