This study is a report on the design and construction process of “Fukushima Prefectural Government Office Building (1954)”. This building was designed by Koichi Sato (1878-1941). It began to construct from 1938 before WWII but completion was in 1954 after WWII and designed by Takekuni Ikeda (1924- ) who belonged to Toshiro Yamashita Architects Firm.
Namely, on this building, two architects, who were famous for Japanese modern architectural history, were involved until completion. But information more than that, for example, the details of design before WWII and competition after WWII is not clear. In this study, author tried to find it by the newspaper articles and the document which remains in government office.
The results are as follows:
1. This building project was begun earlier than “Shiga Prefectural Government Office Building” project which was the final completion before WWII. Nevertheless, it was not completed by delay of preparation of the construction materials. Author clarified the development process of the design of this building. Koichi Satoh designed five prefectural government office buildings. From the view of Satoh's careers of architectural work, this is the largest scale, the design which reflected all of his method of prefectural government buildings. And in case of “Shiga Prefectural Government Office Building”, he collaborated with Hiroshi Kunieda on the detail design phase. But in case of this, he designed alone. From these points, author showed that this building should be thought the grand sum for him in his prefectural government office building designs.
2. At first this building was designed in Reinforced Concrete Structure. But the construction of this building was cancelled after finishing first floor in 1939. After that, in 1940, this building extended second floor designed by Koichi Satoh by wooden frame structure. This extension is “Fukushima Prefectural Government Office Temporary Building” which no one knows in his architectural works. Author found its' outside appearance.
3. Author clarified, to some extent, the detail of the nomination design competition held in 1952. About this competition, only Takekuni Ikeda, who joined this as a chief designer of Toshiro Yamashita's Architect Firm wrote, but no one knows more than that. Four architects, who were Toshiro Yamashita, Yoshitoki Nishimura, Gumpei Matsuda, and Takeo Satoh, submitted their design for this competition. And Design Committee consisted of three referees, who were Hideto Kishida, Denji Nakamura, and Seiichi Kobayashi, chose Yamashita's design. Author found three designs to four submissions. As a result of comparison, instead of the design like a symbol of the authoritarianism before WWII, referees seek the design like a symbol of the democracy, and they finally chose Yamashita's design.
