Sou Fujimoto, "Primitive Future"

good evening and welcome it's a great pleasure to to start this series of four lectures that we have this semester under the rubric of a new innocence this has been a little bit of a discussion and controversial title and I'm really happy that that sue Fujimoto is here to give the first in this in this series all the architects will have their own titles and of course Fujimoto sans title is primitive future I think for those of you who are familiar with with the history of Japanese architecture you know that in many respects Japanese architecture has been very in a sense hierarchical in terms of its in terms of its history there was a time when Kenzo tange gay was really the main figure and he was the one who got also to do many of the major projects and many of the projects in in Tokyo and then this was followed by you know the generation of people like mr. Kurokawa mr. Sasaki mr. Macky and I think this continued for a while and really it's it's from that generation and from the generation of the metabolised architects that then we have for example a contemporary figure like Toyo Ito and I think Torito has been very very influential for a whole generation of of contemporary Japanese architects because also katsu acidnam I used to work in his office and then she went on to have her own practice and then of course later on she was joined by by mr. Nishizawa then I think more recently on the on the scene there have been a few really significant architects and and two of them I think will be here with us this semester this is mistake gommi and of course mr. Fujimoto I think the reason that we we came up with this idea of a new innocence for the as the kind of overarching rubric for the for the series is that you know this particular group of architects are working in a very unusual way they're working in a manner that's extremely light to the point where the physical artifact of architecture reaches a level of ephemerality it kind of is at the point of disappearing because of its lightness things get smaller and smaller the size of columns get smaller and smaller and at the same time there is an incredible interest in thinking about the relationship to nature and the relationship to landscape in a different way historically when people have been thinking about the relationship of architecture to landscape there is the architectural object and then what's outside is landscape but in a way these these this group of architects have also been really in a kind of interesting a systematic way rethinking the relationship to landscape so when we talk about collaboration it's not really about the fusion of the two but you know in a way that one really thinks about landscape as the landscape of the Interior and thinks about the inside of the building in terms of a sort of rethinking of the relationship to questions of furniture which I suspect we'll hear from Fujimoto's on which actually also has a lot to do with the relationship of architecture to the body and many of these things also go back to for example certain projects that were developed by Taito like the urban nomads and rethinking really the position of the individual in relation to the city in relation to the piece of architecture there are incredible nuances and variations in this in fact Tito's own work now is not necessarily following anything to do with this with this concept of lightness so he's he's actually sort of a distinct figure even though he has influential in this what I hope we will be able to share together and that you'll find interesting is precisely the focus that is given to a few individuals and really going much more in depth in understanding analyzing and appreciating their work the thing that I find very inspiring in the in the houses and a few of the more recent larger scale projects that that mr. Fujimoto has been involved with he is actually the way in which the notion of clusters of small-scale elements come together to form new kinds of environments and I think in the in the in the larger scale projects also that this this connection of to the body in terms of how buildings are used in ways that are really both very fresh and very inspiring so I'm looking forward to - to the lecture and I hope that you'll join me in welcoming mr. sue Fujimoto [Applause] good evening I'm sue Fujimoto from Tokyo and thank you very much for inviting me to this really precious opportunity it's a great honor and this whole full lecture series title is new innocence and I remember I had that sentence from Mosin son in Tokyo in the morning when we have a breakfast with Toyo Ito and then I found I got a rather shocking an inspiration which gave us gave me a new understanding of what I'm doing because I was using this primitive future title for this few years and that means going back to the beginning of architecture and behave just like you or I don't know anything about architecture and then starts to think about architecture then we will find everything's new so we have to re construct rethink or redefine what it is what is architecture what is the behavior of the people or what is the relationship between human body and space that is really really exciting things for me and that primitive means such kind of really fundamental relationships between human body and space and then to think about future architecture so there is a really really innocent attitude to architecture but I think innocent innocence means really fundamental and start again to think about the fundamental part of architecture so I think this lecture series of course fall of them or five of us know them but five of us has a different approach to architecture but such kind of a fundamental attitude is we are we can share so today I'm talking about for an hour and talking about my projects so could you turn the light down okay yes yes the first question is a nest or cave and the both is really really I can say the beginning of architecture but I think these two is really different or opposite concept the nest I like to say the nest is the place or the space well-prepared for people so for the four for example the functional architecture is the nest for the people it is designed for people well prepared for people so we can how to say use the space very very confidently this is the famous to curvaceous drawings and this is representing how the functional architecture is so you can put many many walls or functional things I in it and then prepare for you or us them and then it is very very nicely designed nest I think and then what is the cave I'd like to say cave it's a space not designed for people so it is completely opposite so because the cave has been existing before people so it is just a artisan natural created landscape so no relationship with people or human body there is a big difference but I think it is much more creative thing to live in the cave when you are entering in the caves then at first you will be very embarrassed but then gradually you will find some kind of a how to say the biggest space cozy space this kind of a how to say land Cape and then you will find you a comfortable space or you'll find someplace to put these kind of things in it or you will find someplace to sit on gradually you will have a some kind of a nice relationship between your body and the space it's a kind of really creative things to find a space or to get an inspiration from the landscape and to innovate a function in it so I think the nest is in a sense not innocent the Cape is more and then if you are in the cave then you will find new relationship between the space and your body and it is I think really really exciting things so the functional architecture is not so bad but in this 21st century I hope more cave-like creative relationships it's more and more rich experience for people and this is the my first trial to translate such kind of a cave-like space to real architecture and I intended this is a house for future house and the point of this project is this many many many steps and I made this gap 35 centimeter so if you like you can sit on or double size 70 centimeter you can use a stable or each step so you can use as bookshelves or the stairs you can go up and down this whole area is like a landscape and there is no function but if you react to this space then some specific function is emerging so this is the drawings so you can see various kinds of the same gaps the 35 centimeters but how to react is very very various and sometimes of course this space is designed or four people but sometimes their animals is coming in and the behave as they like so it is more and more primitive landscape for people or creatures to behave as they like and this is the first model so the outside shape is also very very house they blaring so that the people can use this rooftop as well as a landscape and this is the photo I took in Vietnam but this is the as you know the typical Asian market really chaotic situation with many many items she has to sell but the she don't like to sell and five year she found her own comfortable space in this chaos to sleep it is a really really innovative things so I was really surprised and took the pictures and yeah she's sleeping and then another girl is sleeping so yeah in Vietnam market really creative things is happening and this is my office the same chaotic situation with many many models and I hope he is my staff and he will find his own comfortable space in the scales and this is a Bangkok this is on the street so you can see the real trees so outside really chaos but it is like a really comfortable house and this is my office so I like to say in such kind of a chaotic situation but people can find and can arrange our own comfortable space and you can find your own comfortable functions in it and then I translated such kind of things by these many many small steps and this project is designed in 2001 the year 2001 and deeply influenced by Toyo Ito's Sendai Mediatheque you know the famous project and I'd like to explain that point a little bit more you know the Sendai Mediatheque has two shocking point for me one is make the really solid usual column too much more spatial column you know the usual column is made by for example concrete or really solid things but Toyo Ito make it small pieces and make a tube like space inside so he changed a solid column to a space it's really shocking things then I thought yes Toyo Ito do it in columns then what happens in a different element of the architecture and how about the floors so I divided the floors in small pieces and make it team space so there is we can say there is a lot of floors but at the same time there is no floors but just a layers of the space and then you will you can react to the floor like space landscape like things oh yeah this in this for example this area the wall is also divided in small pieces and create it in a space so Toyo Ito did change the object to the space and then we react to such kind of a shocking things and change the floor to the layers of the space or change the wall solid wall more space like things so this project doesn't look like a centime idiotic but deeply impressed by that that is the one point and another point is could you reminds the Toyo Ito's send immediate explan their Square and many many circles in it so it represent no functions in it just a space the floating space but he said people can react to this circle shape like a true tube like three backspace then he people react to the density of the tubes or the openness of the tubes they can select the space and they can do some activities depending on the size of the activities depending on how open or how protected something like that so he said in the same time mediatek the space is not prepared for people but just giving the some kind of a he said a forest like space then people can select the space according to their behaviors so this kind of thinking about the provide just a landscape like things and then people can select depending on the size of the gaps or depending on the members people's numbers of the peoples or depending on the seasons situations so such kind of a fundamental level I got an deep influence from Toyo it'll send a mediatek so I think of course this project doesn't look like him but influence bhiku influence could be translated in a different way and then could be an architecture so I think it's it's very very that was a nice translation and again this is a corporate and I like to say I like to show the good contrast between modern architecture and my proposal yes as this drawings clearly shows the modern architecture like to divide architecture clearly define simply and assemble them together again I like to say the architecture itself is really really complicated things but he said only three elements is making architecture the floors columns and stairs so simplify the situation divide architecture clearly and defining that element clearly and assembling together that is the how to say machine like really clear attitude of modern architecture on the contrary this project yes you can see for example this is like a floor but if you say this is a floor but other people come and this is not the floor this is a bench or this is a stairs or this is a chairs table something like that then it shows in here you cannot say what is what it is or what is not is or something I mean this all the slabs the meanings of all the slabs are melting together to create some blurring things and then the meanings if you react to this landscape then the meanings is coming and then other people is coming then different meaning is coming so no clear definitions no clear divisions but these blurring landscape like things and only things we can see is when we react to the space then some specific functions or some specific things is coming so everything's is depending on our relationship between the space and the body it's the clearly different from the pre defining system of modern architecture and how to say post defining or no defining but yeah I don't know how to say about such kind of a contrast of this project and modern architecture and of course that previous project was a really really conceptual things but I got an opportunity to realize this idea in a different way I warned the competition but it's a really really strange things funny things but the jury had jury was Toyota and he selected this idea this is a designing the small wooden house competition so we proposed to use the solid wooden block but the idea is the same the 35 centimeter gap to make a landscape so stuck in solid wooden blocks 35 centimeters 35 centimeter then create the whole architecture this is a really small small house and a four point two meter four point two meter and about four meter and the space is how to say spiral three dimensional things so even though it is really small but the experience is much bigger than this size and the concept is the same 35 centimeter and the different levels there is no clear one story two story three stories but different levels and the different functions according to your behavior and of course we made many many models because there is no clear floorplan so we just understand this space by models and then we adjust and then again and again but of course we have to draw many many drawings to realize this house so this is about four point two meter four point two meter 4 meter house but we had to draw 12 sections and another 12 sections and a 12 plans so it's kind of a like a high-rise building but it's really small and then this is a real solid wooden block stacking and finished and you can see glass is here and glass on the roofs and this has a shower room and the toilet and the kitchen so it is a really small but the real house here you will see how strangely people react to this space and he and here is in the different levels and you will see some unknown mysterious steps and of course it has the sleeping space two point one meter and the 70 centimeter very very tiny sleeping space it has five different sleeping space and as you can see this is the most dangerous sleeping space but yeah if you like you can select and if you don't like you can select much more safer sleeping space and the tricky chairs but yeah you can use this whole space or not the space not even the space but the whole how to say steps areas according to your feelings or according how many people you have you are alone or you have with two or three or much more I saw you once maybe three years ago yeah we had a workshop in here and I saw 30 people were in there it was a really crazy situation but it's possible because each guys in here and here here here so finally 30 people are stucked inside and then now I'm recently I'm designing one private house not exactly the same idea but the similar ideas this is a private house in Tokyo and are now under construction and will be finished the end of March but this is a private house for a couple but the site is really small so we gave up to have a rather smaller big living area but we divided each areas much more and more smaller so each floor is for example one point four meter and a 2 meter or such kind of furniture like scales and then we stucked but more how to say landscape like stacking so each space is not completely divided so you can sit or to join to this next space or the you you can feel the whole space as on one room but at the same time each furniture like slabs floors is your own how to say rooms so you have many many rooms but at the same time only one room this is a looks like a huge house but this one is only one house and like this so you will see yeah of course this this is a furniture but this is the slab and this is another slab this is a furniture so in here the furnitures and the architecture is now melting together of course you can use the chairs for sofas but at the same time you can use the slabs edge of the serves as the the benches or sofas in or something like that and the client really like this house but she said at the first meeting with me he and his wife are living like a no model in the in his house so I got an inspiration of course Toyo Ito's no matter but I think I can make some kind of a nomadic house living like a nobody within a small house so we can provide many many different areas many many different relationships then they can select this their areas as they like depending on their feelings or depending on the situation this is a private house and yeah I was talking about the cave but the cave is not necessary to be a horse a cave like space it could be more open like things I hope because then the possibilities or potential caves is much more getting bigger so in here I like to create some kind of our open cave and then I try to create some kind of a in-between space between inside and outside or between city and a house I like to mix such kind of inside outside or house and city this is a private house but it's rather strange I can say simply this is a big box middle box small box so boxing boxing boxing us and you will see this is a big box in the middle box in small box and this big box is covering almost whole the site but it has of course it has many many openings but there is no glass on it so inside of these big boxes outside outside so the rain comes in wind blows so the trees is growing here and then middle box it has glass and skylights so inside of this middle box is now inside but still outside of this third box and then this boxing boxing boxes could make some kind of a positively confusing situation of inside and outside I can say outside of this middle box is inside this big box or inside of this big boxes outside or something like that so here definite definition of inside and outside is now blurring so I like to explain this is a usual house inside and outside clearly divided but here I hope you can see this very tint gray inside deep inside rather inside less inside and outside such kind of a gradient situations is happening and this is inspired by my personal experience I was grown up in born and grown up in Hokkaido area Hokkaido is a Northern Ireland and a really countryside so and it's really cold like here in Boston so we have to make precise inside huge installations and outside so in my childhood this was my house inside and outside it was no program it works very well but I moved to Tokyo when I entered to university and then I found in Tokyo the situation is a little bit different in Tokyo as you know the room is very small so inside is very small but if you open the door then you can find some corridor corridor is for example 1.2 meter wide it is narrow but not so narrow then you are own room then you go down to the street then Street is two point four meter wide so it is narrow and surrounded by many many two-story wooden houses so if you are inside inside is very small but if you go outside small pieces is surrounding you if you're going down to the street then two storeys small houses and electricity cables are surrounding you so I felt such kind of a clear division of inside outside is not anymore in Tokyo more I felt inside it's okay but if you go outside it's gradually getting outside and I found it's at first it was very strange but gradually I found it is more much more comfortable because you can select how deep you are inside or how far you are outside or in between lecture these diagrams here one wall inside and outside or zero one or black and white everything is clearly divided like a modern age but if you make such kind of a gradation gradient situation then inside outside but you can select in between situation so simply I can say it has much more options for you to select according to your feelings inside or outside you have only two but in this gradient situation you have more then the life in this gradient situation is more rich I thought so in such kind of a very very simple innocent inspirations take me to design some new house and straightly translate to this idea to architecture so here this is the plan of this house big box middle box small box this is really how to say like this big middle small simple gradation and then as a section as well big box middle box small box and this big box there is no glass so this area is outside and this area is outside and that this is the size of the site so it's a kind of Horace a inverse of thinking or planning to make a huge box on the side or to make a house but including that house and garden another box another big box is covering everything then it is realized you can see the surroundings is a the usual Japanese typical housing area with two storey houses and these houses not so all the houses maybe two 20 years old or something like that so it is really strange urban scape in Japan and then this is my house it looks so strange in this surroundings but I like to say the surroundings it's so strange because it is how to say no design but just how to say just use your houses but I have to say oh of course this house looks very big but not just a huge disturbing house but from the street this big box is of course very big but it has many many openings and inside of this big box is outside then as a result you can see through this house to the skies behind or you can see through this house to the house neighbor's house behind so it is a kind of a translucent well I don't know how to say semi transparent house or existence so it is very very strange because this wall is made by concrete so it's very heavy but at the same time it has some kind of a transparency and inside we have a many trees so it is new existence in this area in this city and inside with this big box you will see some covering and then it has no glass so openness and protected feelings existing together and this is a view from the small box you can see this is a small box in the middle box and big box in the sky and sometimes when the cloud is coming then much more bigger something is covering you so these three layers of openings the three layers of the box could create some kind of a Horus a strange distance of the house or strange expanding feelings of the house it's you can see four skies above and in the real situation you can see much more many many skies so you can feel so much open feelings but at the same time three box is protecting you so well protected feelings openness and well protected feelings are existing together and I think that kind of openness and protected feelings is the really fundamental elements of the house house is designed to protect outside but at the same time you like to feel such kind about openness so how to create such kind of a coexistence of the openness and protected feelings is the fundamental theme of house I think and this is designed for such kind of a really fundamental aspect and to create some kind of a layers depths of the space and this is really really 15 years old drawings by me I was pursuing this boxing boxing boxing for this 15 years I have to confess these drawings made by made by me just after my graduation from University and I was very very interested in such kind of in-between situations or I like to challenge to destroy the clear division of inside and outside because inside and outside is the most fundamental things of architecture so in this case I try to create box in boxing box and the inner box is much more private things and the outer area is more public social area and this is a house but there is no boundary of this house so the big box or the biggest box could be a size of the city or something like that I imagined but at this time I was thinking about using the translucent glass our first glass to create such kind of a layers but of course it's I'd say it doesn't walk and of course it's just a conceptual project and after 10 years or 12 years I happen to realize that's kind of a boxing box box system by using these solid box with many many openings and then we can control the openness and and closeness by the position of these openings and then we can use the reflection of these kind of our ceilings and the roofs of the small box to the ceilings so to create some kind of a gradation of Lighting's in space the creation of the light in space this is a really typical Japanese urban scape this is a neighbor's house small wooden two-story house and here you will see this is a futon futon is sleeping sleeping things they are now drying here and with me small greens and angry traffic signs and something very dangerous but I don't know what it is and the different styles of the houses and the electricity lines so crowd it's so chaotic and we proposed to create this white box but the important point is inside these big boxes almost empty there is of course trees but we design just air volumes the volumes of the airs and here I like to say to design architecture is not just design object or building itself but to create some kind of a volume of air where people can behave variously and inside of that volume of air we can make some kind of a solid building like things or garden like things the furniture acting's but the most important things is to create some kind of a territory like volume of air I understood such kind of things by this project so here empty and the real house starts from this corner so you can see how big box is so big of course the very very big problem was how to persuade to the client to make such kind of an emptiness for their house because emptiness is just emptiness and this big box is the most expensive part of this house so I have to say you have to pay a lot of money for this emptiness something like that and yeah that is every time that kind of things is happening but fortunately in Japan we have a nice tradition to admire emptiness so wasting no wasting but the paying a lot of money for emptiness is so nice and of course that means emptiness has such kind of a richness inside and of course we have a tradition of in between sense of space you know the angle space in between area inside and outside but not inside not outside but in between space so Japanese traditional architecture has such kind of empty feelings and in between feelings so I translated such kind of a nice traditions very very important traditions to more contemporary architecture things I think that is because there is why I why this area is really comfortable because this area is outside but well covered by this roof and walls so nicely protected comfortably feelings and then you can select this outside inside area or more inside area or more and more deep inside area depending on your feelings or depending on the seasons of time or the situation so such kind of a providing the varieties was the space variety with the space for people to select it's another aspects of the concept of the cave I think so this is not like a cave but it is a open cave like space and then this is another trial to create such kind of a volume of air for house this is a private house this whole thing's is a private house and we stucked small boxes with many many trees and each box is a very small but of each small rooms and then when we stuck we can make such kind of a in-between space some area is covered by roof like things and some area open and the top of this boxes are like a like a roof terrace and of course we have many many treats so some area is well protected by trees or open or something like that so by these stacking boxes studying trees or stacking three pods then we created the whole volume of air but it has dense area less dense area open area protected area so various areas inside so this area is inside but covered by this roof right the podiums each rooms is very small that has two reasons one is I like to create this whole situation much more like landscape so people can feel to go up to climb up to walk around whole situations so if we make it for example four meter something like that then it is like architecture but we selected sometimes 2 meter or 2 point 5 meter then it is the size you can feel we can you can climb up or going up or something like that another reason is of course this room is very small 2 point 2 meter 2 meter 2 meter sometimes but one surface the whole one surface is the window so the room is small but the whole surface is window and the facing to the garden protected garden then some kind of a new relationship between inside and outside could be happening inside is very small so you if you are inside but you almost exposed to the outside such kind of a nice or challenging relationships I tried and this plan is really London things and this random layout is one of my pursuing themes to create no straight rules but the creator space by only by local relationships each elements box trees or space in between space has its own networking like relationships then it is not necessary to have a big one spine or big one flat slab something like that but more small patient pieces networking then create new order I hope so I tried these kind of things and then realized you can see how this box is small compared to this size of the people and trees above this is the autumn so the color is changing and in the summer time the green is more growing so the boxes are now vanishing by disappearing and the trees is the main part and from above here with many many stairs so we put many stairs so that you can for example go up from here and come inside this box go down by ladder and then go out from different the entrance so you can select various route to go up and down and experience inside and outside and outside inside such kind of a networking of experience of each boxes and outer area is the main part of this house so the size of the house is really small but the experience is in a sense endless endless chain like things and here I can say a little bit conceptual things I was talking about small pieces relationships were networking order of the relationships of small pieces and I like to explain the contrast good contrast with a modern architecture and such kind of a new order using by by using this music score this is the music by but but that is not a problem now the main part the point of this stories this system of this music score you can see the lines and this lines defining the flow of the time so I like to say this music squad system is very similar to modern architecture system why this is in here the time is flowing before music time is flowing behind the world I like to say so this definition of the time is existing before every notes and then it will put many many notes on it and create a music so in here the time is like a universal this flowing behind the world and then you can play on that time and this is I think very very similar to the modern architecture here the grid system the column is on the grid so in here the modern architecture the space it's spreading behind the world before everything then we can say universal space then we can put many many things to create some kind of a functional things so the concept is the same this lines is the great system grid system of the modern architecture and then miss miss van der Rohe what he did was really shocking inspiring things yeah I like to explain what he did is like this vanishing all the notes so me says architecture is not such kind about every kind of notes but to make a form or to give a form to this underlining or under flowing time or undergoing space itself so me says this is an extreme music or just a universal space nothing it's the extreme architecture and there is really really shocking things because after that after this if we put something to create architecture then it is just a funny playing on the Me's background so we we could not beat miss anymore if you play on it you're just playing on it so I try to change a situation again this is the back I try to change the situation completely then erase the background flowing time so in here there is no time flowing behind the world oh there is no space spreading behind our world no grid systems but I like to say here different kinds of time starts to flow which kind of times here notes here notes so in the relationship between these two nodes some kind of time starts to flow well I can say time itself is the relationship itself between these nodes so I'd like to say in here the time is flowing no relation with these notes but now the time is flowing in the relationship between these nodes at the time we can say as a space in the Me's architecture the space is spreading before our architecture but now we can make such kind of a relationship itself or local relationship while networking local relationship then we could create different types of space itself so I like to say for example this small element and with many many trees and of course if you are inside then you are part of these elements each element has its own relationships to each other to create the new space or new experience so I like to say architecture is not defined without people inside in this case so this is the one of the trial to create such kind of a new order systems different from miss van de Roy like this on the ground floor rather cover a covered area open area trees with many stairs you can go up and this project is commissioned by Toyo Ito and he selected three architects me and mr. Fujimura terranova Fujimori and tyrone ishizawa the brother of son out Nishizawa and each of us designed each private houses and a Toyo Ito designed a pavilion and then this is the other side the finishing party and yeah we have such kind of a happy end but yeah and the client is a big company Tokyo gas company gas supplying companies so I don't know exact reason why such kind of a big company is doing this rather crazy project but they like to promote the new lifestyle so we created some kind of a new lifestyle model house so this house is not designed for specific family or specific client but this is more experimental model house and ito and that this is tyranny java and environmental engineer and client so yeah i hope he is not angry I've heard after that he was very very satisfied with that at this time he is just sleeping anyway okay this is the interior view to look up so we put the glass so the rules to create a space is the same but the interior exterior we created look down and of course it has many many different trees so it changed the colors and sometimes it has flowers so such kind of a various whole experience and the whole situation is this house sorry and you will see how the room it's small comparing to this furnitures but the whole one wall is a window so nice too much straight relationships between garden outside and inside ok this is the last project my new library and this is a library for art university and you remember Toyo Ito design library for Tama Art University with many many arc and Tama Art University and this Musashino are the University both I in Tokyo and it is to a very very good rival so after Toyo Ito's library Musashi no University thought we have to make a library - and then but the toilet is a great Meister so they thought we have to order we have to do the Commission much more younger generations I don't know the reason but they decided and then they did limited proposal competition and finally I was selected so it was thanks for Toyo Ito and thanks for the Musashi no art university was but it was really lucky situation but it was really big pressure project because on the one hand Toyo Ito and I have to do something like that so I did completely different strategy and I like to create some kind of a library of library so again I go back to more innocent attitude library is the place well many many books are and the library is the place well the people is coming to read books there is really really fundamental but I like to do do it really straight away to create the library and then this is the very very first sketch bookshelves is growing then it is creating some space for people and then grill growing growing to be a big library and this is the study model not exactly the final one but bookshelf wall is growing including the spaces for people finally it's a huge library and this bookshelf wall is sometimes double height so 9 meter high or something but it has many many openings so you will see his layers of the bookshelves so it's a kind of endless library and I was I have to say I was inspired by the whole Henry Ergas story the library of Babel and it is a kind of infinite experience library or library as a walled so I of course there as a geometry it is completely different from bogus story but I try to create such kind of the whole world like library but of course this spiral system is not just a how to say imaginary things but we did a deep research and discuss with a client and finally we found two really fundamental aspects of library here one is such ability to find the books easily and another one it's straw ability and the search ability is much more easy to understand it's a very very simple principle of library all the books has the numbers and categories so you have to make the layouts really systematically so it is very important things but at the same time we thought if you are in the library then of course you like to sometimes you'd like to find some books but sometimes you just like to walk around to get some inspirations just like walking walking in the forest that is I think another very important aspect of the library but I have to say these two things are completely opposite concept because search ability is really systematic so usually we layout the bookshelves parallel endlessly so it is systematic but it is not so nice place to strolling it is boring but on the contrary if you like to make some kind of a strolling very very walking around space then it might be really chaotic situation so how to integrate these two aspects together in one system was our challenge and then after many many studies we found these spiral shapes here if you are in the center then this spiral is like a radial system we can lay out the categories on the line just like that the numbers of the clock then if you are in the center you will see which categories which directions every category its surrounding you and you can go which do you like so it is in a sense really really a systematic system but not like a usual parallel grid systems but the more radio systems and then of course this spiral shape it's still really very old shape of labyrinth or maze I think so with many many of course means many many openings then if you are inside you will see something interesting through these openings far away you go but then you will see something different here or in this spiral shape you cannot see the end of the space because the space is curving so such kind of a you cannot see the end makes you to walk more and more to such kind of directions or because of blocked by the walls or blocked by this curved wall then expectations is happening to invite you to lay to lead you to more and more and then the sequence of expectations is now endlessly in here so comfortable sir all ability is realized so in this simple spiral systems we put really systematic search ability and the really chaotic straw ability to gather inside and one another very important reason is I like to say this library is made by only one bookshelves because it is here only one long bookshelves so it is a really rather childhood dream but the library itself is really huge and complicated so I like to say it is made by only one bookshelves so such kind about three different reasons we selected finally these systems and of course we explain to the client these good contrast of the systems and we have to explain how it works very well and how it works beyond the usual functions and this is the model the 9 meter high bookshelves and then this is a double height area entrance area so bridges and you will see this spiral bookshelves so yeah this is if you like books this is a book heaven and unfortunately if you don't like books it is a really book hell but anyway it's really exciting place and at some point you're going up and that this is very very stepping ladder stairs so you can sit on to read books here and the upper stairs is a main part of the library and the definer it is realized and of course if the one bookshelf is growing to library then bookshelf is coming outside so outside his bookshelves and covered by glass so the whole buildings the surrounded by trees so you cannot see the whole shape of the buildings but you will see some bookshelves it's standing inside love the campus then you will recognize oh this is the library like this and then from inside we have a very huge opening so inside and outside is now blaring this is a 9 meter high big openings with many many bookshelves and this is another Rhea's of the bookshelves and the bridge is snub apart bridges is the internet area and we have skylights on it and not just those skylights but we used a polycarbonate laminated materials for the ceilings so the ceilings is of course impressing many many Sun lights but at the same time reflecting to the the ceilings again and as a result the ceiling itself is cloud like shining and floating and not solid ceilings and going up and up apart is some bridges and you will see how exciting is to walk around through these openings here and you will see many many layers where the bookshelves and I think you might notice most of the book shelves are empty now this is open and that is for is now open but ok here the lower part is now daily use but upper part is now still empty and I hope in the future they are using this upper part but at the same time I think it's okay not to use this upper part as a bookshelves because this is a art university so this upper part bookshelves could be used as a different use for the installations or for some something different and in the process of design I was thinking all the bookshelves should be filled with books so we can we thought about using the dummy books to fill these bookshelves but after completion and after they're using these libraries then I changed my mind because if we put books on every bookshelves then these walls is just a bookshelves but if this is very very empty and the students can use for the installations or some kind of a paintings or something like that then these bookshelves is for some people bookshelves but so for some other people different so it is much more open cave-like space it provides some kind of possibilities to understand or possibilities to behave to its freely so I hope now not using all the bookshelf as bookshelves but to provide some kind of a potential for future to use in a different way but anyway this kind of a spiral vanishing walls create your expectations to invite you deep inside to find your own new inspirations sometimes this is happening yeah very very beautiful sleeping and I like this photo because she is now representing how comfortable this space is so and but I seriously I have to say this library this spiral system is another very good point because it has some intimate gap of the wall so it has for example 3 meter 4 meter 5 meter intimate gap of the nice scales but at the same time it has many many openings so you can feel how big is this library so in here in this big library we can say very very cozy small scale and very very big scales are coexisting together and sometimes you can select the big scale sometimes you can select the smaller scales such kind of a duality of meanings is a could creates a very rich experience I hope and again every time it's happening but I have to say I can say the library is the place where students are sleeping so the new definition of the library I hope and I have to say the Toyo Ito's library has a special place for students to sleep so it's yeah in that point the Toyo Ito library is better than my library I have to say but anyway yeah you can see the many layers and these big numbers is the numbers of the categories and we design with a graphic designer together this big sign because I don't want to make sign like sign but more contemporary art like sign because if you are judging some specific category or some specific book then it works at science but if you don't care about the categories just you are just walking around the library then you don't care these kind of a science but it is more like a contemporary arts or nice the equations so such kind of a duality it has again and of course from very far you can see these numbers but if you are approaching more closer then this big number is disappearing and you will find much more smaller signs so such kind of a sequence also designed so in here some kind of a various kind about duality of the scales small scales big scales or the meanings of the the bookshelves or the meaning of the science such kind of duality our gradient meanings precisely created and I think very very interesting point of these libraries of course I designed this library so I know every corner every space of this library but after the completion when I enter this library then I got a feeling that I don't know that every part of this library or behind that wall something unknown space must be happening such kind of a feelings is happening to me so in here of course every space is limited the square meter is limited but in your experience you are walking around and you will find some new unknown space every time you come that is why that is because this kind of a wall blocking wall and opening systems and infinite layers systems such kind of a systems created some kind of expectations and unknown hidden spaces so the architecture is of course the size is limited and the whole things is fixed but if you make some kind of a nice expectations then you will experience such kind of endless rich experienced created by your own expectations and here you will see the reflect reflections of the ceilings the polycarbonate materials could it reflects this bookshelves - upper part so the ceilings is not just as solid things but the more translucent transparent existence so for me it's it's really really amazing result by these ceilings that this library I can say has no ceilings but just a light is flowing about it is a kind of Horus a dream artificial because architecture has to have a roof so for years for many years I'd like to create some kind of a architecture without roof and this is of course it has a roof but it has an experience the architecture without roof or in the boxing boxing box has I created some kind of a architecture with roof but without roof the roof is vanishing in the layers of the boxes in the evening like this and this is the photo took by the art photographer and this is the cover of my book featuring this library but I like this photo very much because it is just a photo from outside but reflecting the trees outside and mixing inside bookshelves as if inside this library some kind of a mixture of the forest and library is now happening of course this is not happening in actual situations but it represent the fundamental part of this library in one photo so I think it's really really amazing photos and of course this is the books and the text is Japanese English bearing also you can buy I think ok anyway I think I started from the K black space the contrast with the modern architecture and my activity of style and I extended the cave concept more open cave by boxing boxing box has or much more like a volume a of the volumes and could create the various different spaces by networking new order and finally the in this library project I created some kind of a field of the expectations and I think of course I have a now including the small project and including the Japan and abroad project 20 project is now moving and I hope I like to extend such kind of a concept and at the same time I don't want to limit it by this concept I like to explore more and more about the new architecture but in such a study process such kind of a primitive attitude or innocent attitude to see architecture as if you don't know anything about architecture it's very very important a power for me and I like to create more and more something new thank you very much [Music] [Applause] so one of the great things about tonight is that a lot of students have been helping and a lot of Japanese students and Asia GST but Japan GST and they have a reception for us as you've seen with sushi and sake so I'm sure that a lot of people are waiting to go for the for the for the sake but maybe maybe and I think I talked quite a lot at the beginning so if there are maybe a couple of questions for oh there's one quick last would you want us on and then we can you can ask more and for more questions when we're out there thank you thank you very much for your presentation and I love your architecture projects since the first time that I see it and I have to say that what I see is a kind of uncertainty and richness that embedded in your architecture project which tremendously challenges the way that I recognize architecture and to my question is very simple and I see you generate numerous models to explore the uncertainty and the richness in architecture so generally speaking how many models do made for each projects and and the most important thing is what kind of criteria that you choose to decide the what kind of model you use and there may be coincidence that two model is quite it's a slightly different so how do you choose do you feel confused uncertain hesitate or even you know you you always know what you really want and you you always determine yes thanks so much yeah thank you very much for such an energetic questions and actually I don't know how many models we are making but if you come to my office it's a various models and but I think in the process of design what judging I have actually I don't know what I want so I saw many many models and I like to find what I'm what we are doing and I like to understand which directions we are doing we are going so the models is not just for the comparisons but to making many many models then we understand what is happening January in there and another thing is making the models or making architectures right like for me like an agriculture to growing some vegetables something and every day me or my staff is giving waters or checking the models and changing the models then gradually changing but you don't know how the vegetables is every day changing but looks nice well looks really sick or something like that so who I am watching the models like that I think and then finally one day this is something I found is there another thank you I think indeed you are exploring new architecture and I found out that instead of Europe providing like new freedom of life it's more about new freedom of architecture and and actually and people have to sacrifice a certain degree of freedom of life in for the sake of the freedom of architecture in your building for example in those stacked white boxes if I want to go to the bedroom from the kitchen there is actually very limited path I think so but I don't think this is necessarily a bad thing because if we observe the Japanese tradition I'm not sure I'm right that people are willing to spend a lot of time on the life of ratio on the ratio of life instead of life itself so maybe and the reason that you can create such kind of architecture in Japan is because that Japanese people can afford this kind of this kind of lifestyle that we just unspoiled architecture to manipulate our way of living and it is true yeah I think it's true and they're not true but of course in Japan most of the people like to live in the more conventional usual house and but the some of the especially younger generation like to have more rich experience for their daily life and then we discuss together and of course I don't I could not say push our proposal to them and they think it's not happening because they can just refuse but I when I discuss with the client then I find some kind of a nice spirit of life new spirit of life from them and then I grew up such kind of a spirit to architecture then they can share sometimes they can share such kind of looks like strange but fitting to their lifestyle and I hope such kind of a spirit of life new spirit of lives is if we can grow it properly then not only by them by the client but the more more people can share such kind of a new lifestyle a new spirit of lifestyle so if it is depending if it is depending on such kind of a fundamental attitude or aspects of the human being so I hope I don't want to create just a crazy strange house but I like to find the most fundamental but the most unexpected aspects of human life so that is the that is the basic base gratitude Thank You Fujimoto sir you mentioned that in your library you don't have a special space for student to sleep so I'm wondering if it's possible to make those shelves empty shelves large enough so the student can go sleep in those cave-like cosy spaces and maybe that can add a little bit craziness in this dreamy library thank you thank you yeah but I hope they're not we provide but the day themselves could create some kind of a bear cave like space such kind of openness would be nice if the library say okay yeah say that it's really wonderful and and refreshing to find that there are multiple ways of making architecture and that hopefully with the work of Fujimoto son but also with the with the other people who will come there is something about the way in which one can actually start with very simple things in a way and that these simple things do have and develop incredible levels of complexity and richness and lots and lots of ideas so I mean it was as if each one of these projects was the kind of thesis and that they they they develop and they have their own arguments and their own life it's it's great to also find out that you are living within a kind of situation where there are people who are prepared to pay a lot of money for emptiness as you say that that's not always the case because in other cultures people are looking for more and more access more and more visuality more and more richness so I think it's it's that's also a lucky thing just to be able to find a situation where architecture actually has the capacity to redefine social relations and not to dictate them but to really hold hope to and unravel or discover new kinds of social relations great thanks to all the students who have helped and in particular Catherine Eddowes worked with us to kind of make this event possible and to sue Fujimoto I think if we don't go outside soon there won't be any sushi or any succulent because I can hear the people who got in there ahead of us so thanks again and please enjoy thank you very much [Applause]

Channel: Harvard GSD

Views: 66,719

Rating: 4.9213114 out of 5

Keywords: Sou Fujimoto, Japanese architecture, GSD

Id: MGLO-GPYfbg

Length: 89min 47sec (5387 seconds)

Published: Tue Mar 08 2011

Reddit Comments

[u/gettothechoppaaaaaa]

His Musashino Art University Museum & Library is simply breathtaking. I went to visit last Fall and it's such an amazing space to be in.