Studio Ghibli: Architecture in Animation (Hardcover)

Studio Ghibli: Architecture in Animation (Hardcover)

A deluxe art book featuring exclusive commentary, sketches, concept art, and paintings detailing the unique architecture in Studio Ghibli’s films.

Explore the dazzling animated worlds of Spirited Away, Princess Mononoke, Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind, and more with Studio Ghibli: Architecture in Animation!

Learn how the visionary animation studio brings its vibrant worlds to life through hundreds of pieces of concept art, sketches, and background paintings that illuminate the architectural inspirations of Studio Ghibli’s animated classics. Distinctive interiors, imaginative exteriors, breathtaking landscapes, and the interplay between the three are all examined in detail through collected remarks from acclaimed director Hayao Miyazaki, exclusive commentary from renowned architect Terunobu Fujimori, and quotes from the artists and art directors of Studio Ghibli’s beloved films.

Readers will learn of the historical, architectural, and personal inspirations behind such iconic and inventive buildings and structures as the bathhouse from Spirited Away, Howl’s moving castle, and Satsuki and Mei’s country home from My Neighbor Totoro. This book is the perfect gift for all fans of Studio Ghibli’s timeless movies.

This book is the translated reprint edition of the catalog for the exhibition Studio Ghibli’s Architecture in Animation.

Biographical Notes:

Hayao Miyazaki was born in 1941 in Tokyo, Japan. After graduating from Gakushuin University in 1963 with a degree in Political Science and Economics, Hayao Miyazaki joined Toei Animation as an animator.

Miyazaki co-founded Studio Ghibli in 1985 with Isao Takahata, and has directed ten feature films since, including Castle in the Sky (1986), My Neighbor Totoro (1988), Kiki’s Delivery Service (1989), Princess Mononoke (1997), Spirited Away (2001), Howl’s Moving Castle (2004), and Ponyo (2008). His latest film, The Boy and the Heron, released in Japan on July 14, 2023, has been awarded the Golden Globe, BAFTA, and Academy Award® for Best Animated Feature in 2024.

Terunobu Fujimori was born in Nagano in 1946. He graduated from Tohoku University’s School of Engineering in 1971 before entering a master’s program with a focus on architecture at the University of Tokyo, which he left in 1978 after completing his coursework. He was a professor at the University of Tokyo’s Institute of Industrial Science and in the Faculty of Engineering, and has been the director of the Tokyo Metropolitan Edo-Tokyo Museum since 2016.

He made his architectural debut with the Jinchokan Moriya Historical Museum. In 1997, he won the Nihon Geijutsu Taisho Award for Genpei Asegawa House (Leek House), and in 2001, he received an Architectural Institute of Japan Prize for his dormitories for the Kumamoto Prefectural Agricultural University.