Shofuso, as the JAPANESE EXHIBITION HOUSE (designed by Junzo Yoshimura) in West Fairmount Park since 1958, stands at the nexus of multiple translations of architecture, culture, and living. Based on 17th-century Japanese precedents, the structure was made in Nagoya, Japan, the house was displayed at the Museum of Modern Art in New York from 1954-55 before finding its permanent home in Philadelphia. As a
paradigm of indoor/outdoor living between house and garden, Shofuso resonates with Yoshimura and broader constellation of architects from Frank Lloyd Wright to Antonin and Noemi Raymond, George Nakashima and their residences from Taliesin, Wisconsin to Karuizawa, Japan and New Hope, Pennsylvania.
Led by Ken Tadashi Oshima, professor of Architecture at the University of Washington, this conversation with Charlotte Raymond, co-director of the Raymond Farm Center for Living Arts & Design, and Mira Nakashima, President and Creative Director for George Nakashima Woodworkers, examines the ideals of Shofuso as well as the respective translations by individual designers.