The unconventional forms that led to Abe’s new function

AS Hitoshi Abe, founder of Japan’s award-winning Atelier Hitoshi Abe, takes over as chair of UCLA’s Department of Architecture and Urban Design, an exhibition of his work, “Body: Hitoshi Abe,” opens Wednesday at the university’s Perloff Gallery.

Running through June 6, the show highlights Abe’s exploration of how matter and technique affect each other, with a focus on six projects designed by his company from 1993 to 2004.

Abe, known for spatially complex, structurally innovative designs, says the exhibition of his diverse works will demonstrate his focus on “the relationship between material and technology.”

“Everything is made using technology as a kind of medium,” he says. “Usually, when you think about a building, there’s a foundation, there’s a post, a beam made of concrete or steel, but most of the projects that I’m presenting are not constructed that way.

“You see what technology can do to create architecture in a different way.”

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-- Lynne Heffley