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Minoru Yamasaki (December 1, 1912 – February 6, 1986) was an American architect best known for his design of the World Trade Center which was destroyed in the September 11, 2001 attacks.

Torre Picasso, in Madrid.

The Conservatory of Music at Oberlin College, designed by Yamasaki in 1963. The distinctive style is similar to Yamasaki's design of the World Trade Center.

Yamasaki, born in Seattle, Washington, was a second-generation Japanese American. He earned a bachelor's degree from the University of Washington in 1934.^[1] He earned money to pay for his tuition by working at an Alaskan salmon cannery.^[2]

After moving to New York City in the 1930s, he enrolled at New York University for a master's degree in architecture and got a job with the architecture firm Shreve, Lamb and Harmon, designers of the Empire State Building. In 1945, Yamasaki moved to Detroit, where he was hired by Smith, Hinchman, and Grylls.^[3] Yamasaki left the firm in 1949, and started his own partnership.^[3] In 1964 Yamasaki received a D.F.A. from Bates College.

Yamasaki was first married in 1941 and had two other wives before marrying his first wife again in 1969. He died of cancer in 1986, and hence did not live to see the destruction of the towers on September 11, 2001.

His first significant project was the Pruitt-Igoe housing project in St. Louis, Missouri, 1955. Despite his love of Japanese traditional design, this was a stark, modernist concrete structure. The housing project experienced so many problems that it was demolished in 1972, less than twenty years after its completion. Its destruction is considered by some to be the beginning of postmodern architecture.

He also designed several "sleek" international airport buildings and was responsible for the innovative design of the 1,360 foot (415 metre) towers of the World Trade Center, for which design began in 1965, and construction in 1972. Many of his buildings are loosely inspired by Gothic architecture and make use of extremely narrow vertical windows. This narrow-windowed style arose from his own personal fear of heights.^[2]

Yamasaki was an original member of the Pennsylvania Avenue Commission, which was tasked with restoring the grand avenue in Washington, D.C., but resigned after disagreements and disillusionment with the design by committee approach.^[4]

After teaming up with Emery Roth and Sons on the design of the World Trade Center, they teamed up again on other projects including new defense buildings at Bolling Air Force Base in Washington, D.C.^[5]

• World Trade Center
• Pavilion at the Seattle World's Fair^[1]
• Dhahran International Airport - Civil Air Terminal^[1]
• United States Consulate in Kobe, Japan^[1]
• Pahlavi University in Shiraz, Iran^[1]
• Behavioral Sciences Building - Harvard University^[1]
• IBM Building, Seattle
• Lambert-St. Louis International Airport
• McGregor Memorial Conference Center, Detroit
• Pruitt-Igoe
• Military Personnel Records Center, St. Louis
• Oberlin Conservatory of Music
• One Woodward Avenue, Detroit
• M&T Bank Center, Buffalo
• Wascana Centre and the University of Regina
• Century Plaza Towers , Los Angeles

• Yamasaki won the American Institute of Architects' First Honor Award three times.^[1]

• Design and construction of the World Trade Center

1. ^ ^{a b c d e f g} Esterow, Milton. "Architect Named for Trade Center", The New York Times, September 21, 1962.
2. ^ ^{a b} "Center Will Reflect Architectural Collaboration", The New York Times, January 19, 1964.
3. ^ ^{a b} Huxtable, Ada Louise. "Pools, Domes, Yamasaki - Debate", The New York Times, November 25, 1962.
4. ^ Huxtable, Ada Louise. "N.Y.C. Architectural Ups and Downs", The New York Times, February 2, 1964.
5. ^ Robbins, William. "2 Firms Are Welding Abilities to Plan World Trade Center", The New York Times, March 26, 1967.

• GreatBuildings.com listing
• Seattle Architect Created Trade Center as Peace Symbol Seattle P-I, September 13, 2001
• Photo of Yamasaki Building in Detroit