19 march 2004
architecture
by Jeff Michael Hammond
ARCHITECT'S APARTMENTS
Apartments split in two, or trees popping through the roof of the building - there are plenty of challenging architectural designs on display here to make it worth a trip down to Yokohama. Although this exhibition at Yokohama Portside Gallery is titled "Architect's Apartments", this does not refer to the private residences of the architects in question, but to public housing projects they have completed. The term "Architect's Apartments" has been chosen instead of the more common epithet "Designer's Mansions" (stylish and fashionable apartments designed by name architects that have enjoyed a boom in the last decade or so in Japan), in order to convey a more conceptual approach to the housing issue.
The exhibition (curated by Makoto Ueda of "Sumai No Toshokan" architectural magazine) takes as its starting point changes in lifestyles and living spaces in twentieth-century Tokyo. Up until the Second World War, the majority of Japanese lived in traditional Japanese structures, and sat on tatami mats while eating off low tables, but the post-war years saw an accelerated and irreversible rush towards Westernization. Even if old Japanese-style buildings survived the Allied bombing, they were often demolished to make way for monstrous apartment buildings accommodating the influx of Japanese from the provinces coming to work in Tokyo.
Much like the majority of modern urban developments around the globe, these apartments were generally impersonal constructions that left residents to face such problems as lack of community, alienation from nature and, all too often, a lack of privacy due to the prevalence of thin walls. Even so, this became the unquestioned norm of Tokyo living for decades. Only, people eventually started to ask questions
  • - Is this wholesale adoption of western lifestyles really suitable for the Japanese?
  • - What is the cost to mental health and spiritual well being?
  • - Is it possible to integrate Japanese cultural traditions within this new lifestyle?
  • - How can modern apartment projects integrate with their surroundings?
and a brave bunch of architects attempted to give the public some answers.
Seeing as these questions centre on some fundamental issues, it is perhaps surprising that it took until the '90s and the first decade of this century for them to be asked. The general assumption is that up until the '70s everyone, including the majority of architects, was too busy working at rebuilding the struggling economy to really think about the problem, and during the bubble economy in the '80s they were too busy partying to care. If, in this decade, people were throwing their money around and taking out ridiculous loans for lavish apartments it was simply because it was the thing to do at the time ("live wild, live expensively") and not a result of any deep consideration of the kind of accommodation they really wanted or needed. It is, ironically, only with the collapse of the bubble economy and the subsequent period of reflection in the '90s that it has become possible for such concerns to be voiced.
The exhibition "Architect's Apartments" attempts to highlight some of these questions and some possible answers by looking at thirteen buildings built between the late '80s and last year in Tokyo's Setagaya ward. The designs are introduced through photographs, ground plans, 3-dimensional models and the occasional video with explanatory notes (in Japanese only), giving some background information and explaining the concepts behind the works.
The first building in the exhibition, designed by Ishibashi Toshihiko and Tokugawa Kotoko, demonstrates an effective integration of the building with the space and habitat surrounding it. The architects have used solid walls on one side of the house in order to block out the unsightly adjacent buildings, and have strategically placed large glass windows where a scenic view of trees and sky, for example, can be utilized. Traditional elements like shoji sliding doors have also been mixed-in with the predominantly Western-style features, to add a Japanese touch and to increase flexibility in the use of space.
The plot of land in Daita on which Matsunaga Yasumitsu built the "Daita Apartments" is large enough to have accommodated the usual huge, impersonal apartment building on if left in the hands of one of Japan's large construction companies. Matsunaga, however, opted to build four smaller, self-contained apartment buildings no more than a few stories tall that offer far more privacy and character. He doesn't, however, seem to have paid much thought to the relationship of the development to its environment - its white Mediterranean facade incongruous next to the traditional Japanese roofs of the neighboring houses.
Architect's Apartments at Yokohama Portside Gallery
March 5-24, 2004
11.00 am - 6.00 pm
Admission free
Tel: 045.461.3033

Directions:
Yokohama Station, Kita-Higashi exit A
Yokohama Portside Gallery is in a building called Yokohama Creation Square (YCS). From outside the station, you can see this building on your right, with its green, black and red YCS logo. As you come out of the station, you will see the main road ahead of you, slightly to your right. Take that road to the left, walking along it and crossover this road at the second set of traffic lights. Follow the road you arrive on as it goes to the left. Then, on the right, you will soon come to an area by the port, the YCS building is on the left - the Yokohama Portside Gallery is on the first floor.
A new architecture column appears every second Friday of the month.
Photos:

1) Daita apartment block, designed by Matsunaga Yasimitsu

2) Model of Hanegi apartment block, designed by Shigeru Ban

In contrast, Shigeru Ban's design for an apartment block in Hanegi (1997) lets the immediate environmental reality define the structure of the building. Where most developers would cut down any trees that get in the way, Ban works with them, leaving open holes in the building for them to grow through. With treetops sprouting out of the roof, the structure creates a skyline where man-made structure and nature merge.
"Baumhaus," designed by prize-winning architect and Waseda University Professor Furuya Nobuaki, is a "custom-made" apartment designed to be fully adaptable to the residents' requirements. For example, storage units are conceived as inter-locking and portable cubes that can be assembled and disassembled as needs change. "Baum" is German for tree, and wood is an integral part of the design. One interesting aspect of this building is how its simple but striking wooden exterior is echoed in the interior, as in the design of the above-mentioned cubes.
Finally, the concept of interaction between the architect and the residents is taken to its logical conclusion in a number of projects. In a rare example of enlightened architectural and environmental planning by the authorities, Setagaya Ward consulted with residents of an otherwise drab public housing project and rebuilt the apartments after taking their wishes into consideration. The result, designed by Iwamura Atelier and Ichiura Toshikaihatsu, is a sustainable ecological complex run on solar energy. Plenty of space was allocated for crop cultivation, greenery and even a pond in this community-centered project.
Sadly the prototype pioneered by Setagaya hasn't yet been taken up by other ward offices, partly through sheer lack of imagination and partly through fear of high costs and unprofitability. The same concerns have traditionally also held back the private sector, hence the continuing proliferation of huge, uninspiring apartment buildings. However, with the success and popularity of designs such as those featured in this exhibition, the big developers are at last turning an eye towards "Architect's Apartments." If they can manage to build enough interesting and affordable new apartments, hopefully it won' t be long until inspiring living spaces in Tokyo will become a feasible option for us all.