Sou Fujimoto: Between Nature and Architecture

good evening and so Fujimoto from Tokyo and main theme of today is between nature and architecture it is one of the very very big question how we can think about nature and architecture or how we think about how we can mix them together and not only nature and architecture I will talk about many different kinds of in-between things between inside and outside or between city and architecture or between privacy in public something like that so of course the nature and architecture is the most fundamental and the big theme for me but not only such a things but in between things between one things and all the things could create the inspirations to me so I like to start from my background yes I was born in Hokkaido Island Hokkaido is a northern island of Japan and it's a like a nature area and my hometown and my home surrounded by the beautiful nature like this ok and then when I was when I get to university I moved to Tokyo the almost the opposite side the nature and the Tokyo yeah you will see how different situations are and then I started to learn architecture but through the period living in Tokyo I realized that the Tokyo of course it's really like this so crowd it's so ugly space but I felt kind of a comfortable feelings in Tokyo and then after studying architecture the years I find out found out kind of a strange similarity between my hometown nature and this Tokyo ugly space what is that even in such a crowded city in Tokyo I felt comfortable because we are surrounded by such a small ugly but small or different skills many many many things and in nature in my hometown in the forest you will be surrounded by such a small beautiful but small or many skills things you are surrounded by so ugly in Tokyo beautiful in nature but the situation you were surrounded by small leaves small Bilbo's or branches trees you were surrounded by many many many different cultural things that could create some kind of a comfortable feelings for for me and I thought there is a strange similarity between nature and artificial things even in such a contrast even in such a different situations you could think about nature and architecture in a similar things those same platforms so that could make that made me the big inspirations to think about architecture as equals as of nature that started that was a starting point to me about my own architecture thinking's what is the similarity what is the things connect nature and architecture what is something between nature and architecture or what is something new mixed nature and architecture that was the really fundamental questions to me and make me think about architecture that was a starting point and then of course the Tokyo City make me think about not only the relation nature and architecture but many different kinds of strange ideas this is one of the my really really early works yet today I will show maybe three really early works before my how to say not before but just after the school days so almost twenty years ago it was strange young idea but even in such a strange young ideas is continuous to my current work so it's really really kind of a strange but the important project this is one of them this is a proposals for the idea competitions and the theme of the idea competition is the kind of a future house or something like that and then I send I made a proposal like this the idea is to create the house melting into the city and this is the Shinjuku area where I was living at the time and this point the central point was the exact place I was living but at that time of course I was alone after graduate graduation I didn't work for anybody and I didn't go to any masterclass school something I just chose to be alone to think about architecture by myself I like to be more quiet to be how to say to think about the architecture comedy so the daily life of me is waking up in around something like noon or afternoon and then of course eat breakfast and start to think about the architecture was sketching something but of course not so long period so I starts to walk around the city because this area is really small tiny area like these small pathways going through so I just walking around bringing the sketchbooks so sometimes I stop by at the cafe and to have a coffee and to make a sketches and then walk around again that was the my daily life and then throughout my daily life I thought if I could have one more room even a small that could be just a nice to stay there to have a just a table or kitchen or just a bathroom shower or something in another room maybe for the sleeping area something like that so not only living in one place but to have even small but to have several different point to stop by then such kind of an networks could make the living environment melting into the whole city so this for example red line could be the my house we can say or different people the blue line is the different people's house something like that so I thought we can redefine the house as an areas in the city so house is not the one object but the network or the process of walking inside this urban fabric could be the house itself I thought so that was very very young ideas but to try to create something new definitions of the architecture melting into the cities or blurring the house or blurring the architecture into the city so try to find out something between house or between architecture and urban situations that was the intention of this proposal so now this is a dining space in the bathroom around here study area maybe or I don't know toilet maybe this one and sleeping areas so of course this is a really conceptual proposal of the house the house has now divided into smaller pieces and the main part of the house is this street itself and a walking experience itself I was influenced by the artist Richard long his art is just walk so then the walking experience is a main part of the house but slightly defined by these kind of small pieces of the fragments of the architecture but main part is we can as we cannot say this is architecture or this is just an experience or this is just a city itself but we could find some new finishing of architecture between this kind of a house or object or space and experience and the city itself that was the one of the starting point to think about or to doubt what is architecture or what is the definition of architecture and this is a Tokyo really situation you will see how the street is very narrow and how the street are surrounded by small houses and not only small houses but too small these kind of a panels or small tiny I don't know many many different things everything is so ugly but the situation is really comfortable because everything's are more human scale and slightly softly surrounding you to create the Kahn cozy scales that is creating the atmosphere relating to the forest I thought and then relating to this house like this this is almost the size of your room maybe or just an extension over your room so as a carver scales no differences from your house and the street scales that is connecting to me the no boundaries between the architecture and the streetscapes oh sometimes this kind of a small pathway this is a private plot but yeah many people can walk through so this is like another street but more like a small pathway maybe 50 centimeter wide there was something like that and then these kind of a small post small grains and small something are creating the environment living environment so of course here you will see the sky so this is outside but even outside you are surrounded by such a small pieces to create the cozy spaces then outside inside is not the big differences sometimes these kind of outside rules it belongs to the private somebody private but part of you could be the part of your house that was the idea so then I thought about between city and architecture or between inside and outside such kind of a how does a basic question what is inside what is outside or what is between inside and outside inspire me a lot because if you say inside yeah we understand it's what is inside almost understand what is inside if you say what is outside we can almost understand but if you say between inside and outside what is what is that not inside not outside but something between then we have to think about something new some new definition or some new space different from just an inside different from just outside that inspire you to create something new so that is the power of thinking about something between and the we I started to think about such kind of a really mysterious things from the very very beginning of my career and this is another very very young works it's also quite how to say strange this is another proposal of the house and then you will see only many many layers of the walls in here I didn't think about the roofs just the territories the main theme was a territories here the wall and around the wall again the bigger walls and bigger bigger walls something like that and it here I was just thinking about such a in between things between here and here this is inside with this wall is seems like inside but outside this wall and inside with this inner wall is seems seems inside but outside in small walls so in here there is no definition of the strong inside what strong outside just a relativity's is there relatively inside but relatively side the where's the definite boundaries to define architecture and outside and there is no such a different boundaries so that was really needy conceptual definition where's the house no house they're just a gradations brother inside rather private or rather outside rather public that was the concept and I didn't know of course I didn't know what what it is but just like to think about such a new understanding of the boundaries of architecture or new understanding of the definition of architectures or try to destroy the existing definition of architecture and of course such kind of in-between thinking's is deeply relating to the Japanese traditional architecture yeah this is the typical in-between space we call engawa it's here inside and here garden but what is this space of course just a under the canopy but we call this space angle space and this is sometimes part way inside and sometimes part of outside but all it is always blurring ambiguous and depending on our activities we can define inside or outside or in between depending on our activities so that is our tradition and then I try to read translate such kind of a traditional architecture into the contemporary architecture so that is this one is one of the trial to think about the infinite repetition of this kind of a in our space in angle are spaced out surveying our and then another outside window or something like that no different outside no definite inside only made by in between spaces that was the conceptual trial conceptual trial to think about something new and so then again between CD if he can say this is a city then this is some like a house but maybe the whole drawings could be inside with a one big wall then the whole area is one house and outside of that wall could be the city or more public but maybe still inside with a bigger bigger walls or something like that by anyway between city and architecture or between inside and outside and the last one not last one but the last young project inspired by this photo it is a typical Asian market it is it was Vietnam and you will see so many things like a chaotic situations and the lady is sleeping in the market and I was surprised because she was sleeping so comfortably in such a chaotic crowded situation and so inspired so fascinated because of her way to find a way to to find a space to sleep because usually this is kind of just a chaos no functions no comfortable space but even in such a chaotic situation she said people could find how comfortable space to sleep really needy creative way to sleep so then it reminds me the interactions between the space and you our body or your behaviors if it is this space is just a flat oh sorry just a flat and nothing it's just a simple space then I'm not sure she could sleep so comfortably but because of these kind of landscape well I don't know how to say step being areas and many many things around her it create such kind of a comfortable cozy space that makes her sleep very well so the functions of the sweepings or functions of the comfortable space are created sometimes by such kind of a chaotic or too much interactions of the things and people's body then I created this project this is again the conceptual translations from the previous photos to the architectural space in these photos everything is almost in chaos but I try to make an order so each steps is 35 centimeter so you can see it on or double size you can use as a tables or you can use some areas as the shelves so to make the simple order then the whole landscapes is more free getting more free and allow people to behave more and more freely sometimes here you can use this as a benches or chairs or tables shells and cooking's or for animals is it has different meanings but anyway it's like a landscapes ordered landscapes which allow people to behave in a very very different way and finally it is like this it is a proposal of the house again but it doesn't look like a house it is just a huge monsters of the stepping stepping landscape but people could react people could behave as you like and you could find your own comfortable functions in it so it doesn't have any clear functions but in the interactions between the space and your behaviors then many many different kinds of various different kinds of functions in adding to you here is we I thought about something between functional and no functions or between landscape like things and architectures or we could say between furniture and architectures because every steps could be like a furnitures but the whole things is the size of their architectures or the size of the rooms itself so then if you make such kind of small scales inside you could find something between furniture architecture and landscaping different scales are integrated together to create some new definition of the space and you could create some new relationship between your body and the space itself so here between furniture and architecture and between landscape and the architecture but it is creating between functions and no functions or between the space and you are interactions between your space and the body that kind of things which really really early works and it's a little bit scary for me to show such early works because it's too young ideas and - are they not matured and not well done but the basic ideas is really simple and which is really fundamental how we can redefine or we understand the architectural space or how we can re-create the new definition of the architectures and then after that for about ten years over 20 years almost on the same basics but to try to develop such a basic ideas - the more architectural different appearances and then finally today I will show many different final output from such a basic ideas basic understand of the space or the architecture and this serpentine pavilion is one of the very very simple but good example to create or to explain such kind of in-between thinking's about architectures and this is of course as you know this is a really now the famous project famous series of the architecture and every year they chose to choose one architects to design this pavilion and this year the Samir heritage the my friend from Chile is designing the pavilion so I'm really looking forward and this is the last year one and this you will see the slide show where to the building it is a serpentine gallery main buildings and the front yard will be the site and you will see how the surroundings is really beautiful it is the really basic starting point for us how to do with this surrounding beautiful nature and we have to create some space for cafe that is a basic program that is another starting point basic cafes for people so could have half interior space anyway covered by roof and covered by the the kind of a wall like things so to how to create the relationship between the surrounding nature and architecture space and how to welcome people for cafe to provide varieties of the spaces for them to behave as they like because this is an in the middle of the park so people will come to have their own time to relax or to talk with some groups or to just to read some books various different kinds of behaviors and activities are possible so I try to create the not the one programs one function of cafe but the varieties of the behavior as I try to create and then finally this was the the structures and all the structures are made by the frames of the 20 millimeter 2 centimeter really thin steel pipes and the grid was 40 centimeters so it is like this this is 40 centimeter and sometimes the double size 80 centimeter grades are coming and it's almost the same as the previous one the 35 centimeter stepping stepping house and the reason why I make the grades bigger is I thought the British people bigger than the Japanese people so I have to make it bigger and it works very well by anyway and the difference is from the the previous 35 centimeter the stepping areas stepping house is everything it made by the grid so vertically horizontally is everything is that great and then the whole space are like like a cloud and you couldn't see where's inside and whereas outside this is from outside but you will see the glass surface on it so stepping you can stepping on it and stepping down here and then here you can come in to inside so people behind in the center is behind this structure so you they are inside and then you could go out from there so it has or two entrances but anyway it is the main by such as thin grids to slight territories surrounding the areas but you will see how the transparency is changing some area it's really really white in some area is getting one more transparent to make it see you could see the green through it and this is one of the inspirations to talk about the relationship between nature and architecture or artificial order this is a trees on the side and you will see how these kind of a British trees making such a really really beautiful branches and when I was there in the end of this the end of November previous year I was of course after the meeting I was so impressed by such a really beautiful trees and then it reminds me I was I have been doing such kind of a the doing the architecture relating the nature and architecture so this is the really beautiful examples of the natural order and I thought how we can make something artificial II just next to this and part of this kind of a natural order but so different from natural order to make the beautiful contrast between these kind but trees and pavilion was the inspirations and then finally we made it by these grids of course the grid is super super artificial order and really straight line and 90 degrees and three dimensionally so it was it has been the artificial artificial order but if you make so many grids and this kind of ambiguous shapes outside not only outside but inside using the super strict grids but the to make such kind of a soft shape then it is something actually between straight grades and softness and between artificial and the natural order so that was the one of the main point I was I decided to do this it is really fundamental the grid structure is really D D fundamental but then we trie translate such a classical or really really authentic grids into the really contemporary or future orders to create more closer to the natural orders that was the one of the starting point and then the whole things now it is real we are looking from above so these ladies it's sitting on the stepping areas outside then not only outside we have a steppin areas inside and we will see people's sitting inside so it is already blurring the inside and outside and from the ILA Bowl yeah you will see this is like a artificial mountain or arch if you're Clyde touching cloud touching on the ground and you will sit on to the surface on it were you climbing up but from here you could come in through through this yeah around here you have an entrance but you couldn't see in photo clearly where's entrance and where it's not because of this kind of a blurry boundary and then inside yeah here the stepping inside to make it like an auditorium amphitheater like spaces and then you will see some area really transparent and some area it's really really dense it's almost like a opaque getting more opaque but if you step in two three step forward then the whole impression is changing because of the layering of their frames the transparencies and positions is always moving around according to your movement so it is it has no definite wall no definite openings but the more opaque area more transparent area is changing always according to your behaviors according to your positions or directions you look so that is really really interactive experience too walking around of course it has a shape but beyond the shape your experience is more always always changing according to the such a complexity and even such an old ladies trying to going up maybe because this kind of a stepping landscape invites people to behave in a different way from a usual and it has a the big openings inside like a the whole into the sky so try to create the inside and outside reverse of the inside and outside evenly given UI in the inside and this was the first sketch one of the first sketch and the whole process was really in a sense exciting because the schedule was quite tight and we've got only one month for the conceptual phase so we have to find the final answer in one month and it was too short but we have to do that so of course it could be it was the interactions between the London shop at 9:00 people and my office but it was really tough because of course I made a sketch and now when I send the first sketch and after sending the sketch have to make a phone call and conferences and they said no this is not the serpentine things you have to make something different and I asked why this is too much Fujimoto like so you have to do something different ok so next week here I made another ideas a talk we discussed with my staff and made a different sketch and send it and data form conferences and they said no why this is too much not Fujimoto like ok so too much which mode like and not too much which much like and maybe have to make something between the Fujimoto and then no Fujimoto like things and try to find out yeah of course I understand what they meant because this certain type of Abaddonn should be something new but the same time should be continuous from the architects history but not just the result of the previous works but something beyond that and something big questions for the future or something like that so trying hard to create so as you say as you see some of the basic ideas coming from the previous works and previous ideas and basic ideas but finally the realization of the whole things or the way to push it to the extreme side of the the concept is the really really big challenge and something new I think so that was the final final the realizations and yeah we made many many models and trying to find out something new and this was a process model and at that time I was thinking about how to create the varieties with a space for the people's visiting cafes to sit on or lying or to group together or something like that so I was thinking about kind of a landscape like things so here you will see many different kinds of a landscape made by the surface that was the really starting point and tried to find out the nice way and looks like a little bit like a Frank Gehry playing the Bern landscape but then I thought this kind of a landscape for example made by the concrete plate or something like that must be very very heavy thinking about such a beautiful surroundings so landscape ideas okay but could be more and more translucent or transparent landscape then I thought to make this kind of a landscape by such a translucent or transparent grids then that could be the answer so the final one is starting from these surface and change transform the surface into the grid and then of course final adjustment has been done but the basic ideas is the combination of the landscape surface and the grades so this is the big model 1 to 10 scale model and now you will see how it's complicated and how the transparency and translucency is differences and now you couldn't see the clear line with a serve is flowing lines but slightly you can feel such kind of a sloping areas are translated into their stepping areas and the wall is going up to the roofs and coming down into the outside stepping areas or something like that such kind of a continuous surface are still existing and of course we did the process in computer and the physical model in parallel because in computer you just see many many many lines so you couldn't see the feelings of the depth so feelings of the space so we made at the beginning we made a small models to understand the volumes but finally we decided to make one to ten scale model it's all about one point two point five meter by two point five meter the made by two millimeter wooden sticks the glued to each other one by one because we have to understand what we are designing and what the space how the space is and in computer it's impossible in the volume model it's impossible so finally one to ten scale models clearly show what it is and it's almost okay fortunately but small adjustment adding one pieces of the grades or cutting two pieces of degrees out such kind of an adjustment happens so I myself put some grids or some elements cutting out and every time I add or I cut my staff is just next to me and checking which point you add and he translated into the computer every my hand graphs and then send it to London for the structure engineer and contractors to check what we what is okay or what is not something like such kind of interactions every different kinds of interactions happened and finally it's dead and fortunately the construction team in London works very very well so precise and so quick and so schedule on time so it's done and you will see how the transparencies it's changing here is almost like a transparent and then getting one more whitey like like a mist or cloud like things so such kind of a soft gradations of the transparency was the most exciting point and sometimes it works as a kind of a lecture space this is an opening lecture they so so many many people's sitting on the ground level on the chairs and then on the stepping areas and for the dogs and for the children's it works very well because for them these kind of a breeds inside the degrees is another space for them to to walk through and stepping onto the grid or walk through degrees and something like more free for them so it's it's a I am very happy to see so many children's are running around and cramming up and the play with that and then around because space for children's is is the most fundamental I think their architecture and I hope you to see how the shadows are creating such kind were really complex patterns I was thinking about of course these frames is also really really amazing but this flower is too flat and I was afraid so try to create such kind of a cloud feelings by these furnitures almost the same thickness and the same elements but as a reality this shadow is creating different patterns on the floor so you are almost surrounded not only above or not only the side but from the under your foot you are you feel you are surrounded by these kind of densities of the things so that is another elements I found out after the after the completions when it works very very well and finally in the evening it's light up it's getting more and more blurring and melting into the sky and melting into the beautiful green surroundings so it is kind of the crystallization of our a basic concept between nature and architecture or between inside and outside transparency and opaqueness and your behaviors your bodies and the architecture field landscaping managin activity of skills such kind of various different kinds of opposites things now integrated together in one simple structures and add artifacts and natural order straight orders and softness every such kind of things are integrated in one order and such great about duality of the opposites things I believe is creating the richness of the experience for architecture so that is why this is so important I think not only just combining such kind of are all the things together but to create the diversity so create the richness is quite quite important I think so here yeah we are talking about between architecture landscape furniture architecture inside and outside nature and architecture and whatever you like you can combine the opposite things or the different things together and then if you say every time if you say between something and some other things that is something new between inside and outside we don't know what it is but then we can find or we can create we can imagine what it is unknown things so that is the inspirations to me and I have to show several more things in sorry I talk too much about the shop entire vision but I will talk quickly about several different projects this is a private house in Tokyo it's a small house again you will see how this house are made like a stacking furnitures between Phoenician architecture things but you will see how similar these kind of a Tokyo situations it's kind of a the collection of the small things together in one place to make the living environment more comfortable and the way of course this is much beautiful than this but the way we compose the whole thing's are almost same the dividing the floors in smaller pieces and then stacking them up to create such kind of a smallness and collecting small things including not only the architectural things but the window frames or the furnitures or the tree parts or books or your daily staffs together everything's smaller scales collecting together to create the territories for you as an living environment so in that sense this is really straight line and sharp edge but like a artificial forest or artificial or the small made Tokyo situations and from inside is like this so the small size but this size of the flower is two point five meter and 1.5 meters so it's almost like a furniture scales and then stacking stepping up this is the sleeping areas or the above you have a bathroom something but each areas has different kind of a situations here we call this is a comfortable really cozy small rooms but of course it is not the room it's like a shells but you can sneak into these areas to read the books or something like that and of course this area's the maximum ceiling height is 4 meter 5 meter or something like that so the whole impression is the openness and the coziness are living together our existing together or the different scales the furniture scales and artificial scales are coexisting together such kind of how to say full of the in between feedings is creating this house and then like to going back to the really small and the funny project the this is a public toilet Japan and when I got the Commission when I got the Commission to design the public toilet we thought yeah if we can make the extreme conceptual toilet it could be nice and what is the extreme toilet we discussed with my in my office and then this is the one really beautiful nature flowerbeds and toilet that could be the the best one and I it reminds me my own experience in Morocco when I travel into the Sahara Desert and I stayed there one night in the Bedouin tent and in the morning I have to of course I have to go to the toilet but of course no toilet and then I walked into the desert to find out the proper price of course it's a big desert and big sand dunes and going up so maybe behind these sand dunes could be the nice place and I walked up and then I found the whole landscapes occupied by the white flour like something's and I go closer and I found out that white flour like sings the white paper kind of a as you know many many white papers are spreading around throughout the landscape and I thought wow this is the natural toilet and made by so many people beautiful landscape and that that was the and of course the only that area are occupied by the toilet natural toilet so maybe the shape of the landscape and scape are creating such kind of a natural toilet by anyway such kind of a beautiful landscape toilet could be the best toilet so try to create such kind of extreme natural public toilet we propose and then finally of course this is the ideal situation and the final one is like this you will see the toilet covered by the glass box maybe we have to protect people from the rain so and protected by the wall this black wall actually this black wall is creating the territory of the privacy you have to open the door of this black wall and then you can lock and inside with Gardens a kind of a secret garden and nobody come in so you will be free you can do everything and then the glass box toilet is possible in here that was the basic ideas and the crazy ideas is like this the whole round shape is a toilet and we keep the natural trees existing and the bee habit or run here and even the train is coming through but we of course carefully fix the height of this wall to block the view from the Train the actually if you are standing inside a toilet here you will see but if you sit down it nicely blocked and this is the plan the wall and entrance and the glass box and like this this is a and this wall are made by the many many wooden piles it's really really primitive and then the steel structures and the glass box from outside is like this and this is a door walkthrough and the flower beds and we put the landscape it's more like not too much beautiful it's more like an really natural so it's a it's like this and these photos are taken by the even ban the famous photographer and my friend and of course he is very very busy traveling around but he spent the whole one day in here the countryside of Japan just to take the photograph of the toilet because he really likes that ideas and the he get he asked me to get the how to say the crane to bring him up to take this photo so it's really precious photos the one of the most famous photographer took the one public small toilet by anyway and but this is a kind of a strange project but it's reveals the really fundamental aspects of architecture because the public toilet is creating the questions of the what is the boundaries between public and private public toilet is public but if you are using it is really private so we have to find out the boundaries between the public and private and this is surrounding this is a beautiful nature so how we can create the boundaries between nature and artificial toilet so that is really really fundamental to create inside and outside and in this case the strategy is very simple to divide the usual walls into a two pieces this is just to create the private areas just a wall this is an actual architectural shell or architecture shelter but we can make another layers of the walls to introduce the nature's and skies and something to you even in such a private situations so dividing the privacy publicness to create even in such a small situations we can find a new way a new definition of the of the boundaries and then this is a private house but it's also relating to the boundaries between inside and outside privacy in public this is a private house for a couple but it's creating it's pretty simple made by three different size boxes big box outside you will see and middle box and small box a boxing boxing box but and it has many many openings as you can see but the inside of the big box is outside because it has big box has no skylights no windows no glass so just openings so the rain comes in through this big box so inside of the big boxes outside then what is happening to the middle box middle box has a glass roof and the windows so inside of the middle box is inside but still outside of this small box so I hope you to remember the the first or second project I show the wall involving wall so we couldn't say where is the definite boundaries of the inside and outside in here the simple version of such an infinite wall house so I try to maybe the next one is better I try to create the left one is the usual wall to create the left hand the right hand inside and outside clearly but the right hand it's like a gradations the left hand black side is more in Syria for example the left hand interior and the right hand or white areas more exterior for example so we couldn't divide interior exterior clearly but we just have the different option between inside and outside almost middle inside or rather inside deep inside or almost outside but slightly inside something like that so we can make such kind of gradations to have the options for your life you can choose depending on the weather or depending on your feelings or depending on how many friends are coming or something like that so you can just choose if you have not only inside and outside but something between spaces so that was the starting point and then we translate it into the architecture plan and the sections so plan is really really simple big box middle box and small box and the section is as well big box in small box in the middle box and then it's finished you will see from the street level you will see the big box but the big box has many many big openings so you can see through this big box to the sky or you can see the neighbor's house through this big box and there you will see the trees inside so inside this big house you will see many many trees inside and if you are stepping in then among the trees you will see the sky but you are you feel you are surrounded you are covered by the big box so you are almost half inside of something but definitely you are outside half covered garden and half part of your house but open to the sky and from the really deep inside you will see a small box openings and middle box through the openings and big box and skies so you have a many many layers and you are surrounded by three layers of the boxes so so protected but you will feel so openness because many many openings through the openings through the openings to the sky 10 or 15 different skies small skies are surrounding you so now here you will find the good balance between the privacy and the public or openness and closed cozy spaces such kind of a coexistence of the opposite situation together and if you move around then how open or how closed is always changing it's like a serpentine it's here it's more rough resolutions in the serpentine case is more small resolutions and high resolutions and in this case more rough resolutions but anyway in almost same things happening transparencies and opaqueness is changing according to your positions or according to your behaviors and you could choose more cozy corners protected corners or you would choose more open spaces depending on the layers of this big box and small middle box in the small box so that carabine interactions between the openness and the closeness is the main part of this this house and you will see this is the main butte of the garden and the sole outside but so inside and yeah it reminds the images of the angaur the in-between space of the Japanese traditional house and it is almost like that Japanese in-between spaces but the so different way to realize it so try to read translate such kind of traditional things to the new contemporary architectures and to create such kind of ambiguous but precise mirror divisions of the inside and outside ok I have two projects so please give me ten minutes I will I'll finish it this is a library and the similar way to make the boundaries between outside and inside but in this case the boundaries is more connecting to the experience of the inside with libraries this is library is all made by the bookshelves so you will see the older wall are covered by bookshelves they are the basic concept is like this the bookshelves is growing growing to create the space for people and finally it's a huge gigantic the one continuous bookshelves is creating the libraries it is just a just an ideas to make a libraries by only one bookshelves but the more important part is this kind of a layering of the bookshelves we have of course many many openings so from here you will see the bookshelves behind the bookshelves behind the bookshelves it means the space behind space behind space behind and such kind of a space behind almost hidden but slightly shown to you is make you to go forward to find out what is happening behind invite you to walking around so I was thinking about these libraries koopida the forest of books or library like forest because in the forest you are in joining you could enjoyed walking around to find something next to the space or something behind it or beyond it that is the beautiful experience and in the library the same things could happen and sometimes this is a libraries for the Arts University so Simon sometimes you could find out some unexpected unexpected books or you could encounter some some new books that is a really really amazing point of the real books of course you recently we could find the books in the internet and buy it or something or even read it but in here the real books invites you to walking around and you could find you could encounter unexpected books that is the only experience in the real world so that was the things I like to make and then this is the yeah you will see how these crazy monsters of the the bookshelves as are creating so you will be almost in lost in the books so if you like books yeah it could be the book heaven you will be very happy but if you don't like books it's a really book hell you could go couldn't go out you couldn't see any directions you can go anyway so even outside the bookshelf is coming out and covered by the glass and hopefully like a lugubrious museums the if they like to extend they put the roofs on it and glass here to make it like a the bookshelves real bookshelves so infinite growing libraries and in here the one they use a bookshelf and other layers of the bookshelves so you will see such kind of a layers of the bookshelves and the skylight and the ceiling materials is really really cheap but miracle the polycarbonate the usual materials but it's in purse the soft and natural light but at the same time it reflects the bookshelves to create kind of an endless feelings like a cloud like things so is the strong impression of the wall with a bookshelf walls and the contrast and beautiful contrast between the soft transparent translucent ceilings are really really nice and you will see how the areas behind slightly shown and then area behind behind is slightly shown to invite you to the space behind to endless to the endless walking in and inside and yeah sometimes happen these kind of things happen I think that definition of the library is the space for sleeping so this photos is very really beautiful because she is representing how comfortable this space is but yeah I have to say of course this is comfortable because of the scales if we make such kind of a spiral then each areas between the wall is like a cozy science in this case almost a 4.5 meters so it is almost like a house scales to create so you could choose such kind of a cozy space in the middle of this library but if you like you could choose this kind of a vast spreading huge scales as well so such kind about opposite scales are existing together in this library and you could choose according to your feelings if you like to walk around infinitely then you could choose this kind of a the layer infinite layers but if you find some interesting books then you could be more getting two more cozy corners or if you like to sleep you can just choose such a spaces so in the library such kind of different scales not only two opposite scales but the different scales and different atmospheres is create is quite important and in this library only one spiral of the book shares are creating such kind of diversity is varieties of the of the spaces okay this is the last one there are last month's we won a competition in France Montpellier and the South of France Mumper is or south of France and this was the the high-rise apartment with a some gallery restaurant and bounded hop we collaborated with the French architects and the local developer so that was the kind of making a big team to create to compete with the other teams like a competitions and yeah this is it it's a really crazy balcony monster huh and it has a reason of course because the its relates or based on really D D on the Mon petit a company is the South of France really beautiful good climate so the most of the people is doing the live in outside or almost half and half half outside half inside so in here the definition of the architecture is different from northern Europe or in Japan the half outside half inside is as a whole it's not picture so we try to translate or try and try to transform such kind of a historical life of one period into the contemporary high-rise buildings and the idea was very simple putting the big big balconies onto the apartment so you will see how we put such a balconies on to the apartment and sometimes this kind of a pergola is a kind of sunshade and we shifted different balconies to each other to create the openness and to introduce a light in it and then fine finally it is something like this it is about 55 meter high so it's like an like a high-rise in the maan period and the requirement is to be there should be the landmark of this area so we try to create not like an object as a landmark but the 3d stuck to life the whole life as a landmark so all on all all the balconies the life of mom periods is happenings in various different ways so filled with a parcel or some parcel I don't know so many life is covering the whole architecture to create the landmark to represent what is one period or what is the quality of life in one period and that this is the the axonometric so department one apartment balconies balconies and different apartment balconies balconies and sometimes this is the duplex the two level apartments so the balcony itself put up a staircase is to going up and down or here again such kind of a there are really complex but the ordered way to make the apartment as possible and of course the inside is rather more usual to divide because of the economical reason we have to find out the proper way to realize it so more crazy outside but more realistic inside to make the whole things better and from here around here that you can see the Mediterranean Sea so from almost all the balconies you enjoy the old city area this directions old city areas and on to the south the Mediterranean Sea we enjoy and this is a plan side plan there this is a river and the whole site so we make the tower on this side the eastern side because of the continuity of the green from the existing city urban fabric and to think about the view from the existing building or something like that so such kind of a really practical reactions interactions with the existing context is of course very important but finally we put such kind of a crazy balcony things on the whole things so in a sense it is really didi traditional or it's really really old typology or the apartment but if you do it in such a extreme way then I think it is changing to something new typology of the apartment so old combination of the old traditional things and the new things together it's I think really really amazing crazy things and again this is a view from above so we have a river and the Greenbelt is continuous to these directions and then many many many life is happening inside and in evening from the opposite side of the river it's the full of the live is sliding up okay this is the final image of this presentation and I started from some really basic ideas between architecture landscape between city and architecture between inside and outside starting from such kind of a basic things from really really younger days and then try to develop the ideas sometimes really need the pure extreme conceptual way and sometimes in the Middle East it's more expanding the scales and try to find the limitation of our ideas but actually we don't have any limitations in a different situations different appearance is a new understanding of our basic concept is coming out what is inside what is outside was the architecture and what is the difference between the city and architecture every on every project we will find the new ideas for the basic things and new ideas for the developed appearance the final answers of the architecture realizations so if you think about something between we could find something new and it is fortunately it is the endless process so I hope you and we will make such a continuous challenge forever thank you very very much

Channel: The Architectural League

Views: 43,623

Rating: 4.9565215 out of 5

Keywords: Sou Fujimoto, architecture, nature

Id: YPeZ4l1tdjs

Length: 69min 24sec (4164 seconds)

Published: Wed Jan 14 2015