Stone is known to be a versatile, sturdy, inexpensive and long-lasting material, and has been used in traditional construction systems worldwide for a long time. Its practicality, neutrality, and availability in certain regions are some of its defining traits which, combined with its visual appeal, can contribute to its use in contemporary architectural projects.
Videos
Osaka, Japan. Image Courtesy of Norihito Nakatani Seminar
Created by Japanese architectural historian Norihito Nakatani, the film "A City of Columns" explores the distinctive dwelling culture of nagaya, a housing typology that flourished in the Japanese early modern period. The video depicts one of the few remaining nagaya neighbourhoods in Osaka, revealing the standardization embedded in all aspects of this form of housing and documenting how architectural elements transition between different spatial configurations.
As the COVID-19 global pandemic has unfolded over the last several months, stories of people cooped up in crowded cities and concerned about their future have anecdotally popped up across the internet. When the virus first arrived, it was common for people to escape to their beach-side homes, or to return to their parent’s house for more space and a sprawling yard.