This exposed reinforced concrete library, located in Arata Isozaki’s hometown, was his first official public commission and basis for establishing his own firm. … The library was conceived by Isozaki as an indeterminate “growing architecture” in a system following his notion of “process planning theory.” … Inspired by a human skeletal system to provide an open-ended structure for growth, Isozaki used a concrete system of suspended tubular beams to combine spatial, structural, and mechanical systems. Excerpt from Ken Tadashi Oshima’s article in: SOS Brutalism: A Global Survey. Catalog DAM + Wüstenrot Foundation, Zurich (Park Books) 2017

While the basic character of the structure remains unchanged, the stepped outdoor plaza transformed into a ramped plaza providing handicap access and the main reading room transformed into a changing exhibition space. However, tragically, the adjacent Medical Hall was torn down in 1999, despite the attempt to save it by architects including Kiyonori Kikutake, Tadao Andō, and Kisho Kurokawa.