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. 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 . 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 ==