University at Buffalo Summer Abroad Program Tokyo 2017
Professors: Nicholas Bruscia & Christopher Romano
Femi Alege & Shane Todd
July 27, 2017
Tokyo 2017 is the Department of Architecture’s fourth trip to Japan in recent years, and included a week long excursion throughout the South of Japan where we saw some of the country’s most significant historic architectural sites. Destinations include: Ise, Nara, Kyoto, Osaka, Hiroshima and Fukuoka.
The course break down consisted of:
-Studio: Working in various parts of the city. Class time in the city will be spent observing and collecting data. The Fresh Fabric Facades of Tokyo project
specific to the production of in-depth and inventive mappings of Tokyo.
-Technical Methods Seminar: Meiji university collaboration project on the Nakagin Capsule Tower and FabCafe Hida workshop that took place in Hida Japan for 4 days.
The Fresh Fabric Facades of Tokyo
Tokyo is unlike any other city, defined by a constantly changing urban scape. With the average building lifespan being between 30 and 40 years, the street façade is continually evolving. A very non-western feature, is distinctly detected in the zoning in Tokyo. In the West and especially in the United States, zoning is very strict in defining which programs can operate in the same vicinity. Types of zoning in Tokyo allow for a much greater range of mixed programs to coexist. Thus, a residential tower may be adjacent to a vertical mall and an office building. Each building takes on the form corresponding form to meet the needs of the occupying program, thus the consequence being a rich urban fabric.
The vertical element became the interest of study. Focusing on the commercial districts; Shibuya, Ginza, Shinjuku, and Minato, these locations offer the greatest variation in building typologies and variety of building heights. Interpreting the building height, width, window/façade, and symmetry, our documentation strategy led to a new understanding of the city. The product, vertical strands which made a greater connection with the metaphor to the city being an urban fabric.
Exploring the street fabric façade, an interweaving occurs characterized by horizontal elements. At the street level, bustling life connects the street. People weave amongst each other, as traffic too can be associated to the movement of a flying shuttle of a loom. Moving up the textile of the urban condition, advertisement becomes a predominant feature. Facades become a tool for presenting the programs within a building to the people of the street. Vertical “malls,” the integration of vertical signage at the corresponding floor level is seen, or the use of horizontal advertising threads along the façade are observable. New retail businesses often inhabit an entire building, and use a distinct façade condition to advertise themselves on the street. This advertising is prominent to the street, and adds another weave into the street fabric.
Below is the final presentation given at the Shibaura House designed by Kazuyo Sejima.
Tile Text
The street façade is Tokyo’s loom. The bustling movement on the street is the loom’s flying shuttle. The warp threads, are the cities vertical conditions being stands of mullions, and tall narrow buildings stretching for the sky. The flying shuttle weaves human life into the fabric. The horizontal weave incorporates colorful advertising as it continues in completing the fabric. (below)
Meiji university collaboration project on the Nakagin Capsule Tower
-June 12 to Friday, June 16 - Meiji University, Nakano Campus
As a group we went to Meiji University and got to work with there architecture graduate students who were a mix of Japanese students and a few international students. In teams of 4, 2 university of buffalo students and 2 Meiji students, we visited and learned about the Nakagin Capsule Tower. We actually got to step foot in the tower and visit two of the capsule apartments as well as the roof. In just a few days as a group we managed to rethink/ redesign the capsule tower, our final presentation is below.
FabCafe Hida workshop
-July 3 to Friday, July 7 - FabCafe Hida
This 4 day workshop took place in Hida, Japan where I and the other students lodged in the FabCafe in Hida. During those amazing days we learned a lot about the culture and the deep history of wood with the city of Hida.
