Reiko Hayama (Japanese: 早間玲子, romanized: Hayama Reiko; November 9, 1933 – January 20, 2025) was a Japanese architect. She became the first architect from Japan to work in France.
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Biography
Reiko Hayama was born in Tokyo in 1933. She attended Yokohama National University from 1952 to 1958.
From 1959 to 1965, she worked for Kunio Maekawa, who had collaborated with the Swiss French architect Le Corbusier.
Hayama left Japan in 1966 and moved to Paris thanks to a Franco-Japanese collaboration scholarship issued by the French government. She became the first Japanese architect authorized by the French state to work in France.
In France, she spent three years collaborating with Charlotte Perriand, then spent 1969–1976 working with Jean Prouvé. The latter encouraged her to add a French degree to her Japanese credential, which she obtained.
In 1975, Hayama was named a member of the French Order of Architects. From 1976 to 2013, she ran her own architecture studio, Hayama & Associates. She often designed factories and offices for Japanese companies operating in France.
France named her a knight of both the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres and the Legion of Honour. In 2011, she was named 4th Class, Gold Rays with Rosette, in the Japanese Order of the Rising Sun.
Hayama died in Paris in 2025 at age 91.
Major projects
1975: Bank of Tokyo
1976: Maison du Japon at the Cité internationale universitaire de Paris (exterior renovation)
1978: Maison du Japon at the Cité internationale universitaire de Paris (interior renovation)
1978: Dupuis house, Chaville
1984 and 1994: Canon Bretagne S.A.S., Brittany
1990: Yamaha Music France S.A., Marne-la-Vallée
1990: Institut Culturel Franco-Japonais, Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines
1992: Konica-Minolta Lorraine S.A.S., Vosges
1992: Hitachi Computer Europe S.A.S., Orléans
1992: Domaine de Belesbat Neuf (restoration, hotel renovation), Essone
1992: Ogura S.A.S., Valenciennes
1992: Akebono Brake S.A.S., Gonesse
1992: Noritsu France S.A., Évry
2000: Sanden Manufacturing Europe S.A.S., Brittany
2001: Japanese Ambassador's Residence (renovation), Paris
2012: Yamagata Toyopet S.A., Yamagata