Archinect - KEIO UNIVERSITY

Plywood dreams

2019-05-28T23:28:00-04:00

The (plywood) Veneer house project began after the Tohoku disaster in northern Japan in March 2011, which is already receding into the distance, even though it left some 120,000 homes destroyed and killed around 16,000 people.

I've shown some of the projects here from that time already. Since then, Hiroto Kobayashi and his students have continued to develop the method of assembly and taken it all over the world, often in response to a disaster, sometimes as a pure research project. There is always in the background of every built work the intent to prepare for disaster. That is why some of the projects are cut by hand and some by CNC. Either way the parts can be assembled by anyone, without any special skills, and in the more recent versions that can make use of the precision of the CNC cutter, without any nails or screws.

There are quote a few more projects built now. I'm showing a few images from three of them here. You can find more projects and detailed informat...

One small step...

2018-06-05T14:20:00-04:00

Keio has a few campuses, and two of them have architecture courses. Sometimes we work together, but not nearly as much as we should. To encourage more collaboration the faculty and admin took the step to combine their efforts under a single umbrella group, called KEIO ARCHITECTURE, which also comes with a website

To mark the occasion Pritzker Prize winner Shigeru Ban gave a lecture in Japanese, translated loosely as "Working Creatively While Contributing Socially". Ban's career as a world traveling contributor to the social needs of communities struck by disaster began at Keio University SFC campus. It was propelled by the Project-based education system of the campus that requires students to act as well as think about real projects in the real world. Ban is exceptional at this kind of education and gave an inspiring lecture about how he has managed to balance his time between traditional clients and pro bono work. One of the secrets is that he treats both efforts with the same amou...

The first dormitory

2016-07-27T21:05:00-04:00

Over the next five years our students will design and build five dormitories and workshops on a piece of land adjacent to the main campus. As a way to learn about architecture its a pretty good one, especially since we are tying to push the limits a bit, and the limits are pushing back.

Professional builders did a lot of the work in the first project shown in the photos here, but right now there are two really interesting building designs underway, one with Shigeru Ban, and one with Hiroto Kobayashi. Both are using non-accredited structural systems, being made from cardboard and plywood, and as a result the push-back on how to move forward is not easy. Experience with earthquakes is deeply embedded in the building code (rightfully so) and structural regulations, so its not easy to convince the municipal government that a permanent building made of these materials would be safe. Solving that problem is a cool part of the education of a modern architect. Building with our own hands is...

studying architecture in japan

2016-06-13T11:20:00-04:00

There is a message in my inbox about once or twice a week asking for advice on how to study architecture in Japan. Many of the people who followed through and ended up studying here have ended up becoming friends so I am genuinely happy to get those messages. Still, I notice I am becoming repetitive in my response so to indulge my laziness I wrote the major points down here. If you have any questions not covered in the text below, feel free to drop a line.

Every mail I get has three big questions. I try to answer these and add a point or two more that nobody asks about because its kind of unexpected. Based only on my experience this is what I know about studying architecture in Japan...

ENGLISH?

sure, you bet. no problem. You can study in Japan in English if you want to. Among the top universities I imagine all of the professors can speak in English by now. The students on the other hand may not, and that is where it gets complicated and the point of view of the professor changes t...

The self-built campus

2016-05-31T22:07:00-04:00

If Koolhaas' biennale was the capstone of architecture of the last century, and Aravena's version is (theoretically) questioning the direction our profession might go next, it is fitting to question the education of architects as well.

What we are up to at Keio is definitely a work in process, but its going in an interesting direction. All of our students on campus work on real projects, whether they are studying architecture or computer science, so that is not such a new thing. But we have never properly built for ourselves, until now. Its about time, now that I think on it. Architects should do that at least once in their career, just as all doctors should get the chance to be patients.

Hiroto Kobayashi came up with the idea. When rising construction costs in Japan (Olympic fever) made it apparent that our campus wouldn't be able to carry out the immediate construction of a group of new dormitories and research buildings he thought it was a good opportunity for the students to buil...

A Recent Building Project in Nepal

2016-02-09T01:58:00-05:00

So our students builds. We build all the time. Sometimes it's rough and messy and makes no sense because its a wild casting about for ideas - a sketching in 3d kind of thing. More often than not its directed at solving a problem for real people, and practical. This is an example of the latter kind of effort.

There are both pros and cons to an education based in carrying out real projects. One of the downsides is that spending so much time working out how to build at 1:1 leaves little time to also get enough practice with learning to design the large and clear gestures that architects normally become famous for. it doesn't mean that deep design lessons are not being taught though. One of the big ones in my mind is learning that the limits of construction are the ones we make by ourselves and not what the manufacturers set out in their catalogs. We don't talk about it much in school, but once we graduate and start working in an office it quickly becomes important - its a reality we al...

Shigeru Ban studio

2016-01-24T23:39:00-05:00

Its been ages since I posted anything here. No excuse except that life got in the way.

So, last time I was here we were working with Sejima. some good projects emerged, though nothing as interesting as might be expected.

Part of that is a reflection on how our school works. We run the entire campus, regardless of faculty, on this idea called project-based education. Which means our students are asked to build, make or design real things for real people, and are not as motivated to write essays - and to be honest, studio is a bit of a challenge too, especially if its abstract. I'll get into that some other time if anyone is interested as its a bit complicated, all part of the difference between design education in Japan and other parts of the world

In the meantime I wanted to show some of the work our students did in the Shigeru Ban studio this winter. I had nothing to do with this one, but to get to my office I need to walk through their work most mornings, and its pretty fun, all in ...

Trust and Architecture

2013-12-03T13:20:00-05:00

The Inujima Studio is continuing and our group has begun to understand better the main issues of the island. What remains kind of confusing is who the client is, the 30 people who live on the island now, the 30,000 who visit it every year, or the unknown population that might choose to move there someday? And how do we talk to those people right now, or even understand who they actually are to begin with?

One of the great things about architecture school at Keio is that the students often build what they design, and this studio looks like ti has the potential to go that way as well if we can sort out some of the answers well enough. It is a good incentive, but means we need to learn a lot more about the client and the island, and that is what the students are up to now. We have come to a moment where we kind of have some idea about the known knowns and the known unknowns, to borrow a Rumsfeldian truth-ism. But it is going to be a bit more time before it makes sense. The unce...

Not a Live Blog - Maki and the Tokyo Olympic Stadium

2013-11-18T11:51:00-05:00

I imagine most everyone on the planet has already heard the Summer Olympics will be held in Tokyo in 2020. In my mind this is a pretty uncontroversial event, but every time an Olympic site is under consideration the pundits fight like like trolls on the internet. Things can pretty easily get right up and over the top. It’s surreal how talk of corruption sits so easily with dreams for the future when it comes to something like this. After so many years there should be consensus, or a passable facsimile at least, and we could stop arguing, but that appears to be wishful thinking. Maybe it's the pure potential that drives all the heat. The Olympics are what we make them, and they can go either way, and that's why the arguments and the speculation continue even after the last firework is fired and all the athletes have made their ways back home.

What the olympics will mean for Tokyo is still unknown. The Fukushima disaster looms, and that is more than enough, but there are other iss...

Architecture Art and Earthquakes

2013-10-09T10:13:00-04:00

I had an idea once that I would write about things in Japan in a way that would make sense for everyone interested in understanding this profoundly surreal place. I'm not sure that is actually possible anymore. So I have resolved instead to ignore my ignorance and write about my confusion instead. Let's see how that goes.

So...

My office at Keio University is pretty new. It's not particularly special as architecture goes, just a generic concrete block. Still, with floor to ceiling glass walls facing onto a well maintained forest, the view is great. But two and a half years ago, when Japan was hit by a massive earthquake, I was looking outside the whole time. And the view was crazy. It was like sitting in one of those vintage cartoons, where Mickey Mouse is singing and the whole landscape and all the buildings in it are bouncing along wildly to some kind of mad tune or other. Manic is the word, I think. Perhaps surprisingly I was not worried about the building I was i...

Architects sketch for AFH i love architecture

2012-06-07T01:21:00-04:00

I really love it when professional threads come together, even if it's momentary.

Our colleague at Keio, the architect Fumihiko Maki, is donating a sketch to Architecture for Humanity and their fundraising drive focusing on loving architecture (for a change, and about time too!)

Works up for auction include drawings by a great group, from Bjarke Ingels to Renzo Piano, Steven Holl and more.

Check out the ebay site and bid for some of the good stuff!

party for tohoku

2012-04-08T19:58:00-04:00

Crazy busy year and I hope to catch up on it all in near future. Studio with Maki was finished and this year studio is with Kazuyo Sejima ( ! )

In the meantime if any of you are in Tokyo I'd like to invite you to a fundraiser party this Friday to help pay for the community centre shown earlier. Architecture for Humanity is joining forces with Friends Holding Hands, Beyond Exposure and Supported By Music to throw a live rock infused bash at the Mercedes Benz Connection in Roppongi from early in the evening to early in the morning.

Check out the facebook page for more info or drop me a line and I will be happy to send details.

volunteers wanted!

2011-12-21T00:28:05-05:00

OK i know most of you aren't in the area, but just in case - we are looking for people to help put together a community centre in Minami-san-riku.

The project, led by prof Hiroto Kobayashi, is planned to run from december 24 to january 6. In the span of 2 weeks the idea is to build the first phase of a community centre to serve a temporary community located next to a highway.

the project is split into two phases so if you miss this chance don't hesitate to raise your hand for the next half of the project. as for what is to be done, the first phase is a community meeting space built using a pretty cool and innovative structural system that requires no carpentry skills and almost no hardware or equipment to put together. the finished building will be about 60 m2 and set the stage for a full-on public bath to be built a few months later using the same methods.

so far the students and prof kobayashi have worked out the structure with the help of super smart engineering firm ...

We arrived on bikes to see the empty rooms

2011-11-06T04:46:50-05:00

A large part of the public transportation has stopped on 14th of March.
We arrived on bikes to see the empty rooms.
All the materials are here but just for a few of us.
Kostas and Marcos working hard planning the future.

haiku-esque reaction to the disaster on march 11, announcing the postponement of a conference by KEIO architecture prof yasushi ikeda

On March 11 people were gathering for a conference that was to start in a few days in Tokyo on the subject of algorithmic design. Then there was a massive earthquake, followed by a tsunami...and within days we were all wondering about radiation from fukushima. The city was basically shut down and the news filled with fear so the conference was naturally enough cancelled for the duration.

I guess there were several such decisions taken around that time. In this case I am bringing it up because it was organised by my colleague, Yasushi Ikeda. And the conference is back on and will feature some pretty good speakers (...

minami san riku project

2011-10-18T20:12:17-04:00

One of my colleagues, professor Hiroto Kobayashi (also here), took on a project this summer that brought together students from harvard university and keio to build a community gathering place in minami san-riku.

the group i worked with was based in kesennuma which is a bit further north, but the devastation was just as horrible if not more so in minami san-riku. just for reference the area is about 70 km north of sendai (where ito's mediatheque building is located)

the project they took on was to build a meeting place for refugees who are staying in temporary shelters that have been built on the playing fields of the local schools. by chance two temporary communities were built fairly close to one another and so this building was designed to sit in between them and serve both. It is a place of contact between the two settlements and while not overly large is big enough to develop some sense of place and of community. If there is one common theme with the temporary set...

a lazy entry

2011-09-26T22:13:08-04:00

in celebration of the new blog system i should be writing something dramatic but am going to use the space to follow up on a previous post.

Over the summer the students in all the programs at keio went off to carry out projects all over the place. a large group went to the congo, some went to myanmar, others went to china. the students i have been working with joined myself and another professor (the good professor ikeda) on a trip to kesennuma to join in a festival there by building a symbolic fish-arch. The intent was to make something that would give the children in kesennuma some sense that they could take part in reconstruction, even if only in a symbolic way to start with.

I'll post some images here because what kind of architect would i be if i didn't offer at least a bit of eye-candy, but since the the story was picked up at inhabitat.com, i will direct you all to take a look at their site instead of reworking it all for here.

check it out here.

...

cleaning up

2011-07-30T23:48:10-04:00

We are near the end of a very busy term.

Because we lost a month of classes as a result of the blackouts all of the courses ended up being very compressed, and with our school heavily focused on events in Tohoku and elsewhere the students were also asked to take on a fair amount of extra work.

Because our curriculum emphasizes fieldwork and internships the students will still be in school, more or less, even over the short summer break. Next week we head to Kesennuma to join in the festival up there, and at the end of the month we are going to host a group of students from Israel and have a small workshop to explain the studio. The idea is to pass on what we have learned so they can take up projects on their own in response to the disaster in Tohoku.

I am still ruminating on how to show the work the students have been doing in class and to put the final projects onto this site. That will remain a work in progress for a wee bit longer I think. I would also like to make ...

Redesigning The Japanese Economy

2011-07-16T18:26:58-04:00

Nothing like a public deadline to spur creativity!

A group of professors and students will be presenting work in progress on the projects they have undertaken in response to the Tohoku disaster. As part of that the students from this studio are going to put up simple boards to show off their work so far and give an idea of what the school is up to.

The group will be talking at a symposium organized by the Japan Center for Economic Research, with topics ranging from the economic impact of shutting down the nuclear power grid, to reconstruction efforts, and ideas about how to go solar. It should be a nicely multi-disciplinary event, and for those who are interested will be streamed live in both English and Japanese, Japan time 10:00 am to 16:30 July 18, 2011. I assume this is not convenient for anyone outside Japan so will post an update after the event.

a small side project

2011-07-12T09:52:18-04:00

You are probably wondering about the fish.

The fish are part of a small side project the lab is working on in the city of Kesenuma. You probably saw it on the news. It's the city that had a massive boat sitting on a street instead of in the water.

The city is struggling to recover after the tsunami. Not just because the houses were swept away, but because the fishing economy that once stood at the center of the area is also gone. Ironically, not because there are no fish. There are fish to be caught, and even boats to catch them, but it turns out that a fishing economy is not entirely about the fish. A good chunk of it is about processing the catch, and that entire infrastructure was also swept away with the homes. Did I mention that the entire region has dropped about a meter into the ocean?

What it means is that even as they rebuild their homes and get the boats out onto the water, there is no infrastructure to take the catch. The fridges and the factories were...

The Secret School; or A different way to train architects (maybe)

2011-06-26T20:52:37-04:00

Keio University was founded 150 years ago by a fellow named Yukichi Fukuzawa. Everyone knows him. He changed the culture of the country and is even on the 10,000 (about $100) yen note. Which is cool.

But nobody knows about the architecture school. We are somehow flying just under the radar. Which is kind of a mystery to me. We should not be able to hide so well. Really we shouldn’t. As far as I can tell the sheer name power in the faculty should be drawing in people from all over the world. After all it’s an English program, and for the last decade Shigeru Ban and Kengo Kuma were both on the faculty. They both moved on recently, but right now we have Fumihiko Maki and Kazuyo Sejima in the ranks. Two Pritzker winners in a room theoretically should be enough of a spark that the school would be in the news somewhere.

And yet there is no way to find us on the internets. Google will get you nowhere.

It would be nice to pretend it’s because we are so cool that only t...

dealing with disaster

2011-06-11T02:35:40-04:00

This is a first stab at making a school blog using the firm profile system. Cheers to Paul for letting me try it out. Fingers crossed...

Recently a well-known disaster response organizer let me know that right now no one outside of Japan is interested in the earthquake, the tsunami, nor the nuclear disaster that hit the country last March. No matter that those items literally filled the news cycle of the whole planet for a week or two not so long ago. On reflection, it isn’t all that surprising. Such is the nature of the human attention span in the age of CNN, FOX and Al Jazeera. And hey, we all understand that the willy of Wiener is pretty compelling stuff .

But for us, even here in Tokyo, which is on the edge of most of those events, the disasters are still pretty fresh. Sure the TV is back to its famous inanity. We can watch shows where venturous souls are asked to lie down in some variation of a tank full of lobsters again, which is surely a sign of something (do...