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<\/p>\nA major exhibition on Japanese single family homes is still on for a few days here in Tokyo. I did not manage to see the same show’s version on in London (nor Rome) a few months back, but bought both catalogues to compare.<\/p>\n
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Inside shot from the MOMAT exhibition<\/em><\/p>\n If you are to choose between the two, I recommend the Barbican catalogue. The texts flow a lot better here. Without knowing much about the creative process behind the curation of the show(s), it seems that much of the Japanese catalogue’s text is a translation from English, which was then translated back to English.<\/p>\n The creative minds behind the exhibition are Yoshiharu Tsukamoto<\/a> of Atelier Bow-Wow, Kenjiro Hosaka<\/a> of the MOMAT and, in the case of the Barbican (and Rome) exhibitions, curators\u00a0Florence Ostende<\/a>\u00a0and Pippo Ciorra<\/a>. Tsukamoto came up with the idea of applying “genealogy” to house design and Japanese architectural history.<\/p>\n This is genealogy in the Foucault\/Nietzsche tradition:<\/p>\n Genealogy is neither traditional history nor metaphysics; according to Foucault, the objective of genealogical history is not to rediscover our roots, but conversely to engage a persistent effort to disperse them.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n The result is an exhibition with 13 of these genealogies. They are:<\/p>\n Japaneseness; Prototype and Mass Production; Earthy Concrete; A House is a Work of Art; From Closed to Open; Play; Sensorial; Machine: Houses that Shape Cities; Redefining the Gap; Lightness; Unmarketable; Vernacular: Ecology of Living; Family Critiques.<\/p>\n These themes are all great, as they place the home in the context of the changing times but try to understand their meaning and relevance today. The ‘House is a Work of Art’ is perhaps the most beautiful and profound section given the simplicity and depth of Shinohara’s work.<\/p>\n A few unrelated thoughts that I have had while discussing this exhibition with my wife:<\/p>\n In most other parts of the world, the best architects of the postwar period worked on designs for public buildings, or public housing complexes. The “Einfamilienhaus” in Germany, meanwhile, was a symbol of conservatism and of mostly unimaginative designs.<\/p>\n The one-family dwelling has a much more elevated position in Japan’s architectural profession though. The postwar homeowner society, scrap-and-build and a peculiar urban typology and culture help explain why there are so many of them, and why their construction tradition is so dynamic.<\/p>\n Given Japan’s scarcity of land, it has historically been expensive particularly in the cities, which make economical construction methods and space-saving techniques a tradition in and of itself. The economics of homeownership are also very peculiar to this place.<\/p>\n The architecture of the single family dwelling reflects the changing tides of history. The postwar era stood under the banner of coping with the destruction and wide-reaching social transformation. With the 1970s, the decline of the political led to an inward shift toward the individual.<\/p>\n Despite the beauty and inventiveness of the Japanese Home, you can’t shake off the feeling of claustrophobia when walking through some of Tokyo’s residential districts. A lot of people rent extremely small apartments which the skills and social vision of the architectural profession rarely touch.<\/p>\n You sometimes stumble upon designer houses, and yet often the exposed concrete walls have few street-facing windows. The inhabitants seem to turn away from the world, into their own little escape pad in the middle of the city. Of course there are many exceptions.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, every apartment, however small, has a balcony, on which you will be pushed hard to ever see a man hanging up the laundry. The social vision of gender equality as purported in some of the postwar homes has not had a widespread impact on how architecture is being used in everyday life.<\/p>\n Perhaps you can’t do social engineering with single-family homes. All the architects can do is inspire society and reflect on it. And there are many architects here, perhaps more per capita than anywhere else in the world.<\/p>\n Alastair Townsend has written much more knowledgeably on this than I can. If you’re interested, do read his article on ArchDaily<\/a>; in conjunction with looking at this beautiful exhibition (or its catalogue).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" A major exhibition on Japanese single family homes is still on for a few days here in Tokyo. I did not manage to see the same show’s version on in London (nor Rome) a few months back, but bought both … Continue reading