“Memories for the Future” by Google
The devastating earthquake and tsunami that ravaged northeastern Japan in early March caused unimaginable damage and heartbreak to many. In response, Google has created a website named “Mirai e no kioku”, meaning “Memories for the Future”. The website allows the people of Japan to share photos and videos of their cities in an effort to preserve the memories collected over generations that may have been lost during the disaster. Google has also provided thousands of miles of Street View imagery that includes “Before” and “After” comparisons of the hardest hit areas.
Vista / APOLLO Architects & Associates
Architecture: Satoshi Kurosaki/APOLLO Architects & Associates
Location: Nishidai Itabashi ward, Tokyo, Japan
Completion: 2011
Structure: Timber structure
Site Area: 54.86sqm
Total Floor Area: 111.78sqm /1F(42.02sqm),2F(47.41sqm),3F(22.35sqm)
Construction: Honma Construction
Photography: Masao Nishikawa
House in Abiko / fuse-atelier
Architects: fuse-atelier (Shigeru Fuse)
Location: Abiko, Chiba pref., Japan
Structural Engineers: Konishi Structural Engineers
Main contractor: Shishido Koumuten
Type: Houses-Residential
Site area: 101.00 sqm
Built area: 48.54 sqm
Total floor area: 80.01 sqm
Project Year: 2011
Photographs: Shigeru Fuse
Wood Old House / Tadashi Yoshimura Architects
Architects: Tadashi Yoshimura Architects
Location: Gose-city, Nara, Japan
Structural Engineers: Kazuhiro Yamaguchi
General Contractor: Nakayama Komuten
Site area: 634 sq m
Total floor area: 139 sqm
Project Year: 2011
Photographs: Hitoshi Kawamoto
House in Seya / Suppose Design Office
Architects: Suppose Design Office
Location: Kanagawa, Japan
Project Year: 2011
Photographs: Courtesy of Suppose Design Office
Ravine / APOLLO Architects & Associates
Architects: Satoshi Kurosaki/APOLLO Architects & Associates
Location: Shirogane Minato ward Tokyo, Japan
Date of Completion: 2011
Site Area: 73.37 sqm
Total Floor Area: 215.93sqm/1F(38.30sqm), 2F(70.48sqm), 3F(65.15sqm), 4F(34.42sqm), PH(7.58sqm)
Structure Engineers: Masaki Structure Laboratory, Kenta Masaki
Facility Engineers: Shimada Architects, Zenei Shimada
Construction: Maekawa Construction
Photographs: Masao Nishikawa
Intermediating Patterns Exhibition
From the Kengo Kuma Lab in the University of Tokyo, we received this video showing an architecture related exhibition on intermediate space and experimental architecture inspired by Japanese traditional patterns that we recently exhibited in Tokyo, curated by Kengo Kuma, Matteo Belfiore, and Salvator-John A. Liotta, which is part of two exhibitions and a series of symposia organized by The Italian Cultural Center of Tokyo in concomitance with the UIA International Congress of Architecture.
Some more images after the break.
House H / Sou Fujimoto
Architects: Sou Fujimoto Architects
Location: Tokyo, Japan
Principal in charge: Sou Fujimoto
Project Team: Hiroshi Kato
Site area: 72.28 sqm
Building area: 50.52 sqm
Total floor area: 124.87 sqm
Completion: 2008
Photographs: Iwan Baan
Airhole House / Masahiro Kinoshita – KINO Architects
Architect: Masahiro Kinoshita – KINO Architects
Location: Shiga, Japan
Principal use: Private residence
Structure: Wooden
Scale of building: 2 stories
Site area: 98.49 sqm
Building area: 58.97 sqm
Total floor area: 98.74 sqm
Completion: 2010
Photographs: Daici Ano
Space for Prayer / FORM | Kouichi Kimura Architects
Architects: FORM/Kouichi Kimura Architects
Location: Shiga, Japan
Project Year: 2011
Photograpahs: Takumi Ota
Office Y / Yamamori Architect & Associates
Architects: Yamamori Architect & Associates / Takashi Yamamori
Location: Iga-city Mie prefecture, Japan
Principal use: Office & Warehouse
Site area: 1622.18 sqm
Building area: 193.17 sqm
Total floor area: 173.66 sqm
Completion: October, 2007
Photograph: Akiyoshi Fukuzawa
Hansha Reflection House / Studio SKLIM
Architects: Studio SKLIM
Location: Nagoya, Japan
Collaborators: Machiko Nakamura, Federico Mira (3D visualization)
Builder: Sakae Advanced Housing Technology
Structure: KES System Headquarters Shelter
Project Year: 2011
Project Area: 124 sqm
Photographs: Jeremy San / Studio SKLIM
Artificial Topography / Ryumei Fujiki
Architects: Ryumei Fujiki
Location: Kobe city, Japan
Client: Kobe Biennial Committee
Project Team: Fujiki Studio, KOU::ARC, Kensuke Kawamura, Yoshiki Tachi, Shun Simoya, Kohaku Furihata, Yuki Sakurada, Toshihiko Hatori, Yoshito Fukaya, Yuji Uemura, Yuki Ishigami
Colaboration: Yukiko Sato (F.A.D.S)
Project Year: 2011
Photographs: Courtesy of Ryumei Fujiki, Masahiro Hoshida
Exhibit in Tokyo: Architectural Environments for Tomorrow: New Spatial Practices in Architecture and Art
The computerization and urbanization of the 21st century is creating new lifestyles and forms of public space. Architectural Environments for Tomorrow presents the spatial experiments of 23 architects and artists from around the world responding to the transformation of their surroundings. “The metaphors of the world-views suggested by the artists resonate with the practical proposals of the architects, presenting images of future humanity from a variety of different angles.” Architects featured include Toyo Ito, Frank O. Gehry, Sou Fujimoto and many more.
Continue reading for a complete list of the participants and more information on the exhibit.
Oshikamo / Katsutoshi Sasaki + Associates
Architects: Katsutoshi Sasaki + Associates
Location: Toyota, Aichi, Japan
Site Area: 191.71 sqm
Built Area: 84.18 sqm
Total Floor Area: 101.94 sqm
Type of Construction: Wooden
Exterior Materials: Metal finish
Interior Materials: Paint finish
Design time：June2010 – February 2011
Completion: 2011
Structure company: Masaki structural laboratory
Construction company: Inoue construction Ltd
Photographer: Toshiyuki Yano
C-Lab 2005-2011 Exhibition
The work of C-Lab, Columbia University’s experimental urban and architecture think tank, is on display in Tokyo. Conceived as a temporary occupation, the exhibition presents C-Lab’s work alongside magazines from Yoshioka Library’s archive of international architecture journals from the 1960s to today. Images of C-Lab analyses, planning projects, installations, and publications are positioned on the gallery’s shelves next to vintage issues of A+U, Japan Architect, Shinkenchiku, Space, Architectural Review, Domus, Abitare, and Casabella. More information on the exhibition after the break.
The Shape of Breeze / StudioGreenBlue
Architects: StudioGreenBlue
Location: Isesaki City, Japan
Design Team: Mitsuharu Kojima, Wataru Kobayashi
Structural Engineer: Kakinuma Architecture Office
Project Year: 2010
Project Area: 114.27 sqm
Photographs: StudioGreenBlue
‘From Off to On’ Installation / holdUP
holdUP shared with us their latest installation, ‘FROM OFF TO ON’, exhibited at the international KOBE ART BIENNALE (Japan) during the ART IN A CONTAINER exhibition. Selected among 289 proposals, ‘FROM OFF TO ON’ received the honorable mention by the jury. In this interactive artwork, visitors are assimilated to explorers observing their environment, chasing marvels of unknown lands: nothing is taken for granted, everything is extra-ordinary. More images and project description after the break.
Japan to Create World’s First Backup City
The Japanese Government has revealed a radical plan to construct a standby city for Tokyo. The Integrated Resort, Tourism, Business and BackupCity, known as IRTBBC, will provide backup to the capital in an event of an immobilizing earthquake.
IRTBBC will incorporate all vital functions of government, with duplicate facilities for parliament and ministries. Offices complexes, resort facilities, casinos, parks, and the tallest tower in the world at 652 meters, will employ 50,000 IRTBBC residents and over 150,000 workers from the nearby city of Osaka. The government is considering the existing 1236 acre site of the Itami Airport, located approximately 300 miles west of Tokyo.
A member of the ruling Democratic Party, Hajime Ishii, stated, “The idea is being able to have a back-up, a spare battery for the functions of the nation.”
Reference: World Architecture News
Glass Bridge / Hideki Yoshimatu + archipro architects
Architects: Hideki Yoshimatu + archipro architects
Location: Mirasaka, Miyoshi, Hiroshima, Japan
Project Year: 2007
Photographs: Hiroshi Fuji, archipro architects, ABBKBB, Hiroshi Date
House Folded / Alphaville Architects
Architect: Alphaville Architects
Use: Residence
Location: Osaka, Japan
Site area: 75.93 sqm
Building area: 40.00 sqm
Total floor area: 102.03 sqm
Bilding scale: 3 stories
Structure system: Reinforced concrete construction
Photographs: Courtesy of Alphaville Architects
