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Japan: Rebuilding communities
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Author
Joseph Grima
Photography
Yasushi Ichikawa, junya.ishigami +associates
Published
10 June 2013
Location
Tokyo
Sections
Architecture, Stories
Keywords
DOMUS 969, James Turrell, junya.ishigami
+associates, Kanagawa Institute of Technology
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Walk into Junya Ishigamis new office in the Roppongi
neighbourhood of Tokyo, and the first thing youll notice
between the model-laden desks and workstations is a large,
Engineering and traditionA foray into the office of Junya Ishigami in Tokyo reveals new aspects of his design philosophy, intent
on creating architectural experiences poised between engineering challenges and simple gestures
Architecture / Joseph Grima
http://www.domusweb.it/en/search.html?type=tag&key=junya.ishigami+%2Bassociateshttp://www.domusweb.it/en/architecture/2013/06/10/engineering_and_tradition.html#pihttp://www.domusweb.it/en/architecture/2013/06/10/engineering_and_tradition.html#pihttp://www.domusweb.it/en/architecture/2013/06/10/engineering_and_tradition.html#pihttp://www.domusweb.it/en/architecture.htmlhttp://www.domusweb.it/en/stories.htmlhttp://www.domusweb.it/en/stories.htmlhttp://www.domusweb.it/en/architecture/2013/06/10/engineering_and_tradition.html#fbhttp://www.domusweb.it/en/architecture/2013/06/10/engineering_and_tradition.html#fbhttp://www.domusweb.it/en/architecture/2013/06/10/engineering_and_tradition.html#fbhttp://www.domusweb.it/en/architecture/2013/06/10/engineering_and_tradition.html#twhttp://www.domusweb.it/en/architecture/2013/06/10/engineering_and_tradition.html#twhttp://www.domusweb.it/en/architecture/2013/06/10/engineering_and_tradition.html#twhttp://www.domusweb.it/en/search.html?type=location&key=Tokyohttp://www.domusweb.it/en/home.htmlhttp://www.domusweb.it/en/search.html?type=author&key=Joseph+Grimahttp://www.domusweb.it/en/architecture.htmlhttp://www.jnyi.jp/http://www.domusweb.it/en/architecture/2013/06/10/engineering_and_tradition.html#pihttp://www.domusweb.it/en/architecture/2013/06/10/engineering_and_tradition.html#twhttp://www.domusweb.it/en/architecture/2013/06/10/engineering_and_tradition.html#fbhttp://www.domusweb.it/en/search.html?type=tag&key=Kanagawa+Institute+of+Technologyhttp://www.domusweb.it/en/search.html?type=tag&key=junya.ishigami+%2Bassociateshttp://www.domusweb.it/en/search.html?type=tag&key=James+Turrellhttp://www.domusweb.it/en/search.html?type=tag&key=DOMUS+969http://www.domusweb.it/en/stories.htmlhttp://www.domusweb.it/en/architecture.htmlhttp://www.domusweb.it/en/search.html?type=location&key=Tokyohttp://www.domusweb.it/en/search.html?type=published&key=2013-06-10http://www.domusweb.it/en/search.html?type=photographer&key=junya.ishigami+%2Bassociateshttp://www.domusweb.it/en/search.html?type=photographer&key=Yasushi+Ichikawahttp://www.domusweb.it/en/search.html?type=author&key=Joseph+Grimahttp://togglepanel%28%27loginpanel%27%2C200%2C%27fade%27%29/http://www.domusweb.it/en/profile/register.htmlhttp://www.domusweb.it/es/arquitectura.htmlhttp://www.domusweb.it/it/architettura/2013/06/10/ingegneria_e_tradizione.htmlhttps://www.facebook.com/luisja.aguilarhttps://www.facebook.com/StepienybarnoCANALhttp://www.domusweb.it/en/home.htmlhttp://www.domusweb.it/en/shop/cart.htmlhttp://www.domusweb.it/en/shop/back_issues.htmlhttp://www.domusweb.it/en/shop/digital_archive.htmlhttp://www.domusweb.it/en/shop/books.htmlhttps://itunes.apple.com/en/app/milano.-le-guide-di-domus/id365517469?mt=8https://itunes.apple.com/en/app/domus/id556531557?mt=8http://www.domusweb.it/en/shop/subscription.htmlhttp://www.domusweb.it/bin/domusweb/rss?country=enhttps://twitter.com/domuswebhttps://www.facebook.com/Domushttp://www.domusweb.it/en/profile/edit.htmlhttp://www.domusweb.it/en/local-editions.htmlhttp://www.domusweb.it/en/news/2013/06/5/domus_970_june_2013.htmlhttp://www.domusweb.it/en/issues.current.htmlhttp://www.domusweb.it/en/special_projects.htmlhttp://www.domusweb.it/en/from-the-archive.htmlhttp://www.domusweb.it/en/video.htmlhttp://www.domusweb.it/en/reviews.htmlhttp://www.domusweb.it/en/specials.htmlhttp://www.domusweb.it/en/photo-essays.htmlhttp://www.domusweb.it/en/op-ed.htmlhttp://www.domusweb.it/en/interviews.htmlhttp://www.domusweb.it/en/news.htmlhttp://www.domusweb.it/en/products.htmlhttp://www.domusweb.it/en/art.htmlhttp://www.domusweb.it/en/design.htmlhttp://www.domusweb.it/en/architecture.htmlhttp://www.domusweb.it/en/architecture/2013/06/10/engineering_and_tradition.html#http://www.domusweb.it/en/architecture/2013/06/10/engineering_and_tradition.html#http://www.domusweb.it/en/architecture/2013/06/10/engineering_and_tradition.html#http://www.domusweb.it/en/architecture/2013/06/17/rebuilding_communities.html.html8/14/2019 Engineering and Tradition_DOMUS JUNIO 2013
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gaping hole in the concrete floor slab. I peer down into the
basement: a sea of models from past projects are haphazardly
piled in stacks as far as the eye can see. Ishigamis collaborators
(relatively few, considering the offices prodigious model output)
seem to have become so accustomed to the abnormality of a
gaping void in the office floor as to no longer notice it, and seem
mildly baffled by my surprise. Like all exceptionally true
visionaries, Ishigami operates by creating a powerful reality-distortion field, and the hole in the floor is perhaps the least
exceptional thing his collaborators must learn to metabolise.
Each project is an opportunity to question the basic assumptions
of every aspect of architectural practice: from engineering to
furniture and from climate control to circulation, Ishigami
envisions a condition or an experience, then stretches
architecture to the limits of impossibility to realise it. Much as
with the James Turrells Skyspaceinstallations, in which
extraordinary lengths are taken to isolate the simplest ofexperiencesthe act of observing the sky change colour for
Ishigami the experience is the architecture, and the envelope is
simply a device that triggers the experience. As a result, there is
an utter indifference to the effort required to produce this
experience: Ishigamis architecture runs the spectrum from near-
impossible engineering challenges to simple gestures of
displacement.
Top: In Ishigamis studio, work progressing on the models of homes for the elderly. The structures vary according to their original geographic location
and the technique used by the carpenters who made them. Each has its own characteristics, which are exploited to aid the future inhabitants sense of
orientation. Photo by junya.ishigami+assoc iates. Above: Project for a residential centre for the elderly. The study models highlight an exercise in
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Turrell8/14/2019 Engineering and Tradition_DOMUS JUNIO 2013
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working on variations of traditional housing typologies. Photo by Yasushi Ichikawa
The distinction between three projects currently
underway in the office provides a clear demonstration of this
contrast. On the same campus of the Kanagawa Institute of
Technology where in 2008 Ishigami completed the workshop
building (see Domus 913, 2008) that first brought him
worldwide recognition for its open plan interrupted only by the
slenderest of columns, an even more ambitious endeavour is inthe making. Like the partition-free workshop building, it
confounds all existing labels for university-building typologies.
Ishigami calls it a cafeteria combined with a semi-outdoor
multipurpose space, and the awkwardness of this rather
inelegant description only serves, when one is confronted by the
model, to underscore just how extreme the projects ambition is.
On the one hand, the building is the simplest of gestures: a single
room, and one with a rather low ceiling at that 2,3 metres, lowenough to be able to raise an arm and brush your hand against it.
Project for the cafeteria on the campus of the Kanagawa Institute of Technology. The pavilion is developed horizontally on a single floor, with a surface
of about 110 x 70 m, and covered by a thin steel roof that floats at a height of approximately 2,3 m. Photo by Yasushi Ichikawa
On the other, it is one of the most phenomenal
engineering challenges to have ever faced a university cafeteria,
because this room is the size of a football pitch, and not a single
8/14/2019 Engineering and Tradition_DOMUS JUNIO 2013
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column supports the roof throughout the entire span. This roof is
a single, thin (nine-millimetre) sheet of tensioned steel,
perforated by unsealed rectangular openings that allow light and
elements to enter the space, creating a semi-enclosed garden.
Above, a thin layer of soil transforms the roof itself into a
landscape of grass and vegetation. It is simultaneously
megastructural and intimate, effortless as a gesture and
bewildering in its scale, and like Ishigamis previous works it hasa deeply human dimension: as the steel roof plate expands and
contracts with changes in temperature, the ceiling height varies
by as much as 80 centimetres, as though the building were alive
and breathing.
Project for the cafeteria on the campus of the Kanagawa Institute of Technology. Photo by Yasushi Ichikawa
Commissioned to design a home for elderly patients
suffering from dementia, Ishigami again side-stepped the
conventional route towards building-making. The brief specified
the need for an architectural environment that the residents
would easily be able to recognise, facilitating the process of
identifying their own residence through the uniquecharacteristics of each space. The proposed strategy employs a
technique known in Japanese asHikiya, or moving a house from
one location to another without disassembling its structure: in
place of a single building, the centre is composed of a multitude
8/14/2019 Engineering and Tradition_DOMUS JUNIO 2013
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of wooden houses collected from villages throughout Japan. In
fact, its very much like a small village compressed onto the site
of a single building: the individual elements fit neatly into one
architectural structure thanks to the tatami mat grid that governs
most traditional Japanese domestic architecture.
Project for the cafeteria on the campus of the Kanagawa Institute of Technology. Photo by Yasushi Ichikawa
Each unit possesses a distinctive character defined by the
building frames proportions, which vary depending on the
location and time period, as well as the technique of the
carpenters who built the house and the way it was inhabited. A
unique, recognisable identity is embedded in this wooden
skeletal framework and its original roof, but the complex is given
a unitary identity by abstracting the vernacular architecture
through the substitution of the cladding with metal and glass.
The objective, according to Ishigami, is to create a new type of
hybrid space that could not have been conceived either by
contemporary architecture or classical architecture alone. Its a
deeply empathetic architectural solution that hybridises
architecture and urbanism into a space which is new yet
culturally familiar to its residents.
8/14/2019 Engineering and Tradition_DOMUS JUNIO 2013
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The house designed for a young couple demonstrates that for Ishigami the act of making architecture has the same value as the act of creating a
landscape. Photo by junya.ishigami+associates
Much of Ishigamis work is permeated by this deep
empathy for the humdrum exercise of living everyday life. In a
suburb of Tokyo (a landscape comprised of a repetition ofnothing but ready-built houses that continue endlessly), the
office recently completed a residence for a young couple that
injects a microcosm of nature into the deeply artificial
environment of the city. One could describe it as an exercise in
the act of not creating an architectural image: unlike most other
examples of recent domestic architecture in Japan, the exterior is
understated to the point of anonymity, almost perfectly
camouflaged into its mundane and rather harsh urbansurroundings. On the interior, however, the act of making
architecture is subsumed by the desire to create a landscape a
point that is driven home clearly by the exposed soil in the corner
of the living room, from which a small forest of trees springs into
8/14/2019 Engineering and Tradition_DOMUS JUNIO 2013
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the double-height space. Looking out onto the street, one
realises that the interior space of this residence somehow feels
more like an outdoor space than the regular, strictly aligned
cityscape outside.
House designed for a young couple in Tokyo. Photo by junya.ishigami+assoc iates
What sets Ishigami apart from others of his generation is
the simplicity of the gestures through which his architecture is
produced, irrespective of the complexity required to execute
them. His architecture is uncompromising but deeply human,
driven by the desire to transform simple gestures of everyday lifeinto architectural experiences, and to turn the everyday into
something bewildering but beautiful. Perhaps the hole in the
floor of his office is a quiet reminder of how threatening
architecture can be, and how easy it is to be swallowed by it.
Joseph Grima (@joseph_grima)
https://twitter.com/joseph_grima8/14/2019 Engineering and Tradition_DOMUS JUNIO 2013
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House designed for a young couple in Tokyo. Photo by junya.ishigami+assoc iates
8/14/2019 Engineering and Tradition_DOMUS JUNIO 2013
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Author
Joseph Grima
Photography
Yasushi Ichikawa, junya.ishigami +associates
Sections
Architecture, Stories
Keywords
DOMUS 969, James Turrell, junya.ishigami
+associates, Kanagawa Institute of Technology
Location
Tokyo
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Senior citizen's housing. Ground floor plan
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