Odaiba, as an artificial island, started with a lot of locked Res communis, such as the water, beaches, plants etc. However, Odaiba was almost abandoned after the Second World War. The access to the island and its resources were also extremely limited, so few people went to the Odaiba area during that period. Then, the government wanted to change Odaiba area into a commercial center, building Lex communis such as piers and waterfront promenades along the coastline to attract more people. Because of this Lex communis, a series of Praxis communis appeared such as photography. As such, the Odaiba waterfront reached the current ecology balance. However, the frequency and the variety of the Praxis communis is not sufficient since the Lex communis provided is not efficient and the Res communis cannot be fully unlocked. The proposal of our group is the redesign of the existing piers. We used the same structure systems and designed a series of piers with different topics to provide for various experiences for both local residents and tourists. And, more activities (Praxis communis) will happen along the waterfront by the enhanced Lex communis. As such, more Res communis will be unlocked. Consequently, the ecology after the proposal will become more lively and dynamic.
Ward Office Palazzo
The assignment is to design a “palazzo” in Aoyama. The site is located on the boundary of a “block”, which is a typical component of urban area in Tokyo. It is a transition area between low-dense social housing area and a main commercial street with high-rises standing along.
The concept of the project is to create two kinds of distinctive spaces in one building with open spaces in lower floors and private spaces in upper floors. It is designed to deal with the complex functions, which is supposed to be the key characteristic for a Tokyo palazzo. In consideration of the urban fabric, the volume continues the interface of the street in the same height with the next building. In the lower part, ward office is set to be the primary function, which can be a core to combine public functions for the community. There is a wide open shared space in the ground floor to link the two sides of the site and different functions are organized in the form of blocks to make the remaining part floating spaces. In the upper part, office and apartments act as introverted spaces showing another face of this building. Also, the apartments take the form of a patio in the middle to echo the two typical cases of palazzo nearby.
House in Vail
The House in Vail, CO, is proof that complexity and contradiction lead to ambiguity and richness of meaning. It consists of two different sorts of verticality: one articulated via the site context, the other contained by a sheer surface. North and south elevations are totally different, and the perception of the house from outside and inside is likewise contradictory. The scale of the roof and façade elements contributes to perceptual ambiguity- the real height is never directly revealed. Inside, depending on the height at which the observer is positioned, the house is perceived as either a tower or a small studio. By playing on this characteristic, while keeping the Tokyo context in mind, our new proposal suggests a building, divided into two parts, with mixed functions linked by an out of scale stair and a bridge that also inflates the perceived scale.
From the road, the entry is ambiguous, for there is no door in the main façade. Instead, it is located at the back. On the front left-hand side, a big stair emerges and continues along the whole site, as well as inside the building. It is the connection between the single parts of the house and its more unified surface that make it a whole. The outside is a semi-public space. Also, the way in which each external part is expressed separately does not encourage any visual connection with what is going on inside.
The difference between the House in Vail and our de sign lies in the act of traversal. In the former, the occupant or visitor must decide whether to take the stairs or the bridge. The new design proposes an architectural promenade, using both these elements as a continuous passage though the site. Robert Venturi’s so-called inclusive design method has promoted our understanding of the design and its articulation.
VERTICAL FARM
LIVELIHOOD UPROOTED, COMMONS EMACIATED
My mother has a vegetable garden as a hobby while she works. Amagasaki’s grandfather also makes a living from farming. There is a fundamental joy of life, as if one is rooted in the land through plants. However, in a capitalist society, there is more than that. When the logic of capital is brought into the business of hobbies to an excessive degree, our live- lihood becomes labor, and we are “uprooted “1. The healthy ecology, that is, The linkage between the “public,” “private,” and the “commons” which was supported by the layers of nature, has been bloated and destroyed by the influx of com- modified goods and service substitutes2 (Fig. 1). Production has been black-boxed by industry, and the commons and our convivial joy rooted in it have been emaciated.
DISCONNECTION BETWEEN HOBBY-LIKE PRODUCTION AND CONSUMPTION IN IKEBUKURO
We can also see this effect in the behavior of the city we observed in Ikebukuro. For example, we can see that one of the buildings has gardening plants growing out of the building, and on the other side, there is a Halal restaurant (Fig. 2), but even if vegetables are growing in the garden, they are not eaten in the restaurant next door. In Ikebukuro, you can see many gardens, but even if there are vegetables nearby, you cannot eat them. In Ikebukuro, there is a com- plete disconnect between consumption and the production of individual skills, even though they are often adjacent to each other. Architecture must become the infrastructure that connects the desire for the pleasure of growing plants with consumption, making plants com mon and creating a small cycle.
STRATEGY FOR CITY FARMING COMMONS
How can this be achieved in cities? For the commons to be powerful in a city where everything is large, it needs a broader coalition than it has in rural areas. In terms of skill level, the number of core members may not be that differ- ent from the practice in rural areas, but the amount of par- ticipants and observers3 should be much larger. Therefore, there is a serious problem with the quantity of vegetables. In addition to root vegetables that can only be grown in soil, those that can be grown hydroponically can be grown using the vertical farming method, making it possible to grow enough vegetables for about 120,000 meals4.
OPEN TECHNOLOGY AND SMALL CIRCULATION
Agriculture is becoming a very high-tech industry today5. Vertical farming is one of the best examples. Temperature, water composition, and genetics are completely regulated by artificial intelligence. The harvesting and maintenance is largely mechanized, and humans watch it on iPads. In this project, it is necessary to diagnose and anatomize vertical farming, rather than operating it as such a manipulative and closed technology, and to recombine it into a more open technology for conviviality6. It is not just a matter of making high-tech low-tech; it is a matter of reconfigur- ing technology so that it can be maintained and managed without the politics and power of control and manipula- tion that separate us from the plants. The agricultural pipes used in plastic greenhouses should be used as a framework, and the components should be as simple as possible. The growing environment should not be controlled discretely by microcomputers on a unit-by-unit basis, but rather by conventional air conditioning technology and circulation throughout the building. The technology is a key in the whole system, in which the water from the spring becomes the circulating water for the water-cooled heat pump chiller, which gradually returns to the same temperature as the environment within the building, and then returns to the environment through transpiration by the plants.
DEPARTMENT STORE REVOLVES, FAÇADE REVOLVES
When a department store is weighted according to the com- mercial value of its homogeneous structure, the spectacular intersections and avenues become the front, and the rest the back. Instead, the next generation of department stores will look to the abundant resources around them – in this case, gardening skills, water, sun, and wind – and bring the place of production back to your neighborhood. In this way, the sunny south of the building will be penetrated by the di- mension of plants, creating a new façade where production and circulation can be seen.
Yoyogi / Start Up Station
Standing with its platform parallel to the road, Yoyogi station is a hidden building with few parts exposed to the city. At the west exit, the building facade that faces the intersection is in line with other buildings. Passing through this exit, the stairs divide to cross the Central line, Sobu line and the Yamanote line, and reach the small east entrance. The station has unique characteristics such as the staircase rising towards the platform, or the west exit orientation that is adjusted to the city blocks. Distinctive steps were taken to coordinate the various cir- cumstances in the station building.
Yoyogi flourished due to young people as various academic facilities of preparatory and animation schools were established in this area. However, as Japan is facing a declining birth- rate, the state of the city is starting to change. In the future, the ticket gates may change into gateless or touchless which then create a wider space inside the station. In these circumstan- ces, what would the station look like if the station planned to provide an incubation office for creative individuals who dreamt of entrepreneurship and startups?
An atrium was created by removing the wall on the first floor of the West exit station building and the floor of the second-floor courtyard. The third floor was raised and the boundary with the platform was removed. This way, the existing platform, 2nd and 3rd floor became steps that shifted half a floor. As these various steps of courtyards, floors, and platform with new stairs connect, variations of visual permeability within the station building are created. Resi- dents will work mainly in the spaces on the 2nd and 3rd floors. With this new station, they will be able to freely publicize themselves to the station users and be able to interact with each other.