Gengo Matsui

Gengo Matsui ( 松井源吾, Matsui Gengo) (1920-1996) was a prominent Japanese structural engineer and a professor at Waseda University.

Gengo Matsui
Nationality	Japanese
Education	Waseda University
Occupation	Engineer

Gengo Matsui is best known for his structural design of notable buildings like the Nakagin Capsule Tower (1972), Osaka Expo Tower (1970), Toku’un-ji Temple Ossuary (1965), and Hotel Tokoen (1964). He was active both academically through his research lab at Waseda University and professionally through his structural design office ORS, which he established in Tokyo after graduating in 1943. Among architects and collaborators, Matsui was known for consistently using photoelasticity to understand and explain the behavior of structures. He used photoelastic experiments both as a visual tool to investigate force flows within common structural members as well as a tool to communicate structural design ideas to architects. During his prolific career, Matsui collaborated with famous Japanese architects such as Kiyonori Kikutake (1928-2011), Kisho Kurokawa (1934-2007), Toyo Ito (born 1941), and Shigeru Ban (born 1957).[1] Unconventional engineering solutions were often the result of such collaborations. Some of them like the void slab system (patented in 1974) are still widely used today.

After Matsui retired from Waseda University, the Matsui Gengo Prize for structural design was established. A total of 15 honorable contributions to the field of structural design were awarded with the Matsui Gengo Prize between 1991 and 2005. Among the winners were the Irish structural engineer Peter Rice for his work on the Kansai International Airport (awarded in 1995) and the British Sri Lankan engineer Cecil Balmond for his work on the Ito-Balmond Serpentine Pavilion (awarded in 2003).

List of works

• Nakagin Capsule Tower (1972 - Demolished in 2022)
• Osaka Expo Tower (1970)
• Toku’un-ji Temple Ossuary (1965)
• Hotel Tokoen (1964)
• Waseda University Faculty of Science and Engineering Building No. 51 (1967)
• BIGBOX Takadanobaba (1973)
• Setagaya Museum of Art (1985)
• Tatebayashi City Hall (1963)

Publications

• Structural Design in Japanese Architecture Gengo Matsui Works 1955-1989 English (Gengo Matsui) (1993)
• Wood joints in classical Japanese architecture (Torashichi Sumiyoshi, Gengo Matsui) (1989)

References

• G. Matsui, Fringes: a visual approach to the understanding of structures. Tokyo, Japan: Kajima Institute Publishing Co., Ltd., 1986.
• Coker, E. G., Filon, L. N. G. 1931. A Treatise on Photo-Elasticity. Cambridge University Press. doi:https://doi.org/10.2307/3605934.
• Matsui, Gengo, and Haruo Tsukakoshi. 1991. “Analysis of Shear Stress Concentration for Hollow Slabs Subjected to Shear Force Perpendicular to the Axis of the Holes.” Journal of Struct. Constr. Eng., no. 421.
• Matsui, Gengo. 1977a. Introduction to Structural Design in Architecture.
• Maleva, Viktoriya, Alessandro Garzanti, Yasumasa Shimizu, and  Federico  Bertagna.  2022.  “Gengo  Matsui: The Contribution of a Structural Engineer to Post- War Japanese Architecture.” In Proceedings of the IASS 2022 Symposium. Beijing, China.
• Bertagna, Federico & Harada, Tazuru. (2024). A visual approach to structural design: photoelasticity as a collaborative tool in Gengo Matsui’s work.
• Kurimoto. 2020. “Winding Pipe. Void Slab for Construction.”  Available at: http://www.kurimoto.co.jp/ (Accessed: 13.10.2024).