2022.04.25
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.
Top image: Banya project in Shizugawa, Minamisanriku Town, Miyagi Prefecture (April-May 2011)
From 1994 to 2009, Mr. Takeuchi was in charge of "Marunouchi OAZO" (design development), "Shin-Marunouchi Building" (design development), "Palace Hotel Tokyo" (competition to concept design) at Mitsubishi Estate / Mitsubishi Jisho Design. After retiring, he will introduce us to the projects he has been working on as part of his educational and research activities at universities in the Tohoku region, and we will consider together the situation in which society has been changing dramatically in recent years in terms of what it expects from architecture.
Q: Please tell us how you began to expand the scope of your research to include the "plus" things surrounding architecture, such as conducting fieldwork that considers not only the architecture itself but also the surrounding conditions and historical and social background of the local area.
A: When I went to Italy during my university days, I saw statues of Mary scattered throughout the towns, and this led me to focus on the small shrines (hokora) such as Jizo statues scattered throughout the city of Kyoto. Small shrines in a town are collectively called sacred shrines, and I researched how they relate to the origins and structure of the town, and compiled my findings in my master's thesis.
Even after I started working at Mitsubishi Estate (at the time), I continued my personal research activities, such as using my holidays to investigate the layout of shrines in the town of Jaipur in India, but I wanted to study the Jizo statues in Kyoto in more depth, so I returned to university. I expanded the scope of my research to include Nepal, where there are many sacred shrines, and when the Sumatra earthquake occurred in 2009, UNESCO requested the Tokyo National Research Institute for Cultural Properties to investigate the damage to historical buildings, and I had the opportunity to join the investigation team. I investigated the damage to towns and historical buildings in Padang, the capital of West Sumatra, and the results were published by UNESCO.
It was after the Great East Japan Earthquake in March 2011 that I started to face the local issues more realistically. At that time, I was enrolled at Miyagi University, and many of the students had lost their families to the disaster, so I wanted to help those who needed help first-hand. I consulted with the affected fishermen and launched the "Banya Project" to build a facility that would serve as a base for the recovery of the fishing industry [page top and photos 1 and 2]. The project was launched because the most urgent need for the recovery of the fishing industry was a "banya" (a place for fishermen to rest and gather). We received various forms of support from university students across the country and volunteers from the workforce, including people from Mitsubishi Jisho Design. In May, we built a small banya in Shizugawa, Minamisanriku Town, using wood provided by the forestry cooperative in Nakatsugawa City, Gifu Prefecture, through our activities as "Kiko Juku," as well as wood and plywood from the coast of Miyagi Prefecture that was affected by the disaster. This caught the attention of other supporters, and we were able to build two more buildings in Hamaichi, Higashimatsushima City, and Karakuwa, Kesennuma City. The latter is still in use as an oyster hut, contributing to the local economy. I was also involved in several councils that were established in each region as part of urban development aimed at recovery. I provided advice to local people about their concerns and hopes, big and small, and helped them by illustrating them when possible. After these activities, I transferred to Tohoku Institute of Technology in 2015.
Since 2015, I have been working on research to restore historical environments whenever a major earthquake occurs in Indonesia or Nepal. In parallel with these projects, I have also been involved in several local projects in Japan. From these experiences, I have come to realize that in order to properly understand architectural needs, it is extremely important to actually go to the site, grasp the situation surrounding the site, and obtain live information from the site.
Q: What are some examples of local projects that you have worked on so far?
A: I would like to introduce three examples from Japan. The first is a plan to utilize an abandoned school in a town in Yamagata Prefecture that I was involved in when I transferred to Tohoku Institute of Technology [Slides 2 and 3]. The town was in an area that attracted national attention for its pioneering nature education immediately after the war, and after a school in the area was closed, the plan was to renovate the old school building and revive it as a nature education learning center.
schematic design was completed by arranging functions on each floor of the building according to the plan, and rearranging the functions while making use of the building's basic structure. However, this was not realized and the plan only remained. At the time of planning, the premise was that this facility would form a nature learning network within and outside the region (region, town, prefecture, outside the prefecture) and disseminate information, but this is a case where the plan ended at the planning stage because concrete measures for linking these elements had not been finalized. The proposal envisioned the regeneration of the building as an opportunity for local residents to get involved in the operation of the facility, and to solve local issues such as the declining birthrate and aging population, effective use of buildings, inheritance of local culture, and improvement of government services.
Q: Are there any cases where you have actually tackled issues, including local issues, as part of "architecture + alpha"?
A: In 2017, we were involved in a regional reorganization plan for a town in Iwate Prefecture [Slides 4-7]. The town is located in a mountainous area that receives heavy snowfall, and the current town was formed through the merger of one village and one town. The plan called for the formation of a sense of unity within the town. A few years before we became involved in the plan, a medical facility had been built in the center of the town to serve as a regional hub, and the plan was based on the idea of concentrating the town's core facilities around it. We were then asked to organize information and conduct research to put it into a concrete plan. I was in charge of analyzing the town's structure.
We plotted the distribution of all public facilities on a map and layered the town's structure while illustrating the natural environment, such as the topography, population distribution and changes, and classification of administrative districts and school districts. We organized the information, including whether each facility was earthquake-resistant or not, so that it could be used for the management plan of public facilities throughout the town. We were able to confirm that public facilities are dispersed along major roads, that administrative functions are located in two locations, and that the management status of the facilities varies. By visualizing the current situation on a map, we were able to show that a public core zone, including a new government building, should be established in the center of the town in order to streamline the operation and management of administrative services and public facilities.
While there was the issue of fostering a sense of unity throughout the town, there were also issues of reducing snow removal costs, which account for a large part of the budget, and looking after the elderly in areas with poor transportation access, and it was necessary to use the opportunity of the regional reorganization to comprehensively solve these regional issues. The plan also included a concept of establishing a seasonal relocation facility in the core zone, so that elderly people living in the snowy interior could relocate for short periods during the winter, making it easier to look after them and reducing snow removal costs. In addition, a proposal was included to develop a community bus route along the main road axis and to place community stations in each area to replace community centers, so that administrative services could be provided to areas far from the center. This is an example of considering solving various regional issues by building an integrated regional network, along with the theme of reorganizing the new town hall (urban facility) into the core zone.
[Photos and slides: provided by Yasushi Takeuchi]
PROFILE
Professor, Tohoku Institute of Technology
Yasushi Takeuchi
Yasushi Takeuchi
Born in Osaka Prefecture in 1967. After completing his master's degree in architecture at the Graduate School of Engineering, Kyoto University in 1994, he joined Mitsubishi Estate (now Mitsubishi Jisho Design). In 2009, he became an associate professor at the Department of Design and Information at Miyagi University, and in 2015, he became an associate professor at the Department of Architecture, Faculty of Engineering, Tohoku Institute of Technology. He has been a professor since 2019. In 2020, he completed his doctoral degree in architecture at the Graduate School of Engineering, Kyoto University. His specialties are Architectural Design, architectural planning, architectural history, and urban history. His main research activities include "Research into the gradual nature of multi-layered urban culture in Southeast Asia as revealed by the arrangement of sacred shrines." He will be the president and representative director of Abisei Sogo Keikaku Co., Ltd. from April 2022.
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