Archinect - University of Tokyo (Deli)

amazing g30 pavilion 2012 working in progress_very recent material experiments

2012-08-07T10:09:00-04:00

Here are a series of images of the most recent g30 pavilion experiments,working in progress.

Midterm Review

2012-08-07T09:59:29-04:00

Ken Oshima from University of Washington and John Bohn from SCI-ARC joined our midterm review on June.6.

Annular Solar Eclipse in Tokyo

2012-08-07T09:58:29-04:00

G30 students have joined people gathering on the sidewalk in Tokyo last Monday to watch the annular solar eclipse, and sent us an image taken by her iphone.

G30 in Princeton

2012-08-07T09:57:44-04:00

As part of our studio project, we have traveled to the US last week, and visited New York, Boston and Princeton. The highlight of our trip was to join the Super Review, which was held at Princeton University, and to present our studio projects. The Super Review was organized as a final presentation for a joint studio project participated by University of Tokyo, Princeton University, École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, California College of the Arts, University of Hong Kong, Tsinghua University, Osaka Sangyo University, and Nagoya institute of Technology.

G30 in New York City

2012-08-07T09:56:35-04:00

A study trip to NYC.

Lecture by Klaas de Rycke

2012-08-07T09:54:50-04:00

Lecture by Klaas de Rycke on May 7, 13:00 – 14:30.
Klaas is a managing director of Bollinger + Grohmann, Paris, and has worked together with SANAA and RDAI as a structural engineer.
His lecture title is Geometry Topology Materiality; the structural parameters in a collaborative design approach.

Lecture by Jonathan Solomon

2012-08-07T09:54:15-04:00

Coinciding with Jonathan Solomon’s latest publication, Cities Without Ground, a book that maps the complex three-dimensional connectivity of Hong Kong's pedestrian passageways, this lecture explores general conditions of the aformal through specific exploration of three buildings in Hong Kong that while outside mainstream histories of the city's development exhibit unique qualities and three architectural proposals that exacerbate them.

Holcim Innovation Prize 2012

2012-08-07T09:53:44-04:00

Prof. Obuchi’s design team, Cast on Cast, from Design Research Lab at Architectural Association in London has received Holcim Innovation 3rd prize 2012.
They received Holcim Awards “Next Generation” 1st prize in 2011 European category, and this time for its international competition including submissions from professionals and academics around the world.
http://www.holcimfoundation.org/T1509/Innovation_3rd_prize_-_United_Kingdom.htm

G30 Exhibition

2012-08-07T09:52:49-04:00

G30 Studio work is now on display at the entrance hall of our building at Department of Architecture. Focus of our work so far is to establish the parallel design system between analogue and digital productions for differential mass-fabrications.

Robotic Fabrications in Architecture

2012-08-07T09:52:14-04:00

Together with Matthias Kohler, Michael Budig and their students from ETH Zurich, we held a joint review and discussed the latest research on robotic fabrications in architectural experimentation.

Japan Studio 2012 Joint Midterm Review

2012-08-07T09:51:07-04:00

We hosted a midterm review at University of Tokyo joined by 9 schools from US, Europe and Asia.

Participating schools:

University of Tokyo
Princeton University
École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne
University of Hong Kong
Columbia University
California College of the Arts
Tsinghua University
Osaka Sangyo University
Nagoya institute of Technology

obuchi lab + harvard gsd Tokyo site visit 3

2012-08-07T09:50:05-04:00

Tokyo Architectural Boat Tour

We went to a boat trip to see a face of Tokyo which can only be seen from rivers. The trip was organized by Prof. Jinnai from Hosei University and also joined by Ken Oshima of Washington University and Prof. Mark Mulligan of Harvard GSD. We have seen many places in Tokyo, but from the river, the city looked quite different. Thank you Prof. Jinnai for organizing the trip!

obuchi lab + harvard gsd Tokyo site visit 2

2012-08-07T09:48:40-04:00

We visited the world’s largest Storm Water Discharge Tunnel which prevents flooding disasters. A giant tunnel connects many small rivers with Edo River, Tokyo's major river, helping to reduce a potential overflow into residential areas during major storms. The tunnel was HUGE! It is also know as Underground Temple.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metropolitan_Area_Outer_Underground_Discharge_Channel
http://www.ktr.mlit.go.jp/edogawa/project/gaikaku/frame_index.html

obuchi lab + harvard gsd Tokyo site visit 1

2012-08-07T09:47:26-04:00

We visited the world’s largest glass manufacturer, Asahi Glass, located in Ibaraki Prefecture just north of Tokyo. The company has 4 large-scale factories in Japan, and the one we visited produces glass sheets mainly used for architectural applications, i.e., windows, doors, skylights and glass roofs. The factory was so big that we had to take a bus to move from one facility to next. Sadly we could not take any pictures inside the factory….

http://www.agc.com/english/index.html

obuchi lab + harvard gsd Tokyo lecture series 4

2012-08-07T09:46:15-04:00

Azby Brown from Kanazawa Institute of Technology joined us and spoke his latest book ‘Just Enough’. The main focus of the book is about the ecological network developed during the 17th and 18th centuries in Tokyo.

http://blogs.nationalgeographic.com/blogs/thegreenguide/2010/05/review-just-enough-by-azby-bro.html

obuchi lab + harvard gsd Tokyo lecture series 3

2012-08-07T09:45:00-04:00

We visited Blest Co., a company invented a machine which turns plastic waste into gasoline, diesel, kerosene and other refined oil. We had a great talk by Akinori Ito, the president of Blest, who started up his company 9 years ago. His vision is to transform the public perception of trash not as waste but as future resources. This machine is now sold in many developing countries where plastic waste has become environmental hazard.

http://ourworld.unu.edu/en/plastic-to-oil-fantastic/

obuchi lab + harvard gsd Tokyo lecture series 2

2012-08-07T09:43:25-04:00

Prof. Jun Sato from University of Tokyo spoke to G30 and Harvard GSD Tokyo Program students about design culture of structural engineering in Japan. He works with young Japanese architects like So Fujimoto and Jun Ishigami, and explores to integrate Japanese tradition and latest technological innovations through the development of structural and material behaviours.

obuchi Lab + harvard gsd Tokyo lecture series 1

2012-08-07T09:39:56-04:00

G30 students and students from Harvard GSD Tokyo Program are joined by Morinosuke Kawaguchi, a technology consultant, who discussed the future of technology and how Japanese custom and subculture could help the direction of technological innovation.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Morinosuke_Kawaguchi

evolutionary productions seminar for harvard gsd Tokyo 2012

2012-08-07T09:38:39-04:00

Together with Toyo Ito and Ken Oshima of University of Washington, Prof. Obuchi started to teach Harvard students for their GSD Tokyo Program 2012. In the coming months, G30 students will be joining lecture series and site visits organized for Prof. Obuchi’s seminar course, Evolutionary Productions which exams Low/Mid/High Tech production processes uniquely developed in Japan.

g30 obuchi lab Christmas sushi party

2012-08-07T09:36:17-04:00

G30 Students and Teaching assistant Toshi went to Tsukiji Fish Market, the world’s largest fish market, this morning and bought all kinds of fresh fish for our Christmas Party. After busy making components by evolutionary development processes, we will now get our hands sticky and make our own sushi!

Peter Eisenman Will Lecture @ Dept.of Architecture Univ.of Tokyo

2012-03-05T06:51:55-05:00

Peter Eisenman Will Lecture @ Dept.of Architecture Univ.of Tokyo on March.12.

"justyou&me" interview series#3:wang shu-2012 pritzker prize winner

2012-02-27T14:19:00-05:00

during uia tokyo,i interviewed wang shu as the 3rd part of my "just you & me" interview series that aims to particularly asking the questions and arguing about issues and confusions in contemporary china's built environment.

we had a very long talk(more than one hour) on chinese cultural identity and design,china politics and design and also Lao-tzu's philosophy.

actually after 10 years(1966-1976)' cultural revolution of china led by chairman mao,a mega rupture was generated between what was china before and what it should be after. that was the 2nd time in chinese history while the 1st one was in qin dynasty led by emperor qin shi huang who built the great wall.the country machine tried to apply those very straightforward or saying simple way to manage people and their minds for "harmony" as they called.what did people think at that time?did they think about design or architecture?i don't think so.they were perhaps just reading the quotations from chairman mao and brainwashed...

GSD Harvard University Tokyo Program 2012 at University of Tokyo

2012-02-11T16:57:00-05:00

Currently, Prof.Obuchi has organized a series of lectures as part of Harvard Graduate School of Design Tokyo Program seminar titled Evolutionary Productions, which explores the history and technological developments of Japanese craft traditions and manufacturing systems. Japan offers a unique opportunity to investigate advanced modes of productions spanning from low-tech to high-tech, from hand-based and machine-based to information-based productions. The seminar additionally consists of various site visits to directly observe the range of Japanese crafts leading up to the final design project, which synthesizes explorations of production processes into a development of a device, titled Tokyo Tools.

FEB. 8 Wednesday / 14:00 - 16:00 / Room 15
Morinosuke Kawaguchi Geeky-Girly Innovation: A Japanese
Subculturist's Guide to Technology and Design

technology consultant, subculture-driven innovations expert, Arthur D. Little Inc.

Analyzing everything from super-toilets to ...

1st year student working in progress

2011-11-19T11:12:05-05:00

already midnight at University of Tokyo now,1st year new students @ Obuchi lab are still working on their "generative mass production" project for the 1st stage design review on next monday.

as a 2nd year student,i found this year's design research topic for workshop one(to design a material system for a "generative mass production process ") is harder than what i have done in last year that was simply the "form finding" process.

new students not only need to consider material properties but also have to design a "material tectonic system or device" to produce "difference" among each generation of the form, which generated "different-local" is going to compute a complex based on the emerged connections they gave.

or in other words,1st form produced from the designed "material tectonic system" will be the next form's formwork. this "generative mass production process" gives an innovative strategy to reducing 60% construction cost from the conventional formwork in contemporar...

Digital fab lab opens today

2011-11-11T10:18:01-05:00

Today,we are going to have a lot of activities and lectures for our digital fab lab's opening. I will post more information soon!!!

Joined by Jesse Reiser from Princeton University, Tom Verebes from Hong Kong University and Michael Hansmeyer from ETH Zurich, we packed the lecture hall, and had a series of presentations and discussions on the present state of architectural practice, research and education.

Many thanks to G30 Obuchi Lab students and Kengo Kuma Lab staff for helping organize the event.

Another Version Minimal Surface Pavilion at Tokyo Designers Week 2011

2011-11-02T10:16:14-04:00

We(Digital Fab Lab/Obuchi Lab @ Tokyo University) are participating this year’s Tokyo Designers Week and exhibiting our Minimal Surface Pavilion. This is our 6th version since we started constructing last September, and it gets better each time we reconstruct at different locations.
Tokyo Designers Week 2011 will run for a week from November 1 to 6 at Meiji Jingu Garden near Shibuya.

link: http://www.tdwa.com/tdw/exhibitors/genre.html?genre=%E5%BB%BA%E7%AF%89

Digital Fabrication Lab Launch Event on 11.12.2011

2011-10-29T02:02:10-04:00

We will hold a launch event for our Digital Fabrication Lab on November 12.
This event was originally planned for March 15, 2011, but it was cancelled due to the 3/11 Tohoku Earthquake. We will be joined by Jesse Reiser from Princeton University who is Director of Graduate Program at School of Architecture and principal of Reiser + Umemoto, RUR Architecture in New York; Tom Verebes from University of Hong Kong. He is Associate Dean of Architecture School and also Creative Director of OCEAN.CN in Hong Kong; Michael Hansmeyer from ETH Zurich, Institute of Technology in Architecture; and Kengo Kuma, Manabu Chiba and Yusuke Obuchi from University of Tokyo

The event will start at 3:30 pm, Saturday on November 12, 2011.

Poster was designed by Olesia Biloborodko, G30 2nd year student.

Minimal Surface Pavilion Constrcution Finished @ Shinjuku

2011-10-15T08:38:36-04:00

Here are the latest pictures!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

*the minimal surface pavilion project was developed this summer@digital fabrication lab/obuchi lab of the university of tokyo,directed by yusuke obuchi/kengo kuma/jun sato.

a recent project at university of tokyo-minimal surface pavilion

2011-10-12T10:08:43-04:00

As an attempt to create a structure as light as possible while
generating a complex spatial geometry, a shrink-wrap membrane was used
as a tension element connecting two independent rings together. The
concept of Minimal Surface Pavilion was conceived as an urban
furniture providing a place to sit and to gather for passerby.

This project is going to be built in 1:1 scale at Shinjuku of Tokyo on 14 of this month as a
way to refresh it in terms of urban crime and other negative aspects/social issues in this area.

By far we have done 4 versions of tests in terms of material/structure/geometry.

And the test is going on and on...

*And this project is developed at digital fabrication lab/obuchi lab of tokyo university ,directed by yusuke obuchi/kengo kuma/jun sato.

Here are some pictures during our testing process:

9`19 tokyo anti-nuclear parade/protest-oh-so many people

2011-09-19T10:40:22-04:00

today,tens of thousands of people in tokyo gathered at meji park right behind Kenzo Tange's olympic stadium,for an all-time anti-nuclear parade.

i got information of this event from an italian architect marco corbella working at tokyo...thanks marco...

core promoters of the big parade are:

Katsuto Uchihashi
Kenzaburo Ooe
Keiko Ochiai
Satoshi Kamata
Ryuichi Sakamoto
Hisae Sawachi
Jakucho Setouchi
Takashi Tsujii
Shunsuke Tsurumi

i've seen some parade sign from subway station already...

path to meji park.

nobel prize in literature winner:Kenzaburō Ōe 's turn to speak to public.

music is always the fastest to response event.

move to the city center.

i have to leave from here(district where kengo kuma's office located)for ando's opening lecture of APSA 2011 at tokyo university.

.........................