Nobuko Tsuchiura
Quick Facts
Biography
Nobuko Tsuchiura (1900 – 1998) was the first woman architect in Japan.
The wife of architect Kameki Tsuchiura, also an architect, she trained with Frank Lloyd Wright. The couple worked with Wright on the Imperial Hotel. They returned to the United States with Wright and worked for him for two years as draftsmen. After their return to Japan in 1929, they established their own architectural firm. Besides designing homes, the firm also experimented with furniture design. However, her work was always presented under her husband's name, not her own. In 1937, she founded the Ladies’ Photo Club; at the time, photography was considered to be a more appropriate activity for women than architecture.
Nobuko Ogawa and Atsko Tanaka have published a book Big Little Nobu. Student of Frank Lloyd Wright Woman Architect Nobuko Tsuchiura.