[FDArchitects]

Arata Isozaki, 87, is incredibly prolific and influential among his contemporaries.
Deeply aligned with the period of change and reinvention that Japan experimented after Second World War and Allied Occupation. 
His career began working for fellow Pritzker Prize winner and Japanese architect Kenzo Tange in 1954, after graduating from the University of Tokyo with a degree in Architecture and Engineering.
Notable projects by Isozaki:

Ark Nova, Japan, 2013

Isozaki worked with artist Anish Kapoor to create this inflatable mobile concert hall, which was created to tour regions affected by a major earthquake and tsunami in 2011. 
It housed a 500-seat performance venue, and was made from a stretchy plastic membrane that could be quickly inflated or disassembled to be transported to a new location.  

Ark Nova is the first large-scale infalatable concert hall ever constructed. Conceived over a year ago, the mobile structure will open to the public on 14th October  2013 and will be host to concerts, events, and workshops in tsunami-damaged areas around the country.The walls of the structure are made from a stretchy plastic membrane, designed to enable quick erection and dismantling. To transport it to a new venue, the orb is completely deflated and loaded onto the back of a lorry alongside the disassembled equipment.

Nara Centennial Hall, Japan, 1999

A creature like building cladded in traditional fish-scale like ibushi style tiles, must have looked completely futuristic as it emerged from the most intriguing pantadome system. It was the first building of the kind where precast concrete panels were used to erect both walls and roof simultaneously. The overall appearence , to Isozaki's credit, mixes sucessfully tradition and future and still feels contemporary all those years later.


Under construction




Palau Sant Jordi, Barcelona, Spain, 1992

The architecture of the Japanese Arata Isozaki is characterized by two elements: the fusion of Eastern and Western elements with intensive technical and technological resources that provide their buildings featured a degree of modernity. 



Access : The room has access to door with two door 4.06m in height for easy entry of trucks and installers and the height of level 4, from the outer esplanade public access to various doors that create different circuits according needs. At level 1 provides VIP access, a differentiated circuit and 2 parkings.

Facilities : With a rectangular plant 126x140m and total covered area of 17.640m2, plus the versatile central space with counting Palau, where competitions and shows are performed, the museum has other service spaces that enable access, outputs, tours and performances are given with the greatest possible agility and comfort. Depending on the event space center court offers:
1. Track : 
– Total area available track: 3500-4500 m2 without retractable bleachers.
– Width retractable steps: 6m
– Length: 97m without retractable seating, 90m with retractable seating.
– Minimum width South: 37m without retractable seating, 32m retractable seating.
– Minimum width north: 33 m without retractable seating, 32 m with retractable stands.
– Maximum width: 52m without retractable seating, 40m with retractable seating.
2. Gateways on stage: 26,85 m maximum height, minimum height 22m, can withstand an overload of varying scenery between 230-280kgs per meter.
3. Changing rooms of various sizes, 7.7m2 4 plus 2 auxiliary rooms of 20.25m2.
4. paces for catering
5. Backstage : located on the first floor, 2 125 m2, 2 of 36 m2 and 24 m2 2
6. Palco VIP’ auxiliary reception rooms and separate entrances. Total 3 rooms: 1- Club Gaudí, with a free area 225m2, has a bar and is equipped with sound systems and projection. 2 – Club Isozaki, 126 m2. 3 – Club Montjuïc, 300 m2.
7. Dependencies press’ , 180 m2 properly equipped with independent circuits pagers, television and video.
8. Nursing ‘: at the backstage area, west side.
9. Special access for physically handicapped ‘.
10. Parking’ : for 5,000 vehicles near the plant, both mobile units media, VIP and assistants.
11. Several auxiliary rooms’ : room 280 m2, located east of the Palau Sant Jordi, 3 rooms of 30 m2 located east of Palau, 61.5 m2 1 living room south west Principal and 1 living 35 m2 south-west Main Hall

Structure
The structure of the complex was one of the key points of the work and also one of the most criticized since many professionals and part of Barcelona’s population harbored doubts about the results they give, especially as watertight enclosure.

And that cover an area of this size has never been an easy task and the variables involved in the structural calculations are such that nobody can guarantee that everything runs smoothly. To cover the impressive light the central space of the complex was chosen spatial mesh welded steel joints for being one of the lightest known structural systems. This structure 128x106m and 45m height from the floor of the sand to the top of the cover is mounted on the ground and erected using the “Pantadome” system
The roof structure has six hinges in a section, giving the appearance of instability. In fact, the structure is sufficiently stable due to the dimensional stabilizing effect.

Distribution spatial mesh nodes
The perimeter skirt is saved with castellated steel beams placed on various pending on the sheet that gives the organic look externally supported.

Pantadome System
So far the construction of the Palau San Jordi, engineer Mamoru Kawaguchi had only used the Pantadome System, its invention in simple forms hemispherical or barrel vaults. Both the assembly on the floor of the sections as the dimensions of curved segments were determined by the arrangement of the stands near center court. Segmented sections were joined by pins with different profiles until at one point gained, both visually and structurally a “dome effect.” In the range where the junction of the segments produces a skylight that allows continuous light beam was placed. The deck surfaces are finished with different materials, depending on the function of the spaces below, corrugated iron or ceramic tiles.

The end result of the cover shows a “Shiden-zukuri” effect, style of domestic architecture developed for palatial or aristocratic mansions built in Kyoto during the Heian period (794-1185) and subsequently became the type of architecture used for the teahouses. 

• Nodes of the spatial mesh. 
  

Below deck there are 130 nodes from which you can hang loads within certain conditions. They can be identified because they have a perforation at its bottom threaded.

Shanghai Symphony Hall, China, 2014

This prestigious concert hall is the new home of the Shanghai Symphony Orchestra. It includes two world-class performance venues - a 1,200-seat rehearsal hall and a 400-seat recording facility. The main performance hall provides surround video projection and visual intimacy for both performers and audience members alike, while the 400-seat space accommodates various acoustic ensembles' recording sessions.