Sakamoto Common House in Sanda Plan Drawing

The Japanese House Chapter 5: From airtight to open

In Chapter 4: "A House is a work of art," the exhibit "The Japanese House" reviewed Japan in the 60's through the lens of legendary builder Kazuo Shinohara. He attempted to leverage houses (private dwellings as opposed to public architecture) as a key vehicle of architectural critique, capable of questioning the impact of modernization, which overwhelmingly favored efficiency.

Chapter 5: "From open to shut" reviews the lxx's and 80's, focusing of ii young and prominent architects who were influenced past Shinohara: Kazunari Sakamoto and Toyo Ito.

Left: Kazunari Sakamoto, Machiya in Minase (1970)
Correct: Toyo Ito, Aluminum Firm (1971)

Later on WWII, Japan frantically pursued modernization to recover from destruction – the scorched globe that turned then many buildings into debris. New, semi Western-fashion, cost-effective business firm models were developed and mass produced to accommodate displaced people and to back up labor for the economic recovery. Efficiency was everything for new developments. This was totally different from how communities were shaped earlier the state of war. Through the struggle for recovery, new types of social problems had likewise emerged past the 70's: unprecedented population concentration due to drastic urbanization reduced the quality of peoples' lives, and the pollution became rampant.

It was against this background that Sakamoto and Ito distinguished themselves. According to Yoshiharu Tsukamoto (Atlier Bow-Wow), the main advisor of the exhibit, their works ran parallel in a sense, because they were both bold and had dandy disquisitional eyes. They weren't afraid of experimenting alternative ways to blueprint houses, and their experiments kept evolving because both were capable of elevating their new projects to the next level by critically examining their past projects.

And probably the drastic and radical social changes later WWII in Japan necessitated such an architectural transformation. The changes were so primal that they literally rattled the Japanese peoples' quest for identity. And architecture reflected these social dynamics.

Machiya in Minase (1970) and Aluminum House (1970)

Top: Kazunari Sakamoto, Machiya in Minase (1970)
Bottom: Toyo Ito, Aluminum House (1971)

The 70'south were turbulent because rapid and unprecedented modernization created various unexpected pressures on social club. The avalanche of new urban development acquired severe population concentration, which made living and working consuming for people who supported economic recovery. Pollution was everywhere.

Facing a daunting reality, torn between heady economical growth and its grim side-furnishings, both Ito and Sakamoto allowed the idea of a secluded living sphere to emerge, which did not have to interact with the busy, noisy, often ugly and dirty exterior world created by relentless modernization.

Machiya in Minase model kazunari sakamoto

Kazunari Sakamoto, Machiya in Minase (1970) model one:100

machiya in minase interiro kazunari sakamoto

Kazunari Sakamoto, Machiya in Minase (1970)

The "Machiya in Minase" is a tiny box-shaped firm that faces a busy street. In guild to seclude information technology from the public infrastructure, Sakamoto carefully limited the number and the size of the openings (doors and windows) on the front walls. The enveloping box was further divided into small boxes with designated functions (such as kitchen, bathroom and bedrooms), all of which were placed along the walls. It left an opening at the center, which functioned as a corridor that connected small boxes. Natural lite came in from the ceiling, but since it was high to a higher place the basis floor, the house retained a "secluded" atmosphere.

The "Aluminum Hut" was conceived to offer an "industrial-archaic" living environment in the metropolitan Tokyo area, which was expanding at a mesmerizing speed in the seventy's.

Consisting of two capsule-like, but also befouled-like units, the firm represented 2 mixed notions: disillusion towards modernization, and the struggle to pursue the organic, primitive spirit in a big city like Tokyo. Aluminum is flexible and tensile compared to other rigid metals. Ito chose it as a cloth that represented an industrial-organic crossover. The interior had few partitions and looked like a one large room. The walls were finished with cheap plywood, probably to highlight his disillusion toward rapid industrialization.

Since both Sakamoto and Ito's houses were designed to be self-contained, the significance of architectural elements such as the structure/dimensions, floors, walls, windows, roofs were emphasized. Those elements inevitably collided with peoples' existent lives, which were often spontaneous, hell-raising or irrational. Such interactions seemed to be constantly checking the other side'south validity. (Left: The programme for the Aluminum House by Toyo Ito)

House in Sakatayamatsuke (1978) and Business firm in Koganei (1979)

Whereas their works in the early on 70's were filled with architectural ambitions and experiments, both Sakamoto and Ito's work became more than minimalist in the late 70'south. It might have been influenced past social anxieties such equally oil crises.

Toyo Ito, House of Koganei (1979)

The possessor of Ito's "House in Koganei" insisted on designing a house at the lowest cost possible, and requested eliminating any frills to save coin. So Ito decided to employ ECP (extruded cement panels), which was an emerging industrial fabric back and so, mainly used in the construction of factories or warehouses.

Using a pattern that was both minimal and universal, Ito positioned this business firm as a platform on which owners could freely design the interior based on their needs. It sounds like the MUJI business firm, which also applies minimalist design. Just fifty-fifty though information technology has minimal features, this business firm retains unique aesthetics. Minimal and plain is not the same. Functionality, which was highly rated – if not overrated – in modern residential business firm blueprint, could exist replaced by emphasized symbolism, where architects could let unexplored beauty emerge past eliminating unnecessary elements.

Kazunari Sakamoto sakata yamatsuke no ie

Kazunari Sakamoto, Business firm of Sakatayamatsuke (1978)

The House in Sakatayamatsuke also applies minimalist design, but information technology has an interesting theme: what if a symmetry is disrupted? Its front end has a sharp minimalist expression because of the steep roofs, the proportion of the roofs/walls, and its metallic finish. Large windows and doors are placed at the center, emphasizing the symmetric aesthetics. But then, there is a modest window to the left hand side for a bathroom. It'due south small but powerful enough to disrupt the unabridged residual. The same thing happens in the interior: a big congenital-in shelf sticks out to add subtle disorder in the space.

Symmetry makes things look orderly and clean. Just our life is non always orderly – it's actually pretty cluttered. And if nosotros retrieve about it, architecture is a series of reconciliations of opposing elements and expectations. Gravity wants everything to be stuck on the ground, but we want to become loftier. Natural elements are well-nigh never linear, but nosotros want to make our architecture linear. The House in Sakatayamatsuke is an answer from Sakamoto on how nosotros can reconcile those opposing elements.

Firm in Soshigaya (1981) and House in Hanakoganei (1983)

The eighty'southward in Japan was a very weird time. Afterward about three decades of struggle to recover from the destruction acquired by the WWII, Japan suddenly found itself to be the world largest economy.

In the eighty'south, it seems that both Sakamoto and Ito tried to deprive meanings, even from the minimalist symbolism they pursued in the late 70's. They disassembled architectural elements into fragments and aggregated them in an unexpected fashion. Their passion could also accept been driven by the social mood, in which money was everywhere and people were emboldened to experiment with extreme ideas.

Kazunari Sakamoto, House of Soshiigaya (1981)

The House of Soshigaya is radically dissonant. One-half the building has a sharp triangular shape but the gabled roof is cut in half, and the other half has a round, vaulted roof. You tin see through the windows that some pillars stand up in the middle of the rooms, which suggests that the walls and the load-begetting structure are totally separated. If you go within, you are welcomed by an overly wide corridor. The exterior is painted black, the flooring is black but the ceilings are white.

Toyo Ito, House of Hanakoganei (1983)

Equally was the instance with the House in Soshigaya, the House of Hanakoganei by Toyo Ito also has two singled-out roofs. You can see the gable roofing on the left hand side, and the barrel vault on the correct manus side. The gable roof has ceilings like a regular firm, just the construction of the vault roof is exposed, as shown in the paradigm on the left. The right half of the house functions as a buffer to loosely connect the outside with the within of the house.

Conceptually, the infinite under the vault roof is a "doma," which means "dirt room" in Japanese. Although Ito'southward doma looks more sophisticated than a traditional one, information technology definitely sets the tone past assuasive the entire house gradually open up towards the outside.

House F (1985) and Argent Hut (1984)

The Japanese house chapter 5 closed to open

Kazunari Sakamoto, House F (1988)

Sakamoto'south Firm F has uniquely shaped roofs, which are made by assembling folding plates that come up in different angles and sizes. They are supported past H beams, simply those beams don't back up the business firm itself. Inside the firm, the floors are on multiple levels and walls come in different heights. Considering unconnected elements are put together, House F gives some sort of primitive impression despite its use of modern materials.

Toyo Ito, Silvery Hut (1984)

The "Argent Hut" is Toyo Ito's own house. It is a highly acclaimed piece of architecture that marks the culmination of Ito's work in the 80's. Co-ordinate to the presentation titled the "Temporariness of Compages" Ito gave to 東西アスファルト事業協同組合 in 1987 (non related to this showroom), he originally conceived this house as something like a boat house used in many Southwestern Asian regions. There are sure fundamental activities, such as sleeping or preparing meals, which require fixed, sturdy spaces. But Ito thought that other activities needed spaces that could be more flexible. And so he stood concrete beams at modest intervals (3.vi meters), and covered them with a calorie-free, vault-shaped steel frame. The aeriform photo gives the impression of a temporary fairground with modern tweaks.

This business firm is fluid and retains a certain temporariness: for example, the patio was open when it was built, but Ito later decided to cover it with screens. Details and elements keep evolving, because it is a "hut" that could exist changed based on the engagement of the people who live in information technology.