LIFE PERFORMANCE

Living in spacial voids carved through unique movements

Two performers in flux – one spinning, one climbing. Their living environment is defined by a balance of solid and void. An originally solid block, spatially subtracted by the motions of the spinner, acting almost like a mill, constitute an unconventional place for living. Spaces shaped by the motion of spinning, circular in their nature, in one continuous fluent place. The remaining volume being reminiscent of rauks, a column-like stone pylon eroded by the sea. Not only are the structures a true climber’s dream to cling onto, but the confined void into which one pushes and compresses to sustain oneself further caters to the behaviour. 

OTAKU FACTORY

Ikebukuro is now a sacred place for anime otaku with various anime stores and also home to many authentic cosplayers, such as the “Ikebukuro Halloween Cosplay”. Many of these cosplayers also make their own costumes and equipment.

Although there are many places to express cosplay, the creation of these costumes is done at home while re- searching on the Internet. So, I want to make A place to create cosplay and other secondary works.

Firstly, I suggest 10 types of places for secondary cre- ation, For example, Cutting area, sawing area, 3D print- er area and so on. These places are painted in yellow. We can do the whole cosplay creation in this floor, as well figure, illustration and manga creation.

The working space is 300mm higher than the other area. Since most of the work is done sitted, the aim is to keep the line of sight between the person working and the person standing in the other space.

Let’ s image that you want to be Tanjiro. You have to do this in three steps. Clothes, objects like sord, and make- up. When you create on this floor, the process proceeds in the order of these three arrows here on the right.

I went to Ikebukuro to observe the activities of various otaku. Beside the creation area, there are five different types activities which I looked. (1) Cosplay shooting area. A curtain can be used as a background. The aisle is wide enough to take pictures. (2) Large poster area. we can take a picture with your favorite character. The poster can be printed at the printer area next door. (3) Manga area. There are manga on the shelves for you to read with your coffee. (4) Flea market area. The bench is wider and can be used to place items. (5) GachaGa- cha area. it is near the elevator and escalator. so we can access easily.

Hence, the edges of the creation area host additional programs. (a) Manga shelf. Three shelves are provided for storing manga while displaying them. (b) Cosplay shooting edge. There is a curtain for the background of the cosplay shooting. (c) Flea market area’s. The width of the bench is 1000mm so that products can be spread out.

Studio is cross-sectionally connected to the upper floor, which has the re-clothe center. In that manner, we share the studio and held event about cloth and cosplay.

Of course, this floor is mainly used by Otaku, but there are some great facilities here. So, architecture students can use 3D printers, wife can sew, and so on. There are also cafes in easily accessible locations, so some people will feel free to stop by. I strongly hope that the cre- ations and techniques of otaku are not only for otaku, but that they can be passed on to other people as well.

COSPLAY AND REFLEXIVITY

Anthony Giddens proposed the idea of “reflexivity” from the perspective of sociology. It means “a spiral- ing cycle of transferring oneself to others, which then returns to oneself and transforms oneself. The act of cosplaying is to become “someone else” and to en- ter the “otaku society” including the cosplay society. And within that otaku society, they are recursively ex- pressing themselves.

Some people who engage in cosplay do so for the pur- pose of escaping the “real world” that is not otaku so- ciety. This is similar to what is called “identification” in psychology. Identification is the act of trying to escape anxiety and pain by superimposing oneself with things that are important to one. It is also based on a lack of self-confidence and a desire to become a person whose complexes have been resolved.

However, self-expression in otaku society can also have a reflexive effect on the real world. For example, in or- der to become more like a character in cosplay, one may start to pay more attention to skin care and style, or learn to be more social in a cosplay society with many rules. Through the reflexive nature of cosplay society, we can gain a reflexive nature with the real world.

And cosplay is a place where the “place of presen- tation” is socialized, and its creation stage is black boxed. On the other hand, the techniques used to create cosplay are actually very advanced. For ex- ample, the swords used in cosplay are made to be lightweight and the materials used are ingenious so that they do not become tiring to hold during long events. However, there is no place to learn these tech- niques, so cosplayers learn how to make them from the Internet or by giving each other advice on how to make cosplays at events where they are presented.

The purpose of this proposal is to bundle and make public the cosplay creation techniques that have been closed and not made public until now.

What’s important about this proposal is that the work- ing area is open to more than just cosplayers. This will be a place where the behavior of “creation” will be shared, centering on the cosplay creators.

Light Path

This is a project focusing on not only the behavior of different types of species, but also the behavior and construction way of the materials. The target is to create a food chain rather than a habitat, utilizing the wax, which has typical properties in physics and biology. In the daytime, the whole structure looks like a landscape. At night, with the special night-light, each wax egg declares as a glow, at the same time attracting the insects as well as leading the path for some creatures like geckos. From the prefabricated unit to the whole, the rope structure is the principal line. Using various ways to fix the unit to the site, it is more closely combined with nature.

West Side Highway

It is characteristic circulation in Tokyo that the stress between a highway, which is a huge infrastructure appeared from the present age, and the residential area of the small or middle scale around it. Then this project was considered about the way of the huge building which is adapted to a various demands, including housing, of the city.
We divided the building into three zone: high rise medium rise-low rise. Therefore, we make three level for the building, as it will be seen from the back side and the local street side. These height differences shows communication between the maximum height of the palazzo with the neighborhood site.
Thus we make two contrast facade; back side with the heights difference and vast square for the front facade seen from the highway and main street. In facade, we emphasize the back facade by using terrace and made it randomly configurated. For the front side, vast surface of square with regular small windows. Knowing that the palazzo location is near the highway which mostly blocked, we also put special box as a hollow to catch the attention from the passerby.
We decided 3 layers by composition of existing palazzo and relationship to facing highway. Lower part is for pedestrian, middle part is facing to highway, and above is higher part. This building get the facade that reflect context by articulation of volume and opening. We make a connection with shop in lower part and common space in middle by continuous step and terrace from sectional zoning of program. In upper part, change shape of plan conforming with terrace or articulation of elevation.