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The work of Japanese photographer Hisaharu Motada envisions what Tokyo might look like in some version of the future. Offering glimpses of doomsday, Motoda's lithographs depict deserted cityscapes, crumbling buildings, monuments overgrown with weeds, and other markings of a post-apocalyptic world... View full entry
But so far, things have remained “on schedule,” and the Olympic stadium is on pace to be completed by the end of next year. [...]
Takeo Takahashi, the general manager of the stadium project, told the media that “roughly four-tenths” of the construction has been completed, but the situation is “as planned.”
— The Japan Times
It's been deliberately quiet around the NEW New National Stadium in Tokyo after the original, winning design by Zaha Hadid Architects was publicly attacked, and eventually officially canceled by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe himself, and a replacement Olympic Stadium scheme was hastily selected from a... View full entry
A venture firm and a major taxi company began trials of passenger-carrying autonomous taxi services on Monday with an eye on launching the full service around 2020 when Tokyo hosts the Olympics and the Paralympics.
ZMP Inc., a Tokyo-based developer of autonomous driving technology, and Hinomaru Kotsu Co., said they are the first in the world to offer autonomous taxi services to fare-paying passengers in the test through Sept. 8.
— Japan Times
Other tech companies and automakers have also been testing autonomous driving services in the U.S., Europe, and Japan. If the Tokyo RoboCar MiniVan trial is successful, officials hope to scale up the program to assist with the increased transportation demand during the 2020 Summer Olympics and... View full entry
Sumitomo Forestry Co. Ltd. has announced that it plans to build a 70-story 350-meter mixed-use skyscraper in Marunouchi, a central Tokyo business district, by the year 2041. [...]
The project [...] is estimated to cost 600 billion JPY (5.5 billion USD). This is almost twice that of conventional high-rise buildings using current technology, but the company hopes to reduce costs by making technological advances in wood-based construction.
— Real Estate Japan
Image: Sumitomo ForestryWooden skyscrapers have been seeing an unprecedented boom phase in recent years, but even the more ambitious projects don't even come close to what Japanese company Sumitomo Forestry, in collaboration with Nikken Sekkei, is proposing to build in Tokyo by the year 2041. ... View full entry
One of the world’s foremost living modernists, AIA Gold Medalist and Pritzker laureate Fumihiko Maki's celebrated career stretches over 60 years. Steering clear of “unnecessary forms or textures” (as he puts it), his designs are understated integrations of metal, glass and concrete. Like... View full entry
The Japanese answer to the hostel, the capsule hotel, debuted in Osaka in the late 70s as a way to provide cheap, basic overnight accommodation to businessman. Stripped down to the bare necessities of a hotel room, individual pods the size of a single bed are stacked together while also offering... View full entry
The first images of MUJI Hotel Shenzhen have been released, and they show that it has been built to reflect the ethos of the brand that is best-known for its minimalist homeware products. [...]
The company says the hotels have been designed to reflect “an anti-gorgeous, anti-cheap” concept. Its goal is to offer great sleep at the right price, provide a space supporting both body and mind while away from home, and connect travellers to local people and places.
— Lonely Planet
Bedroom inside the MUJI HOTEL in Shenzhen.After experimenting with houses for (strictly) dogs and (mostly) humans, Japanese lifestyle design retailer MUJI is now also entering the hospitality sector with two new branded hotels to open in Shenzhen on January 18 and in Beijing on March... View full entry
Dignitaries at the 2020 Tokyo Summer Olympic and Paralympic Games will obviously get the best seats--those made of wood--but ordinary common folk will have to make do with plastic. — Asahi Shimbun
Less than 1 percent of Tokyo's Olympic Stadium seats will be wooden. Those will be allocated for the best views of the opening and closing ceremonies, as well as track and field events. The country's timber industry has been advocating since 2016 to install wooden seats for all the spectators as a... View full entry
A self-described “unlicensed architect” who splits his time between Tokyo and New York, [Hiroshi] Sugimoto has brought his monastic Modernist aesthetic to life through the firm New Material Research Laboratory, which he co-founded with the architect Tomoyuki Sakakida in 2008. “Most of my ideas are illegal,” says Sugimoto, who considers it Sakakida’s job “to make it look like it’s legal.” — The New York Times
A photograph by Sugimoto. Credit: Hiroshi Sugimoto View full entry
Tokyo has held a groundbreaking ceremony for a $1.5bn (£1.2bn) national stadium that will host the 2020 Olympic Games.
The prime minister, Shinzo Abe, Tokyo’s governor, Yuriko Koike, and other dignitaries attended the event on Sunday at the site of the demolished national stadium that was used during the 1964 Tokyo Olympics. [...]
The ceremony ended with a video showing how the stadium is expected to look and function once completed by November 2019.
— The Guardian
A quick refresher, here are just a few instances of the Tokyo Olympic Stadium saga in the Archinect news:Kengo Kuma selected for new Tokyo Olympic StadiumKengo Kuma & Toyo Ito rumored to be designers behind new Tokyo Olympic Stadium proposalsTokyo Olympics refusing to pay Zaha Hadid for work... View full entry
Despite its potential for easy refurbishment and adaptability, the Nakagin Capsule Tower has not exactly fulfilled the hoped-for mission of its designers. A team of documentary filmmakers recently attempted to stay in the tower, only to find the majority of its units without plumbing or much in... View full entry
The confluence of Google mapping, 3D printing and the desire for inventive home decor has produced a Kickstarter for One Hundred Tokyo, a fully-fledged three dimensional map of Tokyo that is divided into 100 handy pieces. Pick your favorite palm-sized square(s) or collect all 100; it's up to you... View full entry
Tokyo-based Dynamic Map Planning will undertake the task of mapping out roadways in the highest detail to date (featuring such useful insights as curb location, lane height, and limits on turning), intended to be 20 times as precise as current maps [...]
The company will also lead the effort to equip Tokyo with digital infrastructure that will allow self-driving vehicles to pick up on factors that can change or appear in their surroundings as often as every few minutes or even seconds
— forbes.com
More autonomous driving news from around the world:Airbus promises autonomous flying taxis in the (very) near futureTesla Model S driver suffers fatal crash while using autopilot, in first known death involving an autonomous vehicleWould self-driving cars be useful to people living outside urban... View full entry
An apartment building known as the “holy land of manga” due to its famous former tenants is to be rebuilt and opened as a museum of manga and anime in Tokyo’s Toshima Ward.
Tokiwaso, which was demolished more than 30 years ago, will be reconstructed in a park [...] Past occupants included “God of manga” Osamu Tezuka, the author of “Astro Boy,” who lived there in the 1950s; Fujiko Fujio of “Doraemon” fame; “Cyborg 009” creator Shotaro Ishinomori; and “Osomatsukun” artist Fujio Akatsuka.
— asahi.com
Related stories on Archinect:Tour hundreds of Japanese architectural models by the likes of Shigeru Ban and Kengo Kuma at Tokyo's 'Archi-Depot'Logo design chosen for 2020 Tokyo OlympicsStudent Works: Jimenez Lai View full entry
The museum, which will open on Tennozu Isle in Tokyo’s Shinagawa district will not only be a place for these models to be displayed, but also act as an effort to preserve them.
The space will be lined with over 100 shelves to display their permanent collection, in addition to special exhibits. Each model in the museum will be accompanied by a QR code which can be scanned using a smartphone to access more information about the structure, including photos of the completed work.
— popupcity.net
The Archi-Depot museum originated from the Archi Depot Foundation (founded last year by Terrada Warehouse and Tokyo Design Center companies), with the core purpose of conveying to a general public the significance and artistry inherent to the architectural model-making process. Before opening the... View full entry
