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I wanted to create an ultimate wooden architecture. I thought through this bungalow, which can be considered as a small and primitive house, it was possible to do a primitive and simultaneously new architecture. 350mm square profile cedar is piled endlessly. At the end of the process appears a prototypical place before architecture became architecture.
Wood is amazingly versatile. Due to its versatility, wood is used in a conventional wooden architecture by intentional differentiation in various places. Not only in structures, such as columns and beams, but it can also be used in everything else from foundation, exterior wall, interior wall, ceiling, flooring, insulation, furniture, stairs to window frames. I posit that if wood is indeed multifaceted, then conversely it should be possible to create architecture that fulfills all functions by one process, and by one way of using woods. It is an inversion of versatility. From that originates, new architecture that maintains an undifferentiated condition of the harmonized whole before function and role underwent mitosis.
350mm square profile cedar has an amazing impact. It transcends what we usually call “wood” and becomes “an existence” of an entirely different material. While the dimensions adequately display its materiality as wood, 350mm squared is simultaneously the dimensionality directly corresponding to human body. Thus, three-dimensional space is created out of 350mm increments. This stepped space was a long fascination of mine for couple of years as its defining characteristics are the generation of a sort of spatial relativity and a new sense of various distances unachievable by coplanar floors.
There are no categorization of floors, walls, and ceilings here. A locality that was thought as a floor transforms into chairs, ceilings, and walls from different perspectives. Floor levels are relative and people reinterpret the spatiality according to where they are. People are three-dimensionally distributed in space and will experience new sensations of depths. Spaces are not divided but is rather produced as a chance occurrence within fusing elements. Inhabitants discover various functions within those undulations. It is a place akin to nebulous landscape. This resonates with the undifferentiated condition of above-mentioned architectonic elements. Both as a constructional methodology and experiential space, this architecture is synthesized by the fusion of various undifferentiated elements. Here, conventional rules of architecture is nullified. There is neither a plan nor a stabilizing point. This is possible purely because the wood is that versatile. Perhaps it is only possible with wood to be simultaneously the insulation and the structure, the finish and also the furniture. By being composed of the wooden blocks instead of slabs, the method of creating the undifferentiated condition was made clear.
I think this bungalow ceases to be within the domain of wooden architecture. If architecture made from wood is to be considered wooden architecture, then this bungalow is the wood itself that transcends the architectural convention to directly become a place for humans. It is of primordial existence before architecture. That is to say, rather than new architecture, it seeks new conception, a new existence.
Sou Fujimoto
Qualifications
First Class Licensed Architect
Education
University of Tokyo, Faculty of Engineering, Department of Architecture (Bachelor), 1990 - 1994
Experience
Sou Fujimoto Architects, Tokyo, 2000 (established) - Present
Awards
2008 Japanese Institute of Architecture Grand Prize (Children’s Center for Psychiatric Rehabilitation), 2008
2007 KENNETH F. BROWN ARCHITECTURE DESIGN AWARD Honorable Mention (Children’s Center for Psychiatric Rehabilitation), 2007
AR Awards 2006 “Grand Prize” (Children’s Center for Psychiatric Rehabilitation), 2006
AR Awards 2006 “Highly Commended” (7/2 house), 2006
“Gold Prize” in House Competition by Tokyo Society of Architects and Building Engineers, 2006
"1st Prize" in Wooden House Competition in Kumamoto, 2005
AR Awards 2005 “Highly Commended” (Dormitory for Mentally Disabled in Date), 2005
AR Awards 2005 “Honourable Mention” (T house), 2005
JIA New Face Award 2004, 2004
"1st Prize" in International Design Competition for the Environment Art Forum for Annaka, 2003
Winning "SD Review 2003", 2003
"Honorable Mention" in Design Competition for the Ora Town Hall, 2002
Winning "SD Review 2002 SD Prize", 2002
Winning "SD Review 2001", 2001
Winning "SD Review 2000 Maki Prize", 2000
"2nd Prize in Design Competition for the Aomori Art Museum, 2000
Winning "SD Review 1997 SD Prize", 1997
Winning "SD Review 1995", 1995
Teaching Career
Kyoto University, Lecturer, 2007 - Present
Tokyo University, Lecturer, 2004
Showa Women's University, Lecturer, 2004 - Present
Tokyo University of Science, Lecturer, 2001 - Present
Talks and Lectures
RIBA London (2 2007); AR Emerging Architecture Talks: “Treatment Center for Mentally Disturbed Children” & “7/2 House”
London Metropolitan University (2 2007); Lecture: “Between Nature and Artifact, Formless Form & Local Relations”
MIT (11 2006); Architecture or Revolution series: “Formless Form”
Tokyo Opera City (11 2006); Toyo Ito, The New `Real` in Architecture series: “Sou Fujimoto, Toyo Ito and Kazuhiro Kojima in Conversation”
Romania Architecture Biennial (11 2006); Xtreme East, Contemporary architecture from Japan Conference: “Sou Fujimoto New Projects”
Takenaka Design Exhibition 2006 Osaka (8 2006); Invited Speaker
Kaoshun, Taiwan (5 2006); Symposium with Taiwanese architects
20 Comments
a waste of wood
its like a first year project. actually it typically is a first year project; make a space for one person, make a space for 3 positions of the body, etc. etc. all i see is a large scale game of jenga.
it is not a bungalow, nor is it a primitive hut. it is, according to his own definition, wooden architecture. no transcension here.
there's nothing wrong with undefined spaces, but the sections show awkward positions. this might have been forgiveable without the self-contradictory archibabble.
his ego is even more revolting than his pile of firewood.
i think it's elegant the way the spaces are carved, and i think it says a lot through it's simplicity. a few things make me curious though, like how habitable it is over an extended period of time. is it comfortable or do you feel like you're in a box? some areas seem a bit claustrophobic though. i think the glass roof in this case makes you feel more enclosed rather than connected to the outside.
Some of the above criticism seems a bit harsh, given the thoroughness and intensity with which this project is pursued. Dot brings up some valid points though regarding living in it over time, and potential claustrophobia. I think the glass is handled pretty impressively actually, windows and skylights. If it is all cedar I wonder if it has that strong cedar smell? - could get overbearing if so. It does seem a building/folly you'd likely only see in contemporary Japan though.
This small project is obviously a development of Fujimoto's Shinkenchiku Residential Design Competition winning concept, which also organized by the "350mm" dimension. Although it seems simply and can be understood as a work done by a first year student, it needs to be examined along with his former relating idea. I like this realized structure because its simplicity reflects a more profound philosophical sense, a sort of higher level of "transcension."
also, it seems to be leaking
Alright, seriously? You guys are ridiculous. I like this place, it reminds me of when I was a kid, growing up in suburban America, at the end of our street was one of these giant wooden log play structures, that looked like a castle. Anyway it had all these small spaces that only a kid could fit in, it was basically a playground of nooks and I miss that as a young adult. It's like all of our spaces must be straight forward, a bedroom is a box, a kitchen is an oblong box, a living room, a tall box. Clearly this place isn't a year round living unit, there's no place for storage or anything, it's simple and stark. I would love to getaway to a place like this on the weekends.
I think we should just replace Fujimoto's dry prolixity with UrbanDesign's conceptual justifications and it would make it a great project. I too would like to hideout in Wooden Transcendence Residence or whatever the fuck it's called.
...and no girls allowed!!!
The concept is really interesting in that it blurs the idea of space within a house, the floors, become the chairs, become the ceilings. There's also no sense of conventional, heavy-handed zoning, and that too is sublime, it lets what you would be doing in that space define it only then. I think contemporary architecture really needs that, especially in the face of ever shrinking apartments. Space should be interesting.
Granted there are inherent drawbacks in using wood in such a zero-compromise manner - when paint chips, you apply another coat, but how the hell are you going to sand and stain this wood over its life-time?- but I'm not grading it as a practical everyday dwelling. because simply, I'm not going to use it! However, as a stark no holds barred vessel for an idea, its perfect.
i wasn't suggesting this should perform like a typical apartment, just questioning how the experience would change over the course of just a few hours. i wonder how ergonomic those little crevices are.
somethings were done elegantly, somethings weren't
one worry i would have is splinters, ouch..ouch ouch...ouch.
i do like the idea of it, but it could have been less claustrophobic, as has been noted, and i think it would have been more interesting if he gave more thought to the comfortable habitation of the space. of course, i base my judgement on my own habits of habitation. perhaps the client enjoys sleeping on a wooden plank, or sitting her ass on one.
i don't understand, though, given the playfulness of the interior, why he had to define the architecture within a cube, a recognizably ordered form that would detract from the impression he wishes to evoke: "[/i]. It is of primordial existence before architecture.[/i]"
i think it would have been more interested to carry the playful "disorder" on the outside, allowing one to clamber over the building in various ways.
more interesting rather
could he not concede even a cushion? tricky habitation, yes. as a version of the undifferentiation game, this has more going for it than the single warping twisting let's-play-with-nurbs surfaces game (hadid's rooms, hotel puerta america, madrid). it sort of does in section what the open room plan did in plan. like the nooks, like the climbing-around-as-circulation.
but the purity of concept issue... first off, it's not stacked lumber, you can see filler plugs hiding connection hardware-- many of those members wouldn't stay up without some metal attaching it to the one above. so right off the bat there's an image vs. actual construction issue. secondly, ok, it's a primitive pre-design proto-architecture-- based on industrially standardized material units (plus concealed connection hardware). shouldn't he be doing a "primitive hut" with beaver fallen trunks woven together with vines? oh wait, wouldn't have the refined geometry-- which is why this seems stuck in the middle. the premise is that manipulation and refinement of materials and architectural authenticity are inversely proportional. but, the materials ARE heavily manipulated, but he stops it, deciding that their state when they are spit out of industrial production-- that's the authentic state, so that's how he'll keep them (except for the connections that concept would rather pretend aren't there...). to me it's like saying plunking whole notes in one key is a more authentic, purer concept of piano composition.
It doesn't work as a habitable space as it's too prescriptive and not adaptable to the changing ways an individual might use a space - we cannot define the internal shapes/spaces of every activity a person might choose to pursue.
Maybe if the actual blocks of timber moved and could slide to change the internal space - though I'm not really sure if that would work either.
It would work better as an outdoor public/private 'retreat' but only if was open air. I think the glass is very confining as it's a bit like the carrot and the donkey scenario...where you think you can escape the interior at certain glazed points only to find you can't get out - this makes it more confining I think.
Talking about wood transcending it woodness by being cut up into rectangular blocks and stacked together is not only dull, it's philosophically archaic and anti-realist. i realize architects go for images that are quickly geometrically coherent, and the simple surface treatment and stark contrasts play to this weekness admirably. this project looks like van doesburg went to cranbrook for a seminar.
this quote is copied from above, no kidding:
"It is of primordial existence before architecture. That is to say, rather than new architecture, it seeks new conception, a new existence."
Now, if you find this provactive you may not find life and all the happenings constantly new and interesting in themselves.
My only question is: what type of characters do Japanese architects use when they want to get a tatoo that reads "power" or "life?" Over here, we use eastern characters because we can't understand them. . .but English, for example, is so widespread, you know? These profound concepts would look more punk than monk in western script.
Nice project, though. It's great when you have 25 tons more wood than you actually need to build something, then are still sitting on a board instead of a nicely designed chair. Sorry, again, Mr. Fuller, this a sort of "conceptual purity" here, you don't count.
As a practical person, the only thing that really worries me is the rather large drops to viciously-right-angled corners down below. Imagine slipping off one of the upper levels (whilst fumbling that laptop, perhaps). There's gonna be some serious bruising and broken human bits.
And, it gets to night-time. I don't see any curtains, making for an uncomfortable changing experience.
Where do you put your overnight bag? The food? The plates once you've washed up in the sink?
Nice place for a picnic, and read a book, but a weekend would be a bit trying......
wow man what a design..just fantastic
can i get the plan and elevation of this design?
the whole point of his use of the cube when putting parameters on such a colourful and imaginative design is the blatant contrast.. the building symbolises experimentation in architecture reminiscent of the fun and adventurous spaces we inhabited as children ourselves. It succeeds because of one thing though: Scale. This is what makes it so interesting, it makes us feel tiny, like we shrunk and really did climb into a stack of jenga! More than anything though, as egotistical as its author may or may not be, this piece represents to me an architecture which hasnt been stained by conformity, as though its architect erased all the orthodox ideas of what a house "should be" or "should do" and just formed cavities where he saw fit.."At the end of the process appears a prototypical place before architecture became architecture".as adventurous and exciting as it may be though, there are some practical issues which ensure it could never be a long term living solution. 1) Claustrophobia and general discomfort 2) all those sharp edges.. imagine the safety issues for a young child or elderly person? its a completely narrow minded approach which fucks functionality out the window 3) smell 4) splinters 5) maintenance - woodlice, rotting wood decaying wood etc. also the wood that has been slotted in cannot be exchanged if needs be..this is a flexibility which would probably make the building flawless. As an idea though its inspiring and evokes immense interest even if it lacks the only element which separates architecture from sclupture and other arts of shaping form - it is designed for me people to live in..designed with a function
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