A Famous Japanese American

Friday June 9th. I am reasearching for a presenation about the United States, and I come across the name of a Japanese American, Minoru Yamasaki. Minoru Yamasaki graduated from the University of Washington in Seattle, and went on to become a famous postmodern architect and designer. In Seattle alone he is responsible for the Pacific Science Center, and Rainier Tower, which many Seattlites will reconize as the noticably top heavy office building on 4th and University. From about floor 12 down to the ground, the building tapers and gets skinnier making it appear to be balanced. He also designed the Conservatory of Music at Oberlin University, one of the most prestigious music schools in the US. The most famous of Yamasaki's works, however, was the World Trade Center in New York city, now in history for being destroyed in the September 11th terrorist attacks.


Rainier Tower in Seattle nicknamed "The Beaver Builder" for currently unknown reasons."

Yamasaki developed his style as a mixture of modern and tradition Arabic influences. He designed several major buildings in Saudi Arabia including their central bank. The Saudis liked the building so much that they decided to print it on a bill of their currency. Interestingly, many of these projects were funded by the Bin Laden family, who prefered Yamasaki's style of mixing traditional Arabic arches and columns with postmodern functionality. See the article "The Mosque to Commerce".


Looking down on the former World Trade Center courtyard

Indeed, the courtyard of the now in-memorium Twin Towers was designed by Yamasaki as a representation of Mecca, the Islamic holy city. This information certainly perks up the inquisitive/conspiracy theory personality in myself because I would like to know more about the relationship between the Bin Laden family and Yamasaki's work. Suffice it to say that Osama Bin Laden in planing his attack against the Twin Towers, found it compelling that they were designed using traditional Arabic architecture and housed what Bin Laden felt was the epitome of the morally decrepid capitalistic culture. The Twin Towers by Yamasaki's own words were meant to symbolize peaceful existence and exchange between the cultures of the world, but were probably seen by Bin Laden as an abomination to his religion.