Posts tagged "Architecture"
House longs for a car and a car dreams of a house Le Corbusier ‘s Citroen House <1>
The French court society of the 18th century seemed to have the same interest in furniture as modern people would do in the cars. Since the birth of modernism in the 20th century, cars and homes had strong conscious relationship. Machines for living, houses like cars. Le Corbusier’s Citroen House In 1917, Le Corbusier left...
Katsura Imperial Villa – Genealogy of Simple
Modern design is simply a simple design. Simple means that colors, shapes and materials are restrained. Simple is not a modernist patent. It is not limited to architecture and product design. Where did the value of simplicity come from? What is that concrete appearance? In the series “Genealogy of Simple”, we explore various aspects of...
Hotel by Shigeru Ban “Shounai Hotel Suiden Terrace”
We had a chance of staying at Ban Shigeru’s SHONAI HOTEL SUIDEN TERRASSE “Shonai Hotel Suiden Terrace” is located in Tsuruoka City, Yamagata Prefecture in Japan. (Suiden means rice field) As the name suggests, it stands in a rice field in the Shonai Plain, which symbolizes rice. The magnificent scenery of the rice fields,...
Japan in Architecture : 1/3 scale giant model of Kenzo Tange’s home
Kenzo Tange’s own residence in 1/3 scale giant model. from “Japan in Architecture : Genealogies of Its Transformation” (April 25-September 17, 2018 @ Mori Art Museum). Although huge, it is a model, so the whole house can be seen in a glance rather than seen in the separate photographs, Thus the concept of the building...
Japan in Architecture : Genealogies of Its Transformation
Interior space of the National Treasure tea room Tai-an by Sen no Rikyū from “Japan in Architecture : Genealogies of Its Transformation” (April 25-September 17, 2018 @ Mori Art Museum) The architect and architect historian Fujimori Terunobu says the basic strength of Japanese architects in wooden construction. Contrarily to the Western architecture which developed stone...
Shogun who found simplicity. Shogun Ashikaga Yoshimasa
Genealogy of Simplicity ~ Shogun Ashikaga Yoshimasa ~ In a way, modern design can be a simple design. According to dictionary word “simple” is “condition of less elements”. Simple means that colors, shapes and materials are simple and restrained. Simple is not a monopolist of modernism. Nor is it limited to architecture or product design....
Kengo Kuma Exhibition
Kengo Kuma Exhibition -Whispering substance dialogue with things- “Kuma no mono” “The end of architectural desire”, “Losing architecture”, “Natural architecture”, “Anti-object”. By simply tracing the his book title, you can see that the thing that Kengo Kuma aims for consistently. In Kuma’s word it means “I wanted to criticize self-centered and intimidating architecture”. Kuma...
Delusioning Barcelona Chair
There is a chair that changes the air of the room completely by just placing it. The Barcelona chair by Mies van der Rohe is such a chair. Innovative structure and form, elegant and cool. This chair,the top of a modern furniture, has a coolness and loneliness that refuses someone to sit. (* Barcelona...
Eichler Homes and Steve Jobs
Eichler Homes and Steve Jobs Steve Jobs praised Eichler Homes (*), in a biography “Steve Jobs” (Walter Isaacson 2011). He is considered to be the house he grew up in Eichler Homes. Eichler Homes is a house built and sold in California from around 1950 by Joseph Eichler. Joseph Eichler has made modern houses designed...
Blade runner 2049 – Land, Architecture, Design, City, Memories 2
(* Blade Runner 2049, source: https://www.nytimes.com/2017/05/08/movies/blade-runner-2049-trailer.html) Isozaki Arata refers to Mies van der Rohe’s “Lake Shore Drive Apartment” as following (“Sumi-ka Twelfth”, Mai Library Publishing Bureau, 1999). In the hell of a three-dimensional lattice, “You will be creating your own shell in a box that accommodates your life, so the design possibility in Metropolis is...
Julius Shulman -architectural photo as media-
“Good designs are rarely accepted, so we have to sell them.” Julius Shulman , an architectural photographer One of the most famous photographs of Julius Shulman is of the case study house # 22. Built in Hollywood Hills, it is also called Stahl House (1960) designed by architect Pierre koenig. Spectacle piece that can never...
Blade runner 2049 – Land,Architecture,Design,City,Memories
sun, green and space is the slogan of the modern city that CIAM (International Congresses of Modern Architecture) proposed as Athens Charter in 1933. The original story is the concept of Le Corbusier’s “Radiant city” / “Ville Radieuse”. There is something that is missing in this slogan. Isozaki Arata points out that it is <Soil>...
Kenzo Tange’s architectural design Dentsu headquarters building – Unseen Tsukiji redevelopment plan –
Dentsu head office building of Tsukiji designed by Kenzo Tange (Ex-Dentsu Tech Building completed in 1967) will be demolished soon. Currently it is vacant house. The site will be developed by Sumitomo Real Estate together with surrounding area. Kenzo Tange formulated the “Tsukiji redevelopment plan” (1964) for the entire Tsukiji area when asked to design...
Age of Atom and California Modern Living
Mid-century is also the nuclear era. America and the former Soviet Union escalated the nuclear test one after another from the 1950s to the 1960s. In this era, the horror of invisible nuclear famine was in Californian sunshine. The fear of nuclear weapons in the Cold War will reach its peak with the Cuban crisis...
Eames House and “Powers of Ten”
Eames Case-study house #8 Eames House was built as a case-study house # 8 in Charles & Ray Eames in 1949. It is a collaboration between Charles and friends Eero Saarinen. A case study house is a plan of John Entenza, chief editor of the magazine “Arts & Architecture”. Tied house manufacturers clients to architects,...
Mies van der Rohe petrol station
Mies van der Rohe has designed gas stations in Montreal, Canada in his last years. It is Esso gas station in Nan Island. This gas station can be watched on DVD “Mies van der Rohe” (directed by Joseph Hiller). The black roof which stretched to low crawl on the ground is beautiful. If such a...
