INSIGHTS

2018.09.21

R&D DISCUSSION Vol. 02

Architecture: Perspectives from Industrial Design [Part 2]

Kozo Yamada, Director and Advisor, GK Design Corporation

R&D DISCUSSION TOP

Q: What is the design philosophy of GK Design Group?
Please tell me its features.

A: It can be said that GK has been designing "tools" for over 60 years since its founding. Human history began hundreds of thousands of years ago when we first acquired "tools." As the name suggests, tools are tools that are the tools that guide the way of man. Equipment Preparation" and has evolved with mankind. In the beginning, it was simple tools, then tools for making tools were created, and then tools for transportation and various tools for daily life. GK calls all man-made objects, including products, machines and facilities, "Dougu." In English, "Dougu" can be translated as "tool" or "equipment," but at GK, we just use "Dougu" without translating it. Since these tools were all created by human will, GK sees them as "beings with a mind." In other words, it is the idea that "Dougu have a mind." Dougu are also an extension of our bodies and are the "alter ego" of people. That is why we can talk to them and love them. It is no exaggeration to say that we can read the minds of all tools.

However, I think that not only designers, but many Japanese people have the genes to sense this. Although it is an island nation with seasonal changes and abundant nature, it is also extremely dangerous due to earthquakes, typhoons, floods, and volcanic eruptions. As a wisdom to live here, we have acquired the skills to read the subtle changes in nature. God resides in nature, and all living things have a heart. Furthermore, the imagination that even objects have a heart is a cultural characteristic of this country. In his book "The Aesthetics of Makunouchi Bento" published in 1980, Ekuan Kenji discussed the origins of Japanese aesthetics and Japanese-style manufacturing ideas using makunouchi bento as a subject. When you open the lid of the lacquer box placed in front of you, you will see that it is neatly divided, each of which has its own world, but they harmonize without fighting, and the seasons are depicted through the life of the ingredients. How to eat is left to the eater, and the way the world spreads changes depending on how you eat. Enjoying this is Japanese aesthetics, and it can be said to be a design methodology that only Japanese people who have lived with nature can achieve.
Through this academic research, GK believes that thinking about "the past, present, and future of tools" is synonymous with thinking about "what is a person?"

The Aesthetics of the Japanese Lunch Box, a translation of the book "The Aesthetics of the Japanese Lunch Box"
Cover (MIT Press, USA / 1998)

Q: How do you perceive architecture? Is it a tool?

A: At GK, we believe that the world consists of tools (artificial objects) and the environment (natural objects). The relationship between tools and the environment is that of figure and ground. Clothes, computers, and jet planes are all tools, artifacts that are an extension of the body. However, the problem is "architecture." The "Tool Society," which Ekuan created with architectural critic Kawazoe Noboru and others, continues to debate whether architecture is a tool or not. For example, yurts used on the Mongolian plateau can be said to be "tools for living" that are an extension of the body, but considering that humans first found caves and lived there, they were making good use of nature, and cannot be called tools. A cave is "real estate," but a yurt is "movable property." Tools can basically be moved. They can be made smaller or larger, combined, and sometimes disappear. So can a huge building be called a tool? The answer is not easy to find.

However, Kawazoe also said that Japanese architecture, especially, has been created with a "tool-like" idea, as exemplified by Ise Shrine, which performs the "Shikinen Sengu" (periodical rebuilding of the shrine). In the 1960s, Ekuan also participated in the "Metabolism Movement," which was organized by up-and-coming young architects, centered around Kawazoe and others. The idea of architecture as a metabolic living organism that grows by repeatedly increasing and decreasing, like a cell, attracted attention from around the world as being extremely Japanese and Oriental. Although Metabolism has disbanded as a movement, it is also famous in recent years for the publication of the documentary and interview collection "Project Japan" by Rem Koolhaas and others.
One of the representative works of the Metabolists is the Osaka Expo of 1970, where many members were involved in the planning of the venue and architecture. Under the large roof of the "Festival Square" that was the center of the Expo, festivals from various countries were held every day. The towering Tower of the Sun is a rebellious symbol that appealed to the "sanctity of people and life" rather than technology or industrial development. The ethnic tools from around the world collected at this time are now stored in the National Museum of Ethnology, which was later built in the park. "Festivals" are not just events, but something more earnest and fundamental that humanity has performed for the sake of bountiful harvests and the prosperity of descendants, even in times of life and death. The tools stored there are proof of this, such as the intense love between the opposite sex, the strong friendship between the same sex, and the deep affection between family members. What is now being lost was once born and nurtured in festivals.

Street furniture and signs created by GK at the Osaka Expo (1970)

Q: What do you expect from future architectural designs?

A: There is a dilemma in industrial design. If tools evolve too much, it has the negative effect of dulling what is inside of us, the biological senses that we have had since ancient times. If we continue like this, it will be said that "tools exist so that humanity will no longer be human." It is easy to imagine this without even looking at the evolution of AI. Tools are an extension of the body, and the more advanced tools we have, the further away we become from nature. I don't want to lose the biological sense of living with will. I believe that from now on, it will be important to have an environment that can "recall" the experiences that we have had throughout the long history of humanity. Is architecture a tool or an environment? It doesn't matter which. What industrial design expects from architecture in the future is the creation of a place where we can rediscover who we are. I believe that architecture has the potential to do this. Even if the office environment is based on convenience, functionality, and comfort, I hope that it will always be a place where we can stop and think. If such an architectural environment could be created now, wouldn't it be the moment when architecture becomes a "new tool" in a larger sense?

In his later years, Eikyuan said, "We should reduce our tools a little and have more time to think instead," in the face of the overwhelming amount of modern industrial products. For example, a tea room. In a small space of about three tatami mats, with only a few tools, we imprint nature on our bodies while thinking with our five senses. Isn't it true that a place where we can return to nature (or rather, think about it) is exactly what is needed now?

[Photos (except portraits): GK Design]
Back to Part 1

PROFILE

Director and Advisor, GK Design Corporation

Kozo Yamada

Yamada Kozo

Born in 1954. Graduated from the Faculty of Fine Arts, Aichi Prefectural University of the Arts. Joined GK Industrial Design Institute (now GK Design Group) in 1979. After serving as president and CEO of GK Design Institute Hiroshima, a joint venture between GK and Mazda Motor Corporation, he became president and CEO of GK Design Group Inc. in 2012. He has held his current position since 2016. He is a director of the Japan Industrial Designers Association Inc. and a G Mark judge fellow at the Japan Institute of Design Promotion (JDP). He is a part-time lecturer at the Graduate School of Design, Kyushu University. He is also an auditor at the Tool Society.

GK Group http://www.gk-design.co.jp/

OTHER DISCUSSIONS

R&D DISCUSSION Vol.56

Mind change――
Aiming for a company that will develop into the future [Part 2]

Hidehito Kawahara, President and CEO of ALFA PMC

R&D DISCUSSION Vol.55

Mind change――
Aiming for a company that will develop into the future [Part 2]

Hidehito Kawahara, President and CEO of ALFA PMC

R&D DISCUSSION Vol.54

Mind change――
Aiming to become a company that will develop into the future [Part 1]

Hidehito Kawahara, President and CEO of ALFA PMC

R&D DISCUSSION Vol.53

Next-generation transportation and future urban planning [Part 2]

Professor Akinori Morimoto, Faculty of Science and Engineering, Waseda University; President, City Planning Institute of Japan

R&D DISCUSSION Vol.52

Next-generation transportation and future urban planning [Part 2]

Professor Akinori Morimoto, Faculty of Science and Engineering, Waseda University; President, City Planning Institute of Japan

R&D DISCUSSION Vol.51

Next-generation transportation and future urban planning [Part 1]

Professor Akinori Morimoto, Faculty of Science and Engineering, Waseda University; President, City Planning Institute of Japan

R&D DISCUSSION Vol.50

The world is full of possibilities
--Perceive playfully and take action! [Part 2]

Nobuyuki Ueda Professor Emeritus of Doshisha Women's College of Liberal Arts, Director of Neo Museum

R&D DISCUSSION Vol.49

The world is full of possibilities
--Perceive playfully and take action! [Part 2]

Nobuyuki Ueda Professor Emeritus of Doshisha Women's College of Liberal Arts, Director of Neo Museum

R&D DISCUSSION Vol.48

The world is full of possibilities
--Perceive playfully and take action! [Part 1]

Nobuyuki Ueda Professor Emeritus of Doshisha Women's College of Liberal Arts, Director of Neo Museum

R&D DISCUSSION Vol.47

Light is Life: Humans on the Solar Earth [Part 2]

Hiroyasu Shouji ShojiLighting Designer

R&D DISCUSSION Vol.46

Light is Life: Humans on the Solar Earth [Part 1]

Hiroyasu Shouji ShojiLighting Designer

R&D DISCUSSION Vol45

Building fire-resistant wooden buildings [Part 2]

Noboru Yasui, Architect and Chairman of NPO team Timberize

R&D DISCUSSION Vol.44

Building fire-resistant wooden buildings [Part 1]

Noboru Yasui, Architect and Chairman of NPO team Timberize

R&D DISCUSSION Vol.43

What is a sign? What is sign design?
What? [Part 2]

Toshiaki Yashima Information Designer

R&D DISCUSSION Vol.42

What is a sign? What is sign design?
What? [Part 2]

Toshiaki Yashima Information Designer

R&D DISCUSSION Vol.41

What is a sign? What is sign design?
What? [Part 1]

Toshiaki Yashima Information Designer

R&D DISCUSSION Vol.40

Data-driven urban development that makes people happy [Part 2]

Taro Hitokoto Director of Neural Pocket Co., Ltd.

R&D DISCUSSION Vol.39

Data-driven urban development that makes people happy [Part 1]

Taro Hitokoto Director of Neural Pocket Co., Ltd.

R&D DISCUSSION Vol.38

Japan's Strategy for Achieving Carbon Neutrality by 2050 [Part 2]

Takuzo Saito Director of the Evaluation and Assessment Department, Housing and Construction Center, Better Living Foundation

R&D DISCUSSION Vol.37

Japan's strategy for achieving carbon neutrality by 2050 [Part 1]

Takuzo Saito Director of the Evaluation and Assessment Department, Housing and Construction Center, Better Living Foundation

R&D DISCUSSION Vol.36

The "extra" required for architecture revealed through regional projects [Part 2]

Yasushi Takeuchi Professor, Tohoku Institute of Technology (-2021), President and CEO, Abisei Planning Co., Ltd. (2022-)

R&D DISCUSSION Vol.35

The "extra" required for architecture revealed through regional projects [Part 1]

Yasushi Takeuchi, Professor, Tohoku Institute of Technology (-2021), President and CEO, Abisei Planning Co., Ltd.

R&D DISCUSSION Vol.34

Before-Before Architecture Theory
Design techniques that unravel history [Part 2]

Toru Ajisaka, Professor, Kagoshima University

R&D DISCUSSION Vol.33

Before-Before Architecture Theory
Design techniques that unravel history [Part 1]

Toru Ajisaka, Professor, Kagoshima University

R&D DISCUSSION Vol.32

How to create a "water mass" that attracts adults
Turning aquariums into "media" through a customer-centric approach

Gen Nakamura Aquarium Producer

R&D DISCUSSION Vol.31

How to create a "water mass" that attracts adults
Sunshine Aquarium "Oasis in the Sky" [Part 2]

Gen Nakamura Aquarium Producer

R&D DISCUSSION Vol.30

How to create a "water mass" that attracts adults
Sunshine Aquarium "Oasis in the Sky" [Part 1]

Gen Nakamura Aquarium Producer

R&D DISCUSSION Vol.29

Wellness and Performance Management
How to Live in a New Era Vol.2 [Part 2]

Takayuki Hirai
Deputy Director of the CHO Office at DeNA Co., Ltd.; Representative of Ibuki LLC

R&D DISCUSSION Vol.28

Wellness and Performance Management
How to Live in a New Era vol.2 [Part 1]

Takayuki Hirai
Deputy Director of the CHO Office at DeNA Co., Ltd.; Representative of Ibuki LLC

R&D DISCUSSION Vol.27

A work style that brings about innovation
How to Live in a New Era Vol.1 [Part 2]

Takahiro Sakamoto
Representative of SSIN LLC, Advisor of KOKUYO Co., Ltd.'s Work Style Reform Project

R&D DISCUSSION Vol.26

A work style that brings about innovation
How to Live in a New Era Vol.1 [Part 1]

Takahiro Sakamoto
Representative of SSIN LLC, Advisor of KOKUYO Co., Ltd.'s Work Style Reform Project

R&D DISCUSSION Vol.25

Looking at the future design process through "Renovation" [Part 2]

Masataka Baba Architect

R&D DISCUSSION Vol.24

Looking at the future design process through "Renovation" [Part 2]

Masataka Baba Architect

R&D DISCUSSION Vol.23

Looking at the future design process through "Renovation" [Part 1]

Masataka Baba Architect

R&D DISCUSSION Vol.22

Architecture in Film: Special Effects TV and Comedy Films of the 1960s [Part 2]

Tatsuo Iso IsoArchitectural Journalist

R&D DISCUSSION Vol.21

Architecture in Film: Special Effects TV and Comedy Films of the 1960s [Part 1]

Tatsuo Iso IsoArchitectural Journalist

R&D DISCUSSION Vol.20

Pioneering the future with the power of design
Discovering Young Artists [Part 2]

Toshiki Kiriyama Director

R&D DISCUSSION Vol.19

Pioneering the future with the power of design
Discovering Young Artists [Part 2]

Toshiki Kiriyama Director

R&D DISCUSSION Vol.18

Pioneering the future with the power of design
Discovering Young Artists [Part 1]

Toshiki Kiriyama Director

R&D DISCUSSION Vol.17

The present and future of theater space
Research on Plaza Spaces Vol.3 [Part 2]

Masaji Ito + Kenji Maruyama Theater Workshop Co., Ltd.

R&D DISCUSSION Vol.16

The present and future of theater space
Research on Plaza Spaces Vol.3 [Part 1]

Masaji Ito + Kenji Maruyama Theater Workshop Co., Ltd.

R&D DISCUSSION Vol.15

How to create public spaces with 100% occupancy rate
Research on Plaza Spaces Vol.2 [Part 2]

Yuko Yamashita Yamashita, Network creator, Hiroba-nist

R&D DISCUSSION Vol.14

How to create public spaces with 100% occupancy rate
Research on Plaza Spaces Vol.2 [Part 1]

Yuko Yamashita Yamashita, Network creator, Hiroba-nist

R&D DISCUSSION Vol.13

Designing "social fluctuations"
Research on Plaza Spaces Vol.1 [Part 2]

Shoji Okabe
Evangelist at Snow Peak Business Solutions Co., Ltd., and co-representative of the nonprofit organization "Hama no Toudai"

R&D DISCUSSION Vol.12

Designing "social fluctuations"
Research on Plaza Spaces Vol.1 [Part 1]

Shoji Okabe
Evangelist at Snow Peak Business Solutions Co., Ltd., and co-representative of the nonprofit organization "Hama no Toudai"

R&D DISCUSSION Vol.11

A workplace that fosters innovation
Changing the environment changes the way you work [Part 2]

Tetsuo Kobori Architect

R&D DISCUSSION Vol.10

A workplace that fosters innovation
If the environment changes, the way you work will change [Part 2]

Tetsuo Kobori Architect

R&D DISCUSSION Vol.09

A workplace that fosters innovation
Changing the environment changes the way you work [Part 1]

Tetsuo Kobori Architect

R&D DISCUSSION Vol.08

Environmentally friendly architecture and healthy spaces drive the economy
ESG Investment and Wellness Offices [Part 2]

Shinichi Tanabe Professor, Department of Architecture, School of Creative Science and Engineering, Waseda University

R&D DISCUSSION Vol.07

Environmentally friendly architecture and healthy spaces drive the economy
ESG Investment and Wellness Offices [Part 1]

Shinichi Tanabe Professor, Department of Architecture, School of Creative Science and Engineering, Waseda University

R&D DISCUSSION Vol.06

The centripetal force of a single sketch that depicts a scene from the future [Part 2]

Tetsuo Fukuda Industrial Designer

R&D DISCUSSION Vol.05

The centripetal force of a single sketch that depicts a scene from the future [Part 1]

Tetsuo Fukuda Industrial Designer

R&D DISCUSSION Vol.04

Thinking about future redevelopment from postwar "buildings" [Part 2]

Shunsuke Kurakata historian

R&D DISCUSSION Vol.03

Thinking about future redevelopment from postwar "buildings" [Part 1]

Shunsuke Kurakata historian

R&D DISCUSSION Vol.02

Architecture: Perspectives from Industrial Design [Part 2]

Kozo Yamada, Director and Advisor, GK Design Corporation

R&D DISCUSSION Vol.01

Architecture: Perspectives from Industrial Design [Part 1]

Kozo Yamada, Director and Advisor, GK Design Corporation
R&D TOP

Update : 2018.09.21

Tags

PAGE TOP