PCAD - Yamasaki, Minoru, and Associates

Exterior view of the Century Plaza Hotel, Century City, Los Angeles, CA, 2008; from Wikipedia Commons, photo by Minnaert

Exterior view of the Minoru and Teruko Hirashiki Yamasaki House, Bloomfield Hills, MI, 2018. From Google Maps/Street View

Exterior view of the Pacific Science Center under construction, Seattle, 1961; from Wikimedia Commons and the City of Seattle Municipal Archives

view all images (31 of 7 shown)

Partners: network

Smith Sumiyo Nakata, Gyo Frederick Obata, Victor Eugene Steinbrueck, Minoru Yamasaki, Astra Zarina

Active 1949-

This firm designed nationally and was headquartered in Birmingham, MI. In 1962, other partners included: Henry J. Guthard, Robert L. Morris, Daniel L. Treacy, Alvin R. Prevost, Peter Turner, Alex J. Violassi and Aaron Schreier.

PCAD id: 287

Buildings and other works

Name	Date	City	State
Century Plaza Hotel, Century City, Los Angeles, CA	1964-1966	Los Angeles	CA
Century Plaza Towers, Century City, Los Angeles, CA	1968-1975	Los Angeles	CA
International Business Machines (IBM) Corporation, Office Building and Garage, Downtown, Seattle, WA	1963-1964	Seattle	WA
Japan Center, San Francisco, CA	1968	San Francisco	CA
Marine Bancorporation, Rainier National Bank, Headquarters Building, Downtown, Seattle, WA	1972-1977	Seattle	WA
Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, World Trade Center, Towers I and II, New York, NY	1966-1973	New York	NY
Rainier Square, Littler Clothing Store #2, Downtown, Seattle, WA	1977
Seattle World's Fair, United States Science Pavilion, Seattle, WA	1959-1962	Seattle	WA
Yamasaki, Minoru, and Teruko Hirashiki, House, Bloomfield Hills, MI	1972	Bloomfield Hills	MI

Publications

Yamasaki, Minoru, "13 IBM Office Building, University Properties, Inc.", A Life in Architecture, 104-106, 1979. Yamasaki, Minoru, "24 Rainier Bank Tower", A Life in Architecture, 168-170, 1979. Yamasaki, Minoru, "7 Federal Science Pavilion", A Life in Architecture, 70-75, 1979. Yamasaki, Minoru, "12 Century Plaza Hotel", A Life in Architecture, 97-103, 1979. Yamasaki, Minoru, "20 Century Plaza Towers", A Life in Architecture, 150-155, 1979. Olson, Sheri,, "Pride and prejudice: Minoru Yamasaki's Seattle legacy", Arcade, 23: 2, 10-13, 2004 Winter. "Theme Building for Seattle's Century 21 Exposition", Architect and Engineer, 220: 12-13, 1960-07. "Unusual structural wall for IBM in Seattle", Architectural Record, 104-107, 12/1963. "Seattle Votes for Architecture ", Architectural Record, 130: 95-106, 1961-08. "The Fair Becomes Seattle Center", Architectural Record, 133: 2, 02/1963. "Soaring ribbed vaults to dominate Yamasaki's design for Seattle fair", Architectural Record, 128: 147-148, 1960-08. "The Century Plaza: A Resort in Mid-City", Architectural Record, 08/1966. "Seattle AIA competition cites eight equal awards", Architecture / West, 69: 1, 9, 1963-01. Kiely, Joss , "The Function of Luxury: Visual and Material Abundance in Minoru Yamasaki’s U.S. Consulate in Kobe and Federal Science Pavilion in Seattle (1954–62)", Arts (Basel), 7: 4, 65, 2018. Woodbridge, Sally, Montgomery, Roger, Guide to Architecture in Washington State, 128, 1980. Woodbridge, Sally, Montgomery, Roger, "Rainier Tower, 1977", Guide to Architecture in Washington State, 127, 1980. "U.S. Architectural Landmarks in Concrete", Journal of the American Institute of Architects, 46: 4, 69, 10/1966. Ferguson, Roy, "Remembering Minoru Yamasaki (Letter to the Editor)", Michigan History Magazine, 101: 6, 7, 2017. Kidder, Paul, Minoru Yamasaki and the Fragility of Architecture, 2022. Gyure, Dale Allen, Minoru Yamasaki: Humanist Architecture for a Modernist World, 2017. "Littler to Move to New 'Corner,'", Seattle Post-Intelligencer, E2, 1976-10-17. Dizon, Kristin, "A movie and a view", Seattle Post-Intelligencer, C1, 08/04/2007. Cheek, Lawrence W., "Architectural Bummers", Seattle Post-Intelligencer, C1, C2, 09/25/2007. Vansynghel, Margo, "PacSci to join with Seattle Center as part of deal", Seattle Times, A11-A12, 2025-03-19. "Hall of Science architect has impressive record: Minoru Yamasaki", Seattle Times, 3, 01/23/1960. Farr, Sheila, "The history of museums: a history of our times", Seattle Times, Upchurch, Michael, "History set in stone", Seattle Times, C1-C2, 07/22/2008. "The Architect was told 'World Trade' so he Planned Big", Smithsonian Magazine, 01/1978. Gallagher, John , Yamasaki in Detroit: A Search for Serenity, 2015.

Exhibitions

Pre-Cast Concrete: New Shapes in Design

Links

Century City Fact Sheet Century Plaza Towers Minour [sic] Yamasaki, Architect of World Trade Center, Dies Pacific Science Center Briefing for Landmarks Preservation Board February 15, 2023 Rainier Square Bank Tower World Trade Center Disaster Yamasaki, Minoru (1912-1986), Seattle-born architect of New York's World Trade Center