Shinjuku through Ginza/Odaiba

Sorry it's been a few days.

It's now 10:30 pm on Sunday, May 10th. I last wrote on Tuesday, so let's catch up.

Tuesday night Carisa and I went to an Indian curry place near our campus. I love Indian curry, so I was happy. The class also had a "meeting" during which people who were upset with our lodging were allowed the chance to "voice their complaints". It was pretty much a bitching fest. I grew bored pretty early with it, and made it clear that I'm fine with our situation as long as internet got figured out (which it obviously has). After that, Carisa and I watched Iron Man and then went to bed.

Wednesday we had class at 10 am. Our final project was assigned, which is a mixed-use building in one of the busier districts in Tokyo: Shibuya. It is not that far from our dorms (less than a 30 minute walk), so after class Jeff and I walked down there to pick a site in the designated area. It was raining so it wasn't incredibly pleasant. We got lunch at Denny's (which is about 20 times better here than it is in the US) then we wandered around and checked out the area that Don had designated for us to choose a potential site from. We found a very narrow site in an interesting part of Shibuya. It is right next to a big department store called The Loft and had exposure on all 4 sides, which is rare in an urban setting, but it is also essentially an island in the middle of traffic. We have some pretty interesting ideas about creating a partnership with The Loft and allowing a physical connection between our building and theirs.

Thursday we had class again at 10. D. Choi lectured on the historical process of the development of Tokyo, from the Edo period. It is always interesting to compare the development of castle towns, like Tokyo, to towns planned and organized on a grid. The methods of organization and land distribution are so different, and can make castle towns somewhat difficult to navigate. Unfortunately, most of the historical architecture in Tokyo has been destroyed over the years, either by fires, earthquakes or war.

After class, we all took a trip to Shinjuku, which is a very busy district of Tokyo, with the world's busiest subway station. We mostly were trying to get a feel for the district, which is mostly mid to high rise buildings and many department stores. We saw the Tokyo Metropolitan Government/City Hall building by Kenzo Tange. This is a perfect example of Tokyo's tendency to borrow from western culture and design. Tange himself has said that this building was influenced by Notre Dame de Paris, and you can definitely notice it. The design consists of two towers, and definitely has a Gothic feel to it. We also passed by MODE Gakuen's "Cocoon Tower", also by Tange. It is so interesting to me that these two buildings were designed by the same architect because they are so different. The MODE building literally looks like a cocoon, with pieces wrapping upwards, and gaps filled with glass. At the top, it almost looks like a bird's nest. The form seems to be very organically influenced, as opposed to the almost ridged structure of the City Hall. We also headed towards Chuo Koen, or "Central Park". This is just another example of borrowed ideas. Shinjuku is a big area, and there is definitely more I'd like to see there. Hopefully I will be able to make it back there.

The rest of Thursday was spent working on site analysis and basic ideas/inspiration for our project. To be honest, Jeff and I just sort of threw some stuff together for class the next day.

On Friday, we did a brief presentation during class, and found out that two other groups picked the same site as we did. Oh well...not too much we can do about it. The feedback was useful, we just need to get motivated to work on the design inspiration.

I had some free time so I got to talk to Andrew and my family. It was good to talk to everyone. I wouldn't say that I'm getting homesick, but I am starting to look forward to going home in a month. I think the 3 month trip is a perfect amount of time. I'm pretty sure that I'll be heading home right when I will be ready to.

Friday afternoon/evening, Jeff and I went and explored Harajuku. I really like this district. It is the major fashion district in Tokyo and the major streets are lined with huge clothing stores. We used our architectural guide books to help us see everything we wanted to, and we pretty much exhausted the area in terms of seeing the buildings it has to offer. We saw way too many of them to list them all, but I'll talk about a few that I found most interesting.

The first one is called the Wedge by Edward Suzuki. The building itself has an intentional crack up its facade. I thought the idea was interesting but wish that more had been done with the crack in terms of allowing light into the building and peaks of the program to the street.

The next two buildings that caught my eyes were the Dior Omotesando by Kazuyo Seijima + Ryue Nishizawa/SANAA and Tod's Omotesando Building by Toyo Ito. The Dior building is essentially a large semi-opaque glass box and was very nice lit up at night. The Tod building was beautifully done. It was pretty much a simple glass facade with an abstract pattern across the front that gave off the feeling of a tree. At night, it was as if you could see light peeking through the branches of a large forest...it was beautiful.

After that, we saw the Prada Boutique Aoyama by Herzog & de Meuron (a famous firm). The building was nicely done, but was a little disappointing at night. The facade is made of bubbling glass in a diamond grid. Just across a small street, we saw the Cartier building, which was very impressively done. The form itself was interesting and the composition of the Cartier building with the building behind it was spectacular. Unfortunately, I do not know who designed it, so I cannot give proper praise.

A little later in the evening, we saw Villa Moderna by Sakakura Associates. This is a housing complex done in the typical 'modern' style of the 1960's (1970's in Japan). Usually these modern buildings feel somewhat cold to me, but this building seemed very well done. The units offset one another, creating a somewhat jagged and angular step back of the concrete. This move created a nice courtyard and entrance to the building, and the units gave off a soft glow.

After we were done exploring, we got Subway for dinner (so good!) and then watched The Dark Knight. I couldn't fall asleep, so I was up til 4 am watching South Park.

Saturday, the class was going to Asakusa, but I already went there with Kumi, Emi and Yasu. Instead, I went to Amlux, a Toyota show room in Sunshine City, near Ikebukuro Station. It was an interesting building and the interior looked nice, but I unfortunately didn't have time to go in. I had to meet back up with the group at 1 to go to Ueno Park.

I got there just in time, after spending much too long figuring out the complex public transit system of Tokyo. Ueno Park is great. We went to a few museums, but only went into the National Museum and a renovation by Tadao Ando. The National Museum is interesting because it is a "European" stone building, with a traditional Japanese roof on it. It was somewhat bizzare and the obviously Euro-knock off style of the surrounding museums was just as disorienting. It is strange to see how much Tokyo has taken from the outside world. The Ando museum was typical Ando...just amazing.

After the museums, we went around the park, stopping at a small amusement park, and to take a ride in a swan paddle boat for a while. We found the only other white people on the lake and decided to mess with them a little. We followed them around and raced with them and pretty much made asses of ourselves, but it was fun. It was just Jeff, Blake and I.

That night consisted of more curry and South Park.

Today we went to Ginza, which used to be the major fashion district in Tokyo. This was the place where most of the initial western influence entered Tokyo. The major building we saw was the Tokyo International Forum by Rafeal Vinoly. The building is absurdly large for its program, but the structure and form is really quite incredible. The interior space is huge and the curved, drop-like plan creates an interesting experience. The structure of the building itself was enough to impress, but the fact that the form was also well designed, makes it a somewhat rare building.

The other important place we went today was an island called Odaiba. There we saw the Fuji TV Building by Kenzo Tange (we've noticed that he's everywhere). The building is again, interesting but strange. It consists of mostly void, balanced by two 'buildings' on either end, connected by a series of square tubes, with a sphere balanced towards the top. We went up into the sphere (an observatory) and got a very nice view of the city.

We also saw the Venus Fort, which is a shopping mall designed based on the Venetian in Las Vegas. They did a good job if that was the goal; the building was very reminiscent of Vegas. It was actually a fun place for shopping and hanging out. We also spent a little time at the Toyota Show Room.

We saw another Kenzo Tange building, which, of course, looks nothing like the first one. It is called the Tokyo Fashion Town Building and is actually somewhat conservative. If you're interested, you should look up this building and compare it to the Fuji TV building. Keep in mind that they were designed by the same office, under the same architect.

The last building we saw was the Tokyo International Exhibition Center by AXS SATOW INC. To be honest, this looks like a strange, triangulated space ship that has awkwardly landed on our earth. Again, a strange but interesting design.

Finally, we were done and headed back to Ginza for dinner. We got some pizza and gyoza and then came home. Tomorrow, we have to be out of our dorms by 9 am. We are all going our seperate ways for the next couple days. Jeff and I have decided to go to Hakone, for hot springs and views of Mt. Fuji. On Tuesday we will head to Yokohama to stay in a capsule hotel, which should be a very interesting experience. On Wednesday, when I get back into Tokyo, I will officially only have one month left in Japan. I don't know whether or not I will have internet tomorrow, but I should have it on Tuesday for sure, so I'll be back then.

Sorry there's so much...but I had to catch up. Love you all.