Meeting with Osawa Koichi

 Yesterday I had a meeting with my former Japanese sensei, Osawa-san. We went to a traditional tempura restaurant (fried seafood and vegetables) in the Shinjuku area, a type of restaurant I or any other tourists never would have found on their own. We talked about culture, food and news in Japan, important topics for me personally, as I seek to find out more about Japan than just how it appears visually.  

It might be a little bit apart from my topic, but he told me about the harmony between arrangement, smell, color and taste in Japanese food. For instance the seemingly simple arrangement of a tuna sashimi dish in a small bowl;  Deep red tuna blushes on a bed of white strips of raddish, resting on a large, vivid green leaf, accompanied by a branch of deep green herbs and freshly grinded wasabi.

 

Each tempura piece is presented to you by the chef and then put on a white tray in front of your table. The experience is unique for each piece, which makes the whole evening a journey of delicious tastes.

Shibuya

Now I'm heading to Shibuya to meet up with my old Japanese teacher, Osawa Koichi-san to have a chat about people and culture. He studied the art of tea ceremony and flower arrangements, two key aspects in traditional Japanese culture. I recently found out the food arrangements, in the same way as flower arrangements has a given direction. So the placement of the food on the table is dependant on who is the guest, or whom will have to honor to be served first. I need to find out more about this.

Tokyo impressions

I arrived in Tokyo a couple of days ago, and I have spent most of the time walking around, getting to know the city again and getting lost on purpose to awaken my mind. Much is how I remember it from last time, which is comfortable in one way, but also a bit disturbing without, knowing why feel that way. I had expected that more would have changed, but I guess fundamental changes takes longer time in such a huge city. 

Asakusa  Sensoji Temple

Tokyo Sky tree, erected in the low-rise area of Sumida-ku, east of Asakusa

Tokyo field trip

I am travelling to Tokyo tomorrow to start the next phase of my research. The goal is to get more in tune with the situation of today, map and collect data that I will use to develop the concept of "hike-ability". It has been 1 1/2 year since my last visit and I will meet old friends, collegues and architects that will hopefully fill me up with inspiration and fuel my creativity for the next months. I will work mostly in Tokyo, but there will also be a trip to Hamamatsu and Takayama.

As a result of this field trip I will end up with three products

TOKYOdocument
- redefined task definition
- Tokyo phenonomen and challenges; how can the concept of hike-ability be a solution
- ways of movement in Tokyo
- interview/discussion with people
- examples of public spaces in Tokyo that work/do not work
- case study of relevant sites/areas for further intervention

TOKYOimages
- a travel diary with words and images reflecting my experiences

FILM
- a film that reflects the current atmosphere in Tokyo, about movement, urban spaces, spacial situations

ACRO building in Fujioka, Japan
A "hike-able" building I discovered during my travels. I was seduced to enter the first stair on the forest side, and ended up climbing 13 floors almost without knowing it. Really effectful and a nice view on the top.

Next Monday I will get on the flight to Tokyo, seeking to find inspiration and answers that will help tune my project research in the right direction. On beforehand, I would like to present some of my personal motivation for the topic of my project; "hike-ability".

First of all, I love exploring my surroundings, no matter if it is far into the mountains, or deep into the urban jungle. I have lived both in a small Norwegian city; in a valley next to a forest, and in the hearth of Tokyo, without beeing in real nature for at least two months. To be able to put forth images of the city as exciting and rewarding spaces to move about and explore is therefore a personal trigger.
Hiking is undeniably closely related to the Norwegian culture in terms of how we use the nature for recreation and resources. I am aware of this backround, and cannot deny that I enjoy classical mountain hiking, therefore cultural-emotionally it is a motivation that lies underneath the topic that I wish to pursue.

I am also interested in combining different fields, such as landscaping and urbanism, and still be able to work on a detailed level in a human scale. When it comes to Tokyo, its complexity triggers my creativity and it is a city that tolerates to be experimented with.

Last I would like to underline that the word "Hike-ability" does not neccessarily indicate verticality, a word that I have used perhaps too much lately. Hiking is basically to move a distance, where you seek to gain a deeper experience than just getting from A to B. I will develop this term through the semester and come back with more detailed thoughts later on.

Images

"In my view, an architect must essentially be a thinker, whose mission is not only to realize works, but also to put forth images of the city's future and society's future"

Kisho Kurokawa, Project Japan: Metabolism Talks

Vertical Yoyogi park

Yoyogi Park is one of largest public parks in Tokyo, opened in 1967 after serving as the Olympic Village in 1964, and before that, as a residential area for US military personnel. Today Yoyogi Park features wide lawns, ponds and forested areas. It is a place for many types of outdoor activities, such as jogging, performance, blossom-viewing, picnic, instrument rehersal, role-playing games, walking dogs and it even shelters some groups of orderly homeless people.

 

Yoyogi Park is roughly divided into two faces; the Meiji-jingu Shrine, located in the deep forest, where you are restricted to walk on the forest path, and the open park where you can wander freely and do leisure activities. 

 

I wish to investigate in further detail how this park works and what types of people and activities there are here, so that I can trace the essence of what people values from such a large and open public space in Tokyo. Maybe the essence or the concept of Yoyogi Park can happen somewhere else, but take a different form?

 

Some of the main spots in Yoyogi Koen

What happens if a vertical Yoyogi Park appears? Is there a need for such a vertical space? What can it look like?

People analyzis

As part of my analyzis phase I wish to map and learn more about the different types of characters that are likely to use public spaces in Tokyo, in order to put more realizm into the 'hike-able' strategies that should be developed. This chart is a draft that shows various types, and a seperate section that shortly describes the character, his/her daily/weekly/seasonal activities and hiking level. I am currently working on schemes and questionnairs that can help me to map these characters with a more solid statistic backround while I visit Tokyo next week.

It can be really interesting to find out how much time people spend on each activities. For example how much time does a salaryman spend on lunch compaired to a retired amateur photographer. Does this affect how far they are willing to walk/hike to find a suitable place to eat their lunch or their preferences for the site?

I hope to develop this scheme further and use it as a tool to distribute activities, shape the public spaces, accessibility etc.

Qoutes

"Mobility in the 20th century is characterized by the combination of horizontal (vehicular) and vertical (elevator) movement. The efficiency of this system has so far defined our framework of space. But perhaps it is time to consider a new logic that is based on a wider premise. The possibility of a three-dimensional mobility, the redefinition of building boundaries, and the reconsideration of the relationship between the city’s geography and climate are all issues worth exploring."

Akihisa Hirata, Towards a New Cityscape, JA 82/2011

 

 

 

"Jo høyere vi bygger, jo mer teknologisk avanserte vi blir, desto flatere blir vårt bevegelsesmønster og med det vår livsverden. Vi bygger for høyt for trapper og kan ikke lenger klatre, vi må løftes på plass [...] Man får ingen opplevelse av omgivelsenes forandring og ingen genuin forståelse av hastighet, målestokk eller størrelse.

Christian Lysvåg, ArkitekturN 03/12

 

 

"Rapid urbanisation has bred increasing numbers of people who have never known the joys of rural life, chasing rabbits in mountains, fishing for crucians in streams, whose only home is a tiny appartment in some huge city."

Kakuei Tanaka, former Prime Minister of Japan

Hike-able structures: The Shuto Expressway

 

Tokyo's infrastructure is very complex and efficient, and it operates on multiple levels, which I mean can be a trigger for hike-able rethinking of existing infrastructure to create better urban spaces. One fascinating example is the Shuto Expressway that floats through the inner city as a snake through the gras of buildings. It is a massive concrete structure that elevates most of the automobile traffic away from the ground plane. The Ohashi junction near Shibuya connects roads spanning 80 meters of hight difference.

Is it possible to imagine these structure to have hike-able potential? A different use in the future? Can it be transformed into green strings connecting the city?

 

I believe that rethinking of existing structures and building mass will be an important factor for hike-able means of creating better spaces in a dense city such as Tokyo.

 

The Ohashi junction; a spiral that connects roads spanning a total of 80 meters hight difference.

 

Tokyo "hotspots"

Tokyo hotspots

Tokyo has no main center compared to traditional European cities. At the geographical center of Tokyo you find the Imperial Palace, which is basically closed for the public. Instead one find "hotspots", located along the JR Yamanoto Line loop, the main railroad that circles around inner Tokyo. Some of the main "hotspots" are listed on the map, and there are several more.
From personal experience, it can be very intense to enter a main "hotspot" such as Shibuya. You are bombarded with information, neon signs, commercials, sounds, people and so on, but as soon as you step into one of the side roads, it is a quiet as in a Norwegian town on sundays. Then you can walk through the forest of buildings until you stumble upon the next hotspot, maybe 10 minutes away.

Here you can read about the "hotspots" of Tokyo, or neighbourhoods as they are called: http://www.frommers.com/destinations/tokyo/0085020048.html

What I wish to find out is, do the hotspots have the same urban typology/structure all around, or do they differ so much that the almost can be called unique, urban villages in the continous flow of buildings? How can the structures be charachterized? Can a positive proposal in one hotspot have the same effect if it is excecuted in another one aswell?

Introduction to Tokyo "hike-ability"

Welcome to my blog which will cover the process of my Diploma Project in the Master Course of Architecture at NTNU, Norway. The research period is from August 2012 untill late December 2012, with the final critic in January 2013

My Diploma Project is based on my experiences from my one year stay in Japan in 2010/2011. The context for my project will be Tokyo, dealing with the issues that highly dense cities causes. Tokyo is a city that allows experimenting and is far much easier to touch, than for instance classical European cities in my opinion.

During my exchange stay at Tokyo Institute of Technology, I encountered the term "hike-ability" during a Tokyo-based workshop with Yoshiharu Tsukamoto from Atelier Bow-wow and Minsuk Cho from MASS studies.  
"Hike-ability" derives from from the more popular term "walk-ability", the measure of how suitable an area is to walking for pedestrians. "Hike-ability" seeks to further investigate the potential of vertical and diagonal movement to gain health, economic and environmental benefits in dense urban contexts. I wish to investigate how one can improve dense urban areas by using the approach of "hike-ability" as a method.
The main factors that have contributed to the development of cities from the 20th century is the invention of the automobile (horizontal expansion) and the elevator (vertical expansion). "Hike-ability" seeks to challenge and redefine our building boundaries.

Introduction to Tokyo
The Government of Japan has had a strong, centralized policy, controlling much of urban growth in the Rapid Economic Growth period in the post-WW2 years, developing Tokyo into the largest urban metropolis in the world. Since the focus has mainly been on economic growth, the quality of public spaces have not been for the sake of its inhabitants, as Tokyo does not have many of the classical urban spaces such as the Western plaza or the piazza. Therefore the behaviour in urban spaces is different from we know as the sensitive, Nordic Jan Gehl tradition or the lively Italian Piazza.

The traditional urban space called meisho can be characterized as a historically important and beloved space, and can be found in historic cities such as Kyoto or Kanazawa, but seldom in Tokyo. Tokyo is a brand new city, as Botond Bogdar describes it. It has been devestated and rebuilt numerous of times during the past.

Parks in Tokyo has not only the purpose of leisure and green space, but are also designated evacuation areas and fire breaks in case of disaster. Since lots are so expensive in Tokyo, Tokyoites utilize every inch of their "yards" to arrange potted plants or have roof gardens.

Tokyo is a very dense city with high speed, and much of the public space in the city are optimalized for transportation and movement. In hotspots such as Shibuya or Shinjuku, means of crowd control are vital parts of the urban design. There are signs showing you at what side to walk, and elevated highways draws much of the vehiclar traffic away from the streets. Despite the high tempo, Tokyo is also a quiet, but lively city inbetween the hotspots in the urban villages.