Tokyo Gas Project and Sendai

Wednesday, May 19, 2009, 1:00 am.

Yesterday, we left Tokyo for our second week long trip. We headed through Utsunomiya and stopped to see the Tokyo Gas Sumika Project. These are four houses designed for the Tokyo Gas company by four different and distinguished Japanese architects.

The first one we saw is called “The Sumika Pavilion” by Toyo Ito. This building is based off of the structure and branches of a cherry tree growing on the site. It is essentially a glass box, whose wooden structure branches out like a tree, creating an interesting play between the glass and the angles of the structure. The idea was based off the idea of "eating delicious things under the cherry tree." The space is not really inhabitable, but serves as a show room for the Tokyo Gas appliances.

The second project we saw was “House” by Taira Nishizawa. This project focused on the almost reversal of the roles of the ceiling and the walls. The walls were completely solid, and all the light was let in through the ceiling. As the day progresses, the light moves from the bed, to the kitchen, to the living space. The outer wall is made of pivoting doors that can be opened up to look out onto a small field. This open ventilation can also be used to help control the heat in the room. Another interesting aspect of this project is the fact that the columns within the one-room house extend into the earth and serve as piles, the foundation structure of the building.

Right next door is “House Before House” by Sou Fujimoto. This project is based off of the idea of a child playing with blocks, stacking them up to create a rudimentary structure. The house is made up of steel boxes stacked on top of one another, welded together and painted white. Many of us likened the project to “an adult tree house.” Circulation between boxes was solved by simple ladders or stairs, which sometimes even serve to balance the cantilevered boxes, becoming part of the structure. This project was very intriguing because it involved looking back in time and finding a new way to explore and create space.

Finally, we went and saw the “Coal House” by Terunobu Fujimori. This house was based off the idea of the cave as a primitive dwelling. The main space of the house was envisioned as a cave, as if the space had been carved out of a form rather than constructed out of planes. Again, the circulation has been provided by steep stairways and ladders, up to the bedrooms on the second floor. A tea house has been attached to the house, as part of the original design. It branches off the master bedroom and is also accessible from the exterior by way of a ladder. Of course, in traditional Japanese style, the tea house is tiny. One of the most beautiful aspects of the project is the material: burnt cedar. The wood cladding was literally burnt, giving it a blackened and charred look that, when paired with the light wood detailing, is incredibly beautiful. The burning actually creates a sort of protection for the wood in terms of weather and insects, so the wood will not need treatment of any kind for twenty years.

After we finished at the Gas House Projects, we got on a bullet train for Sendai, famous in the architecture world for the Sendai Mediatheque. We got there in the afternoon and had some free time, so we went to see Ftown by Hitoshi Abe and then did some shopping before we met as a group to go photograph the Mediatheque in the evening. The building’s function is as a library and media center. It was designed by Toyo Ito and is really quite remarkable in terms of structure. It is essentially a glass box with vertical cores running up it, providing the structure. What is so unique is that the cores are open, diagram type structures of non-uniform sizes throughout each core. The metal for each of the steel hollow tubes is 2 mm thick. This type of construction was really only possible because of Sendai’s incredible shipping industry and the techniques and equipment employed there. The building really lit up at night and was nice to photograph, unfortunately it seems like it would have been better had there been nothing surrounding it and nothing inside it.

After the mediatheque, I went back to the hotel and tried (unsuccessfully) to catch up on my photos and blog. It was a pretty relaxing night at the typical Toyoko Inn.

Today, we had to check out at 10 am, as is standard. We were heading as a group to see the Sasaki-Gishi Prothetic & Orthotic Services building by Hitoshi Abe, but we got lost from the rest of the group so we found it ourselves. It was a little disappointing from the outside, because it seems that it has not aged well, but the interior had a surprisingly nice light well/courtyard space. It provided lighting to all the office space within the building very well and I was impressed with it, as well as the structure of the building.

We were lucky enough to be able to make an appointment at Aoba-tei, which is an award winning interior project by Hitoshi Abe. We were to meet there at 4 pm, which meant that we were much later getting into our next lodgings for tonight that was originally planned, but it was worth it and I was able to get some work done before. The restaurant is only open for reservations, and you can only get reservations if you are a friend of the owner, or a friend of a friend, so we were incredibly fortunate. The interior skin of the building is made out of perforated metal, with the holes punched in it to resemble the form and play of light of a tree. It is really incredibly well done and we spent quite a while trying to capture the effects of the material on camera.

After that, we took another bullet train to Echigo-yuzawa, where our hot springs hotel awaited us. We got in pretty late, so Carisa and I went to the public bath and then just uploaded our pictures. Tomorrow we’re going to try to go on the ropeway here, since it is the longest ropeway in Japan, and then catch our train to the James Turrell House of Light. He is one of the artist/architects whose work we saw in Naoshima, and The House of Light is one of his most famous projects. We will be staying there tomorrow night, so there’s something else to look forward to. I am diligently working on maintaining my blog, catching up on work and getting photos uploaded, so stay tuned. Hopefully I will be all caught up by the end of our travel week.