Fujimori Sensei and Namba Sensei

Tuesday, May 26, 2009 11:00 AM

We came back to Tokyo from Gokayama on Sunday. It was a long day filled with a bus and three separate trains. Headphones and naps are life savers on long train rides. We left Gokayama at 2 PM after hiking up the hill to get some pictures of Ainokura and then down the mountain a little to go to the Japanese washi (traditional Japanese paper) store. I finally got back into my room at the Olympic Memorial National Youth Center at around 8:30.

Monday we had the opportunity to meet one of Japan’s famous architects, Fujimori Sensei. We saw a brief glimpse of his work at the Tokyo Gas Sumika Projects. He designed the ‘Coal House’. Don was actually one of his students when he lived in Japan. Fujimori Sensei took us to one of his residential projects that is finishing up landscaping. He is known for his tea houses or rooms in his projects. His focus is on nature, and it shows in the spaces he designs as well as in his material choices. This project was clad in copper sheets, bent and folded to create an aesthetic based on the American use of wooden shingles. The tea room cantilevers off the front of the house, so when you are in it you are literally sitting on air. An interesting story he told us was about a column in the house that is untreated and naturally shaped cherry wood. He and the client, Kojima-san, went together up into the mountains, picked out the tree, and cut it down themselves to go in the house. This sort of dedication is really inspiring. The influence of nature on design really helps to create a unique beauty in Terunobu Fujimori’s designs.

We also went to Fujimori’s own home. This was his first architectural design after teaching architectural history for many years. The main interest of his house is the roof. His roof actually functions as a sort of garden, and has flowers and plant planted in between shingles. This creates alternating rows of plants and roof material and is really interesting. He told us with a laugh that many people have been interested in his roof because it is different, but no one has taken it as inspiration yet. He and his wife were very gracious hosts. We spent a bit of time up on the roof, and then went back down into the house only to receive an incredibly nice (and incredibly unexpected) sushi box lunch. It was definitely one of the best meals I’ve had here. Then Fujimori’s wife was nice enough to perform a small, informal tea ceremony for us. I was just blown away by their generosity, especially after being privileged enough to get to meet Fujimori and have him take us through his projects.

The rest of the day yesterday was spent on work. I am trying very hard to catch up on everything, and I’m slowly starting to. I’ve made decent progress with my travel journal, so I just need to keep it up.

This morning, we met with Don to talk about our project which, to be honest, isn’t going to be my best. Jeff and I are both a little burnt out and there really just isn’t enough time. We’re going to finish it, and it’s going to be decent, but I highly doubt it will be something I want to show off lol.

In about half an hour, we are meeting to go to Tokyo Universtiy to meet with Namba Kazuhiko, another famous Japanese architect. Both he and Fujimori Sensei are full time teachers at Tokyo University, the most prestigious university in Japan. Namba Sensei’s work seems to be mostly focused on modernism and structure. He is known for what is called “box houses”. These are modern homes, designed based on principles of prefabrication and modular parts. This is one of the most efficient ways to construct buildings and is a strong focus of many modern architects. The fact that Namba Sensei has mastered the use of these systems in order to create spaces that offer interest and beauty, using their ‘kit of part’ construction is really commendable. I am looking forward to meeting him, and I’ll let you know how it goes.