Tag: Architecture

1975 – Reiyukai Shakaden Temple – Takenaka Corporation

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1975 – Reiyukai Shakaden Temple – Takenaka Corporation
1975 – Reiyukai Shakaden Temple – Takenaka Corporation
1975 – Reiyukai Shakaden Temple – Takenaka Corporation
1975 – Reiyukai Shakaden Temple – Takenaka Corporation
1975 – Reiyukai Shakaden Temple – Takenaka Corporation
1975 – Reiyukai Shakaden Temple – Takenaka Corporation
1975 – Reiyukai Shakaden Temple – Takenaka Corporation
1975 – Reiyukai Shakaden Temple – Takenaka Corporation

The Reiyukai Shakaden Temple in central Tokyo consists of the main hall, the public plaza, Kotani hall, conference rooms and a medical center. The  temple was completed in 1975, after four years of construction. The main hall has a capacity of 3’500 people. The roof and facade is covered with dark granite, its formal expression is inspired by traditional temple roof. The eclectic architecture of Reiyukai Shakaden is influenced by Seiichi Shirai’s idea of the bizzare.

Name: Reiyukai Shakaden Temple│Type: Temple│Architect: Takenaka Corporation │Completed: 1975

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1974 – Mizuho Corporate Bank – Togo Murano

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Shaped with a peculiarly sharpe edge as its north facade, the building cuts into the space of the busy Eitai Dori Avenue it faces. On the east side, the facade is covered with polished stone-covered vertical wall segments which are also triangular. This project by the highly versatile Togo Murano brought his architecture close to Seiichi Shirai’s design paradigm of the bizzare (see: Noa Building, 1974).

Name: Mizuho Corporate Bank│Type: Office│Architect: Togo Murano │Completed: 1974

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1974 – Noa Building – Seiichi Shirai

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Built in 1974, the 15-storey building consists of a red-brick pedestal of about 8 meters height and a steel-covered and sculpture-like oval upper part that is dotted with very few windows, although the 8th floor has a full-length one. Monumental is the rusticated red brick lower section, which acts as a podium on which sits the high, oval block. To heighten the effect, an oversized and super-human arched gate leads to a rather dark, almost cryptiv entry space.

Name: Noa Building│Type: Office│Architect: Seiichi Shirai │Completed: 1974

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1976 – House in Uehara – Kazuo Shinohara

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1976 – House in Uehara – Kazuo Shinohara
1976 – House in Uehara – Kazuo Shinohara
1976 – House in Uehara – Kazuo Shinohara
1976 – House in Uehara – Kazuo Shinohara
1976 – House in Uehara – Kazuo Shinohara
1976 – House in Uehara – Kazuo Shinohara
1976 – House in Uehara – Kazuo Shinohara
1976 – House in Uehara – Kazuo Shinohara
1976 – House in Uehara – Kazuo Shinohara

This house is located in Uehara, a well-to-do suburb of Tokyo less than half an hour from the city’s financial district. Consequently, the Uehara lot is quite small and the dwelling itself is some 9 metres on one side with no garden, while the main façade and carport give directly onto the narrow road. The client was an art photographer and the ground floor comprises his studio with a darkroom.

The upper storey is composed principally of the standard Japanese living-dining-kitchen space, although the kitchen and stair areas are partially screened by a massive articulated concrete pillar. This monolith burgeons with great struts rising to support the beamless concrete flat-slab roof and is part of a giant forest-like order whose tops are imposed and revealed throughout the residential storey.

Name: House in Uehara│Type: residential│Architect: Kazuo Shinohara │Completed: 1976

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1973 – Hotel Okura South Wing – Yoshiro Taniguchi

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After the tragic demolition of the main building, built in 1964 by Yoshiro Taniguchi, the remaining South Wing allows to retrace its architecure: Located in Toranomon on what had been a feudal estate, the Okura is an extraordinary testament to a key moment in Japanese design. It was built by an exceptionally gifted and diverse group that included the architects Yoshiro Taniguchi and Hideo Kosaka, the folk artist Shiko Munakata and the potter Kenkichi Tomimoto. Together they created a unique modern design that referenced the traditional colours, shapes and crafts of Japan.

Unlike many postwar Tokyo buildings, whose primary models of modernism were strictly Western, the Okura was built to evoke Japanese-ness, at least as perceived by foreigners. Among other frills, this meant hexagonal hanging lamps shaped like ancient gems and partitions edged with kimono fabrics.

Name: Hotel Okura South Wing│Type: Hotel│Architect: Yoshiro Taniguchi │Completed: 1973

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1972 – Nagakin Capsule Tower – Kisho Kurokawa

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1972 – Nagakin Capsule Tower – Kisho Kurokawa
1972 – Nagakin Capsule Tower – Kisho Kurokawa

The module of Nagakin Capsule Tower was created with the intention of housing traveling businessmen that worked in central Tokyo during the week. It is a prototype for architecture of sustainability and recycleability, as each module can be plugged in to the central core and replaced or exchanged when necessary. Built close to Shimbashi Station, a total of 140 capsules are stacked and rotated at varying angles around a central core, standing 14-stories high. The technology developed by architect Kisho Kurokawa allowed each unit to be installed to the concrete core with only 4 high-tension bolts, which keeps the units replaceable. Each capsule measures 4 x 2.5 meters, permitting enough room for one person to live comfortably. The interior space of each module can be manipulated by connecting the capsule to other capsules.

Residents of the tiny pods are now plotting its demolition; although the capsules were built to be replacable, the building has not been maintained in over 35 years which has led to drainage and damaged water pipes. Architects from around the world are trying to work together to preserve the towers, considering all ideas and options.

Name: Nagakin Capsule Towers│Type: Residential│Architect: Kisho Kurokawa │Completed: 1972

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1971 – Pola Home Offices – Nikken Sekkei

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1971 – Pola Home Offices – Nikken Sekkei

The Pola Home Offices building achieves a synthesis between structural design and architectural and spatial articulation. In between two stair-and-elevator cores at the ends, large, story-high girders are spanned providing a solution wherebythe space of the lobby could be freed from intermediary columns. The lobby seems to expand beyond its physical limits and to be defined by the train embankment in front and the equally sloping and planted roof at the back.

Name: Pola Home Offices│Type: Office│Architect: Nikken Sekkei │Completed: 1971

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1970 – Niban-kan – Minoru Takeyama

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1970 – Niban-kan – Minoru Takeyama

An enigmatic Japanese building, the Niban-kan, became renowned after its appearence on the cover of Charles Jencks’ “The Language of Post-Modern Architecture” in 1977. Its rise to the status of an icon of Supergraphics, along with its adjacent brother building the Ichiban-kan, would overshadow its great urban qualities. Originally it was painted colorful with geometric patterns in yellow, red, black and grey. Today the building appears in restrained in black and grey, it unfortunately lost of its iconographic quality.

Name: Niban-kan│Type: Commercial│Architect: Minoru Takeyama│Completed: 1970

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1970 – New Sky Building – Yoji Watanabe

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1970 – New Sky Building – Yoji Watanabe
1970 – New Sky Building – Yoji Watanabe
1970 – New Sky Building – Yoji Watanabe
1970 – New Sky Building – Yoji Watanabe
1970 – New Sky Building – Yoji Watanabe
1970 – New Sky Building – Yoji Watanabe

Altough not as famous as Kisho Kurokawa’s emblematic Nakagin Capsule Tower, the ominous New Sky Building designed by Yoji Watanabe is one of the jewels from the Metabolist movement. The building completed in 1972 in Shinjuku features bolt-on units and balconies characteristic of Metabolism’s ideal of modularity. Its naval appearance isn’t accidental as Watanabe, supposedly born on a US navy ship, borrowed techniques from submarine building. The theme culminates in the roof design which features a battleship deck-looking floor, with a defining submarine sail-like concrete structure.

Name: New Sky Building│Type: Housing│Architect: Yoji Watanabe│Completed: 1970

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1968 – Library Tokyo Keizai University – Azusa Kito

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1968 – Library Tokyo Keizai University – Azusa KITO

In 2014, the building was converted to an auditorium. Originally it was a library, designed by Azusa Kito in 1968. The library was organized as one large open space. The first floor has 40m x 40m square space with no columns and it is opening to forest through glasses. Unfortunately, the conversion of the building destroyed the clarity of its original architecture. Still remarkable are the polygonally shaped concrete columns. The building is registered by DoCoMoMo Japan as one of the 200 best representatives of modern architecture in Japan.

Name: Library Tokyo Keizai University│Type: Education│Architect: Azusa Kito│Completed: 1961

 

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