TATAMI BEACH

ENCLAVE

Architect and educator – Pier Vittorio Aureli describes the political and architectural ideology in landscape and forms of urban economy in his book The Possibility of an Absolute Architecture. Aureli investigates to what extent some architecture could classify as some kind of methodology, visualizing architectures as archipelagos to conceptually categorize the formality of an architecture. The architecture of the archipelago must be an absolute architecture, as it is clearly subdivided in the city, in other words an “enclave” determined by the unbalanced economic exploitation. In contray, an ambiguity in space is explored in Arata Isozaki’s concept of “Ma (間)”, in his curated arts and architectural exhibition of MA: Space-Time in Japan Exhibition in 1979. Isozaki defies the Western logic of isolation of space and time, and fundamentally points out the significant sense of homogeneity in things. That being said, he pictures architecture as an event, or a phenomenon that encompasses historical context and interactions of time in between the spaces.

In 2021, the iconic department store closed in the midst of busy traffic, which was Marui (OIOI) at the west exit of Ikebukuro station. Ikebukuro was originally known for the black market (闇市) where the illegally installed street vendors were the artery of residents after the World War II, yet most of them are demolished and transformed into massive department store buildings today.

Although OIOI once became everyone’s shopping hub in Ikebukuro, unfortunately the demand for department stores had decreased due to the flow of time and changes of people’s need, eventually causing its market to corrupt. However, perhaps the critical issue in demolition of OIOI also comes from a lack of an “utopia” space for visitors to behave freely and flexibly through a human scale perspective. In fact, many of the department stores in Japan restrict human behaviors which possibly might have happened, except walking to shop. In order to regain the sense of Japan- ness in OIOI, the concept of “Ma”, which is strictly tighten up to the tradition of Japanese architecture, should be reinterpreted. The traditional sensibility of Japanese architecture has noticeable differences from Western architecture. Linguistically, Japanese language tends to be more dependent on what is proactive than Western languages, representing a high context of dependence of “Ba (場)”. Based on the concept of “Ma” and its formalistic structure, we intend to unravel what the architecturally ambiguous boundaries represent and what enhances the Japan-ness in the tatami beach. Arata Isozaki once claimed the significance of “Ma” is the meaning of the interval that naturally exists between things which exist in the phenomena continuously.

DESIGN PROPOSAL

The tatami beach does not necessarily refer to the ocean beach as mimicking the form. The homogenic space generated by the endless repetition of Tatami, a swaying and ambiguous light glows the materials, all come into a behavior of creating such a relaxing and pleasant atmosphere to feel the sense of continuous seashore. Repetition sometimes encloses in-between spaces, as Aureli articulates the formality of the thing – in this case the tatami mats, is the homogeneous repetition to generate the uniformity. As Jacques Derrida proposes ”différance as temporization, différance as spacing”, the imaginary boundary created by the relationship between continuity of tatami and the ceiling patterns, are the ambiguity of space which ultimately is equivalent to the concept of “Ma”.

Tatami patterns: The formation of the tatami floors remains its randomness scattered over the eighth floor of the building, despite the various combinations of tatami patterns being precisely calculated to induce certain human behaviors. Yojohan (四畳半), four tatami mats surrounding a small space with a sunken Kotatsu where the tatami is detachable, introduces behaviors of sitting, eating, reading, napping, relaxing, and playing games. As the numbers of tatami mat grow to Hachijo (八畳), and Sanju-nijo (三十二畳), the scale of human behaviors increases as well. Individuals start to scatter to seek for smaller “Ma” for coziness, and groups find bigger “ma” to hold a banquet, class, and such social activities. All behaviors are inherited by people across time and space through Japan-ness of “Ma” as if they had unconsciously remembered how to spend time on the tatami. Isozaki explains this phenomenon as symbolic space, along with Emmanuel Levinas states “the sign represents the present in its absence”.

Entrance shoeboxes: A raised platform is a sacred space with an imaginary boundary to make a distinction to the ground level in Japanese traditional architecture. Although the behavior of taking off pairs of shoes is common to be observed in temples to practice and pray, it is consciously done in the inhabitable spaces in Japan.

The garden: The most ambiguous space where people sit at the edge of tatami to observe the garden, and the actual city scape of Ikebukuro in the background of the arches. It blends the outside real world with the inside “utopia”. However, there is no clear boundary between the inside and outside, and the ambiguity of these scenery creates a conceptual Japan-ness.

INTERNATIONAL FESTIVAL

Ikebukuro is a district known for its diversity with a high number of foreign residents. There are more than 200 hundred Chinese shops around turning Ikebukuro into a new Chinatown spot in Tokyo. Recently, even Chinese New Year events have already occurred in the last few years.

Despite that, the “actual migrant life” faces many strug- gles. According to Rhaman (2018), more than a dozen years after the wave of immigrants that occurred after World War II and in the 1990s, there are still many immigration problems in Japan, such as social dispar- ity and stratification. Many immigrants work and live in industries where labor shortages such as long-term care facilities are problematic, as migrants and plenty of these immigrants send funds to their families living in their own countries to support them. In addition, in many cases, students live in parallel to study Japanese, which is essential for working and living in Japan. Con- sequently, the financial, time, physical, and mental bur- dens are even higher.

Moreover, discrimination and social hindrance due to lack of understanding of the culture and religion of one’s own country can be mentioned. Many immi- grants in Japan belong to Islam, and this may not be accepted by the local people and might feel isolated. In addition, many foods and clothes are rooted in their

own culture, and these incomprehension and smok- ing habits can also be mentioned. There are many oth- er life cycle problems in living in Japan, and there are difficulties due to immigrants at various stages of life, such as childbirth, child-rearing, education costs, and nursing care for the elderly. Due to the various diffi- culties experienced by these immigrants, some feel alienated from living in Japan, and a symbiotic society with improved exclusivity in Japan cannot be realized.

Observing the space formed by immigrants around Ikebukuro Station, we can see that there are mul- tiple areas where restaurants developed by immi- grants from China, South Korea, India, etc. are con- centrated and that many immigrants live in this area. A space that makes you feel strong is formed. On the other hand, there are few opportunities for Japanese people to interact equally as residents living in the same place, not as guests to those stores, as the mul- ticultural exchange festival is held only once a year.

Festivals are the act of shifting the world in which we live from everyday to extraordinary to another level. Russian philosopher Mikhail Bakhtin said that the fes- tival removes the class that socially divides human be- ings in daily life and creates a space where all the people who participate in the festival interact in a classless and equal relationship.

In Japan, immigrants are considered to be one of the classes divided in daily life by various scales such as rich and poor, occupation and homeless. The difference in values is so great that it is thought that this difference cannot be easily filled by just having a conversation in the same space. Given that there is a limit to the inter- action in daily life, providing a classless space that has transitioned from the daily life of festivals, as Bakhtin mentions, is a way immigrants to live in Japan.

Festivals might free from the constant feeling of alien- ation, and deepen awareness of living in the same land by increasing exchanges on an equal footing while having each culture in the place of Japanese and Ikebukuro. The festival calendar in the following pages was made based on a research of festivals held all over the world. Ten countries from Europe, North America, South America and Asia were picked considering the number of foreign residents who live by the region of Tokyo based on the chart bellow. The criteria for selection of festival was not limited by local religion and thought, but accord- ing to events in common all over the worlds, like the lu- nar calendar, solstice, equinox and seasons tradition.

PROBLEMS OF DOSTOEVSKY’S POETICS (1984) MICHAIL BAKHTIN

Immigrants living in Japan have experienced many problems like economic aspects and communications. They feel alienated in life because of the many difficul- ties. If this goes on, a symbiotic society that improves exclusivity can’t be achieved. Mikhail Bakhtin said in the book “Problems of Dostoevsky’s Poetics” that Fes- tival can remove the social class that divides people in daily life. After that, a unique space that all the partic- ipants interact with non-class was formed. Providing this space can decolonize the alienation of immigrants and help to make a symbiotic society.

Staircase

From the Meiji Period to today the techniques of firefighting have shifted from the protection of a district, with large main streets or fire-resistant storehouses providing firebreaks, to en-masse fire-protected buildings, ensuring people’s ability to escape a conflagration. In the post-war period, with the densification of Tokyo, the vertical concrete staircases in multistory buildings—which themselves served as firebreaks along the main streets—became the major escape route, complemented by various types of devices that can be used from balconies or windows. In contemporary high-rises the common circulation system has become host to an entire emergency system, with smoke and gas detectors, alarms connected to ground-floor emergency centers, sprinklers, fireproof staircases, special emergency fire-fighter elevators, and even rooftop helicopter landing-pads.

Ward Office Palazzo

The assignment is to design a “palazzo” in Aoyama. The site is located on the boundary of a “block”, which is a typical component of urban area in Tokyo. It is a transition area between low-dense social housing area and a main commercial street with high-rises standing along.
The concept of the project is to create two kinds of distinctive spaces in one building with open spaces in lower floors and private spaces in upper floors. It is designed to deal with the complex functions, which is supposed to be the key characteristic for a Tokyo palazzo. In consideration of the urban fabric, the volume continues the interface of the street in the same height with the next building. In the lower part, ward office is set to be the primary function, which can be a core to combine public functions for the community. There is a wide open shared space in the ground floor to link the two sides of the site and different functions are organized in the form of blocks to make the remaining part floating spaces. In the upper part, office and apartments act as introverted spaces showing another face of this building. Also, the apartments take the form of a patio in the middle to echo the two typical cases of palazzo nearby.

Vanna Venturi House

Our house is difficult to explain in terms of a single clear idea, just like the Vanna Venturi House in Chestnut Hill, PA. Since the original site is wooded, while our project is situated in a dense urban area, we tried to adapt the plan to this new situation, In order to follow the pattern of the traditional Japanese machiya, we established the short side of the building as its main facade. But the entrance still maintains the character of Venturi’s mother’s house, in terms of its circulation, with the staircase and most of the doors close to the entrance.