Pioneer Information
Minoru Yamasaki, FAIA, was born in Seattle, Washington, on December 1, 1912. He studied architecture at the University of Washington then moved east to complete his professional education at New York University. In 1945 he established a practice in suburban Detroit, Michigan. He is most widely-known as the chief architect of New York City’s World Trade Center, which boasted the world’s two tallest buildings upon its completion in 1976. Yamasaki designed several major Seattle buildings including the U.S. Science Pavilion (now the Pacific Science Center, 1962), the IBM Building (1964), and Rainier Square and Tower (1977) as well of dozens of spaces in Detroit including many on the campus of Wayne State University (1955-1960) and the headquarters for the Consolidated Gas Company (1963). Yamasaki was elected as a Fellow in the American Institute of Architects and won the organization's First Honor Award multiple times.
Photo courtesy Walter P. Reuther Library, Wayne State University.
