Design is fun after all!

When we were undergraduates, Professor Fumihiko Maki and Professor Hidetoshi Ohno taught design and drafting at the Department of Architecture at the University of Tokyo. The first thing Professor Maki taught us in the drafting room about the mindset of an architect remains very dear to us.
For example, don't put graph paper under tracing paper, or keep pillars and walls separate because they have different meanings (laughs).
Even now, when I am planning something, Professor Maki's words come to mind.

At that time, urban studies in Tokyo were popular, and I was greatly influenced by it in terms of my thinking about cities.
It was around the time that SPIRAL in Aoyama (1985) was completed, and I was struck by its fragmentary facade design and the way it drew in people from the street.

After that, we both went on to graduate school, I to the laboratory of Professor Kayama Hisao (Hongo Campus) and Mr. Koizumi to the laboratory of Professor Hara Hiroshi at the Institute of Industrial Science (then Roppongi Campus).
The atmospheres of Hongo and Roppongi are completely different, like authenticity versus avant-garde, or guerrilla.
After graduation, I chose to find employment in an organizational setting, while Mr. Koizumi had already begun his design work at Coelacanth, which he founded with Kojima Kazuhiro and other graduate school members in 1986.

Perhaps it was the influence of Professor Hara that made the Institute of Industrial Science have a unique atmosphere, everyone was very independent-minded, and there were few people who got regular jobs (laughs). In such an atmosphere, I wondered if it was okay to decide on a career path so easily, and there were also seniors who suddenly became independent, such as the design organization Amorph and Workshop. I think there was also an optimistic atmosphere in those days, thinking that things would work out even if we tried something a little unreasonable.

Just before the bubble economy began, many undergraduate graduates found employment in banks or trading companies.
What did you do for your master's degree in design?

Using CG, which was just beginning to become available at the time, the project involved expressing the reflection of a laser shone on parallel walls in a city.
Things like the Aoyama Twin Towers and river retaining walls.
The light patterns change with the slight vibrations of the building and the rippling of the river's surface.
The idea was to amplify and visualize minute phenomena occurring in the city, but I recall that it wasn't really understood.

I had planned a network of multi-level approach paths connecting the Inari shrines scattered around Ginza, and I thought that Professor Maki and Professor Hara were quite pleased with it (laughs).

It is true that there is a tendency for talented students not to go into design.
Even if they do progress, they have little desire for independence.
In the first place, maybe truly intelligent students don't come to the architecture department (laughs).
I believe that Japan has been supported by "manufacturing," but I think it is a problem that fewer people are becoming interested in it.
With incidents of earthquake resistance falsification and rumors of an underworld industry, the field of Architectural Design may not have a good image.

Designing is certainly difficult, but the moment when ideas expand as we discuss things within the team or talk with people from different fields, and the moment when the building is completed and people start using it, are truly moving and I feel great joy.

When I see people's movements expanding beyond my initial expectations in a building I designed, and the atmosphere of the city changing beyond the site, and I witness activity growing, I feel as if my own body has become an extension of itself.
It can even have an impact on people's lives.
In fact, last year a student who graduated from Toda City Ashihara Elementary School (2005), which I designed, joined my laboratory.
At Asuhara Elementary School, there is a school exploration program, which is a comprehensive learning activity in which students observe the school building and think about why it is the way it is.
It is a teaching material that helps students think about barrier-free access and environmental considerations.
From this experience, some children will want to become architects.
Life is more fun if you think that it's interesting precisely because it's difficult.

That's a good story.
The word "activity," which we use frequently today, was already being used at Chiba Municipal Utase Elementary School (Winner of the Architectural Institute of Japan Award/Coelacanth/1995).
I think what is needed now is architecture that creates a variety of spaces for different activities and allows users to assign new meanings to them.
I think what's important is not to create a universal space that can be used flexibly, but to create a space that allows for a variety of experiences.

When you first started working there, you were still in the design department of Mitsubishi Estate, right?

I thought it would be possible to do urban things from a young age and that it would be a very open and refreshing place.
In fact, when I joined the company, I was immediately put in charge of the redevelopment of the area in front of Shinbashi Station. My colleague and I were in charge of facilities at the same time, and we really struggled on site, not knowing what to do.

For an atelier that normally operates under tight conditions and at low costs, it is enviable that they are able to take on dynamic projects like skyscrapers and luxury hotels.
On the other hand, I think it must be quite difficult to unify the design with so many people involved.

Although the atelier and organizational types deal with different genres fundamentally, they do meet at competitions and are rivals after all.
Zou-no-hana Park/Terrace (2009), which faces Yokohama Port, seems to have created a really good flow of people when viewed from the elevated deck, and the Kotobukicho Welfare Hall and Kotobukicho Municipal Housing (currently under construction), which is responsible for the revitalization of Kotobukicho, Yokohama's largest lodging district, is tackling social issues head-on.
Even though the scale may be different, I think that organizational offices can also take a more challenging approach to social and public issues.

The public sector is losing momentum these days, and it seems that the public services provided by the private sector are getting more attention.
I am looking forward to seeing what kind of public good the Tokiwabashi Project will demonstrate.
Another thing I would like to see from the organizational department is for proposals regarding structure and facilities to come to the forefront more.

​The design industry is currently becoming increasingly segmented and specialised.
That is why there is a demand for designers who can look at facilities, structure, and design across the board.
Furthermore, I think it is becoming increasingly important to share the creative process with clients and the local community.
The role of an architect is supposed to be concerned with all aspects surrounding architecture, such as how it is constructed and how it is used.

Like Michelangelo (laughs).
Recently, terms such as the SDGs (Sustainable Development Goals) index and ESG (E: Environment, S: Society, G: Governance) investment have begun to take root, but architects themselves should have an SDGs-like perspective.
What should the world be like, and what can architecture do to achieve that?
It's valuable to be able to think about such things through your work, but more than anything, I think it's a unique profession to be able to move large amounts of money and make it a reality.
After all, design is fun.