We've teamed up with publishers Merrel to offer our readers the chance to win one of five copies of New Architecture in Japan by Yuki Sumner and Naomi Pollock with David Littlefield, featuring photography by Edmund Sumner.

The book features over 100 Japanese architectural projects constructed over the last decade.

Highlighted architects include Toyo Ito, Tadao Ando, Kengo Kuma, SANAA and international firms working in Japan such as Rogers Stirk Harbour, Foster + Partners and Herzog & de Meuron.

This competition is now closed.

Five winners will be selected at random and notified by email. Winners’ names will be published in a future edition of our Dezeenmail newsletter and at the bottom of this page. Dezeen competitions are international and entries are accepted from readers in any country.

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Photographs are copyright Edmund Sumner/View

Here are more details from the publisher:

This beautifully illustrated book explores some of the best and most exciting architectural projects in Japan over the last decade. It makes essential reading not just for architects and designers but also for anyone interested in Japan’s unique – and increasing – impact on architecture worldwide.

Japanese architecture enjoys international influence, but as Takero Shimazaki of Toh Shimazaki Architecture explains in his introduction to NEW ARCHITECTURE IN JAPAN, ‘when documented for those outside the country, [it] is often presented as a series of beautiful, strange, sculpted and ephemeral abstract objects’. He acknowledges that it can be difficult to understand buildings without setting them in their geographical and cultural context and without seeing how they are actually used.

This diverse and illuminating book profiles more than 100 Japanese architectural projects of all types, sizes and budgets, placing them within their environments and revealing them as working buildings rather than simply as photogenic, stand-alone objects. The buildings range from museums and shops, to private houses, schools and airports, all of which have been built or designed in the last ten years by a diverse range of architects.

These include such cutting-edge and emerging young practices as Sou Fujimoto and Junya Ishigami, and established internationally known architects – among them Toyo Ito, Tadao Ando, Kengo Kuma and SANAA. International practices working in Japan are also featured, and they include Rogers Stirk Harbour, Foster + Partners and Herzog & de Meuron.

Superb images by acclaimed architectural photographer Edmund Sumner reveal how each building sits within its environment, whether it’s a submarine-like museum with aquarium-grade acrylic windows revealing dramatic views of surrounding snowdrifts, or a top-heavy ‘mushroom house’ that maximizes space on a tiny plot in Tokyo.

Accessible critical texts and drawings further reveal fascinating design details and the inspiration behind each project, making NEW ARCHITECTURE IN JAPAN a compelling reference for anyone interested in architecture, design and contemporary Japanese culture.

Yuki Sumner writes about contemporary architecture for a variety of newspapers and magazines. Naomi Pollock is a Tokyo-based American architect and writes about Japanese architecture for numerous publications. David Littlefield is a writer on architecture, and is visiting professor at the University of the West of England, Bristol. Edmund Sumner is an acclaimed architectural photographer who works for many prestigious clients worldwide.

NEW ARCHITECTURE IN JAPAN
By Yuki Sumner and Naomi Pollock with
David Littlefield
Photographs by Edmund Sumner
Published by Merrell
Publication date 22nd March 2010
Price £29.95
620 colour illustrations, 230 plans, 272 pages
Hardback, ISBN 978-1-8589-4450-0

Buy this book and others at the Dezeenbooks store
(in association with amazon.co.uk)

Congratulations to our winners! Natalia Alexiou in Greece, Matthias Brandmaier in Austria, Claudia Sanna in the UK, Kelly Desipri in Greeceand Tanapat Nootong in Thailand.