b Kyoto, 13 Dec 1918). Japanese architect. He studied at Tokyo University of Arts as well as Tokyo Institute of Technology (where he was also to teach from 1946). He began his career as both designer and academician in the early post-war years. He established his reputation as an architect with his superbly designed small private residences. In them he synthesized elements of modern design with those of traditional architecture although without falling into the trap of nostalgia. At the time when his designs first appeared there was much debate over the course of modern Japanese architecture and the role of traditional forms therein. Seike's success lay in his combination of both. The Mori House (1951) or his own Seike residence (1954) in Tokyo, for example, were built with reinforced concrete structures and provided Western-style comfort in a rational and functional way, yet made extensive use of tatami mats, shoji (translucent paper doors) and fusuma screens. In addition to his residential architecture, he designed a number of excellent public buildings such as the Ohara Ikebana School in Kobe (1962), Sea Paradise in Izu (1977) and the new Prince Hotel in Karuizawa (1982). Seike's private practice was in the Design System office in Tokyo. In 1981-2 he was President of the Architectural Institute of Japan.