Four Facets of Contemporary Japanese Architecture
Offered By: edX
Course Description
Overview
This series will explore four facets of contemporary Japanese architecture: theory, technology, city, and humans. It will focus on the period between the two Tokyo Olympics in 1964 and 2021, and span five generations of architects since Kenzo Tange. Through lectures by instructors and discussions with the most influential Japanese architects, the course will trace the development of contemporary Japanese architecture and will consider its future direction.
In the first course, we will focus on one of the four facets of Japanese architecture: theory. The theory portion will feature discussions with architects who played a significant role in influencing the development of theoretical frameworks that contributed to guiding contemporary Japanese architecture. The second course, the technology portion, will focus on works by architects who explored the use of technology—from techniques used for traditional crafts to computational processes—as a vehicle for their investigations into the conceptualization and production of architecture.
The third course on “City” will review the works of those architects who have attempted to conceptualize cities through their architecture. We will look back over the last half century, when the urban environment has changed dramatically with the collapse of traditional communities and population decline, and examine future issues.
The fourth course on “Humans” will review the works of those architects who have attempted to conceptualize humans through their architecture. How has architecture transformed in the turbulent half-century of rapid urban change, informatization, and globalization? And what has happened to the humans that architecture was supposed to have supported? Together with the architects, we will consider these questions.
Syllabus
Course 1: Four Facets of Contemporary Japanese Architecture: Theory
Learn the history, ideas and concepts behind contemporary Japanese architecture through four architectural facets and five generations of architects.
Course 2: Four Facets of Contemporary Japanese Architecture: Technology
Learn the history, ideas and concepts behind contemporary Japanese architecture through one facet of Japanese architecture, technology.
Course 3: Four Facets of Contemporary Japanese Architecture: City
Learn the history, ideas, and concepts behind contemporary Japanese architecture through one facet of Japanese architecture, city.
Course 4: Four Facets of Contemporary Japanese Architecture: Humans
Learn the history, ideas, and concepts behind contemporary Japanese architecture through one facet of Japanese architecture, humans.
Courses
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This series will explore four facets of contemporary Japanese architecture; theory, technology, city, and humans. It will also span five generations of architects since Kenzo Tange. Through lectures by instructors and discussions with the most influential Japanese architects, the course will trace the development of contemporary Japanese architecture and will consider its future direction.
In this first course, we will focus on one of the four facets of Japanese architecture: theory.
The theory portion will feature discussions with architects who played a significant role in influencing the development of theoretical frameworks that contributed to guiding contemporary Japanese architecture. Terunobu Fujimori, Arata Isozaki, Hisao Kohyama, Kengo Kuma, Hidetoshi Ohno, and Kazuyo Sejima will visit their buildings and discuss the ideas behind their respective works.
In the coming courses on technology, city, and humans, the following leading Japanese architects will discuss their work — Tadao Ando, Shigeru Ban, Manabu Chiba, Sou Fujimoto, Hiroshi Hara, Itsuko Hasegawa, Toyo Ito, Kengo Kuma, Fumihiko Maki, Kazuhiko Namba, Yusuke Obuchi, Satoko Shinohara, Yoshiharu Tsukamoto, and Riken Yamamoto. Don’t miss the rest of this great series!
Production Team
Music by Jun Miyake
Organized by (T_ADS) Kengo Kuma, Yusuke Obuchi, Toshihiko Kiuchi
Filmed by Hiromoto Oka -
This is the second course of “Four Facets of Contemporary Japanese Architecture” series, with the focus on the second facet: technology.
The technology portion will focus on works by architects who explored the use of technology—from techniques used for traditional crafts to computational processes—as a vehicle for their investigations into the conceptualization and production of architecture. Tadao Ando, Shigeru Ban, Manabu Chiba, Kengo Kuma, Kazuhiko Namba, and Yusuke Obuchi will visit their buildings to discuss the ideas behind their respective works.
Production Team
Music by Jun Miyake
Organized by (T_ADS) Kengo Kuma, Yusuke Obuchi, Toshihiko Kiuchi
Filmed by Hiromoto Oka
Translation Support by Thomas Daniell
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This is the third course in the “Four Facets of Contemporary Japanese Architecture” series, which focuses on the third facet: city.
After the 1970s, Japanese architects are said to have stopped conceptualizing cities and instead focused on designing the individual buildings that make up the cities. However, as cities continue to undergo significant transformations in response to globalization, the advent of information technologies, and so on, Japanese architects are once again engaging the city, and doing so in unique ways.
This course on “City” will review the works of those architects who have attempted to conceptualize cities through their architecture and examine the changes over the last half century as well as the issues for the future. Fumihiko Maki, Itsuko Hasegawa, Riken Yamamoto, Kengo Kuma, Jun Aoki, and Atelier Bow-Wow (Yoshiharu Tsukamoto & Momoyo Kaijima) visit their buildings to discuss the ideas behind their respective works.
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This is the fourth course in the “Four Facets of Contemporary Japanese Architecture” series, which focuses on the fourth facet: humans.
Economic miracle, environmental problems, bubble economy and its collapse, information technology and globalization, earthquakes, population decline, pandemic... The nearly 60 years between the two Tokyo Olympics, 1964 and 2021, was a turbulent time for humans in Japan. During this period, how has architecture changed? And what happened to humans that architecture was supposed to have supported?
This course on “Humans” will review the works of those architects who have attempted to conceptualize humans through their architecture and examine the changes over the last half century as well as the issues for the future. Hiroshi Hara, Toyo Ito, Osamu Ishiyama, Kengo Kuma, Satoko Shinohara, and Sou Fujimoto visit their buildings to discuss the ideas behind their respective works.
Taught by
Kengo Kuma and Yusuke Obuchi
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