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The works of Makoto Sei Watanabe combine the functionality of aesthetic experience and the calculated organization of structures with the evocation of deep ancestral memories.
City planning is a concept which usually covers the wide range of events, processes and developments taking place in our cities, but individual plans and designs cannot do justice to the complex realities of the city. In "Induction Cities" the author aims to take the reader beyond our traditional understanding of city design to redefine our perception of design in this context. With the assistance of computers, a dynamic mechanism will be created which generates a result corresponding to the specific conditions and requirements stipulated. By this form of "meta-design" a greater degree of freedom is obtained than the conventional design methods provide. In this publication, this new theory and process is analysed, looking at the first computer-generated architecture in the world, the underground station "Iidabashi"in Tokyo. Makoto Sei Watanabe studied architecture and worked in the office of Arata Isozaki in Tokyo. In 1984 he founded his own architectural office which has realised numerous projects.
Recent architecture has found itself having to cope with new social and cultural complexities that demand networked systems that are time-based, reconfigurable and evolutionary, and a corresponding model of urbanism defined as an adaptive ecology. It is against this backdrop that the AA's graduate Design Research Lab (DRL) has pursued its recent studio agenda through project-based research focusing on alternative models of housing. Integral to this research is a notion of architecture that looks towards designing systems that seek higher ordered goals emerging through an intimate correlation of material and computational interaction. This book presents the results of this research and with it constructs a generative view of space and structure and the exploration of behaviour based models of living through patterns found in nature.
Project Japan is the product of a long journey by author Graham Cooper. A sustained rolling programme relating to contemporary art and architecture in Japan, this project involved over a decade of commitment, more than a dozen research and documentation
It can be argued that Japan contains a higher number of internationally significant architects and designers relative to its geographic size than anywhere else in the world. Japanese designers regularly implement radical experiments in new materials and building systems that successfully address imminent energy and resource challenges. These technological achievements are combined with an acute awareness of the ephemerality of existence, creating a rich dialogue between the concrete and the abstract.
"The relationship between contemporary architecture and nature is fundamental to today's creativity. Some architects reject nature or imagine that they can create an artificial world of their own - while others are seeking new ways, aided by science and the computer, to chart new directions for the buildings of tomorrow. From ecologically-oriented designs to the most astonishing new forms, this book shows how essential nature remains to architecture."--BOOK JACKET.
Aluminium is an extremely versatile material. Light-weight and resistant to corrosion, it is a particularly suitable material for certain building requirements. Aluminium already played an innovative role in the post-WWII years, as can be seen in the work of the French engineer, Jean Prouvé. And because of its aesthetical qualities and great strength, aluminium is a highly rated material in today s sophisticated architecture. This book provides a systematic overview of the applications of aluminium as a building material, giving information on the properties of the metal and highlighting the latest technical advances. A selection of 25 international projects document the application of aluminium in load-bearing structures, facades, roofs and windows. Amongst the projects included are Toyo Ito s Aluminium House in Tokyo, Renzo Piano s Mercedes Benz Design Centre in Stuttgart, SOM s Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Center, and Norman Foster s Greenwich Transport Interchange.
Frog in the Well is a vivid and revealing account of Watanabe Kazan, one of the most important intellectuals of the late Tokugawa period. From his impoverished upbringing to his tragic suicide in exile, Kazan's life and work reflected a turbulent period in Japan's history. He was a famous artist, a Confucian scholar, a student of Western culture, a samurai, and a critic of the shogunate who, nevertheless, felt compelled to kill himself for fear that he had caused his lord anxiety. During this period, a typical Japanese scholar or artist refused to acknowledge the outside world, much like a "frog in the well that knows nothing of the ocean," but Kazan actively sought out Western learning. He ...
Research informs the development of a project which, rather than defusing these characteristics, attempts to integrate them within the scene of a political struggle. The proposed project dramatizes, through its architecture, a Palestinian disobedience to the colonial legislation imposed on its legal territory. In fact, the State of Israel masters the elaboration of territorial and architectural colonial apparatuses that act directly on Palestinian daily lives. In this regard, it is crucial to observe that 63% of the West Bank is under total control of the Israeli Defense Forces in regards to security, movement, planning and construction. Weaponized Architecture is thus manifested as a Palestinian shelter, with an associated agricultural platform, which expresses its illegality through its architectural vocabulary.
"In addition to highlighting the human benefits of built environments which relate to particular place, time and being, many of the Japanese buildings examined illustrate practical strategies for revealing these universal parameters which are equally applicable beyond Japan. It is suggested that wider use of some of these approaches could not only help to sustain both environmental and cultural identities against the homogenising effects of globalisation, but also has the potential to heighten our appreciation of the peculiar condition of being here now."--Jacket.