is a Japanese

architect An architect is a person who plans, designs and oversees the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to provide services in connection with the design of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the buildings that h ...

. He was born in Shizuoka, Japan. He worked with

Renzo Piano Renzo Piano (; born 14 September 1937) is an Italian architect. His notable buildings include the Centre Georges Pompidou in Paris (with Richard Rogers, 1977), The Shard in London (2012), the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York City (2 ...

for twenty years in Europe, from the designing construction supervision of the

Centre Georges Pompidou The Centre Pompidou (), more fully the Centre national d'art et de culture Georges-Pompidou ( en, National Georges Pompidou Centre of Art and Culture), also known as the Pompidou Centre in English, is a complex building in the Beaubourg area of ...

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. Si ...

. In 1988, Okabe, then the representative of

Renzo Piano Building Workshop Renzo, the diminutive of Lorenzo, is an Italian masculine given name and a surname. Given name Notable people named Renzo include the following: * Renzo Alverà (1933–2005), Italian bobsledder *Renzo Arbore (born 1937), Italian TV host, sho ...

in Japan, won the international competition of

Kansai International Airport Kansai International Airport ( ja, 関西国際空港, Kansai Kokusai Kūkō) commonly known as is the primary international airport in the Greater Osaka Area of Japan and the closest international airport to the cities of Osaka, Kyoto, and ...

Terminal Building and was responsible for the design and construction supervision. While not currently on display, the

Museum of Modern Art The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) is an art museum located in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, on 53rd Street between Fifth and Sixth Avenues. It plays a major role in developing and collecting modern art, and is often identified as one of t ...

holds a model of the building's main structural truss in its Architecture and Design department. After the construction of the Terminal Building, he established Noriaki Okabe Architecture Network in 1995 in Tokyo. While Okabe's practice has since expanded beyond architecture into

industrial design Industrial design is a process of design applied to physical products that are to be manufactured by mass production. It is the creative act of determining and defining a product's form and features, which takes place in advance of the manufactu ...

, including the

Odakyu 50000 series VSE The or VSE (Vault Super Express) is an electric multiple unit (EMU) train operated by Odakyu Electric Railway on ''Romancecar'' services in Japan. Two 10-car articulated sets were introduced in March 2005, manufactured by Nippon Sharyo. The t ...

train. In 2009 he collaborated with Belgian architect Jean-Michel Jaspers in designing the Belgian Embassy in Tokyo.Flanders Today
/ref>

Notable projects

Terminal Building,

Japan, Osaka * Ushibuka Haiya Bridge,

Japan, Nagasaki, Japan * Housing in Sakura-shinmachi, Tokyo, Japan * Valeo Unisia Transmissions Atsugi (factory), Kanagawa, Japan *

train design *

Odakyu 60000 series MSE The (Multi Super Express) is a Romancecar electric multiple unit (EMU) train type operated by the private railway operator Odakyu Electric Railway in Japan since March 2008. The trains are used on Odakyu through service to the Tokyo Metro Chiy ...

train design * Belgian Embassy, Tokyo, Japan (collaboration with Belgian landscape architect Aldrik Heirman) *

Hakone Tozan 3000 series The is a single-car electric multiple unit (EMU) train type operated by the Japanese private railway operator Hakone Tozan Railway on its steeply graded Hakone Tozan Line since 1 November 2014. Overview The fleet consists of two single-car u ...

train design * Odakyu 30000 series EXEα train refurbishment programme from fiscal 2016 * Odakyu 70000 series train design File:Odakyu 50000 VSE 20100515.jpg, An Odakyu 50000 series train File:Odakyu MSE60000kei asagiri.JPG, An Odakyu 60000 series train File:Tozan ALLEGRA Gora Sta 20141102.jpg, A Hakone Tozan Railway 3000 series train

References

External links

Noriaki Okabe Architecture Network official site
{{DEFAULTSORT:Okabe, Noriaki 1947 births Living people Japanese architects