Toilet

The development of the toilet and the treatment of excrement in Japan are closely linked to a growing mechanization of the lavatory as a device and its progressive shift vis-à-vis the house from outdoors to indoors. In the Edo and early Meji Periods toilets were located at the edge of or outside the house. Conceived as a squat-latrine system, made out of wood, it was adapted for the easy collection of the excrement, which was then used as fertilizer. Between the World Wars, new systems, new materials, and even new toilets (for instance toilet bowls) were slowly introduced, while the collection of sewage became more and more mechanized, with basket collection being successively replaced by trucks, then mobile vacuum-extraction units, and later still by a Western type of sewage system with pipes. In recent years the predominant European-based device has become hyper-Japanized, highly automated (including washing, drying, background noise, cleaning, disinfecting, etc.), and even described and praised as something kawaii (cute, adorable) in the public narrative.

Super Market

Supermarkets supply us with large amounts of food. Along with that, supermarkets use a lot of plastic. However, the disposal of plastic is considered the responsibility of the consumer. To reduce the consumption of plastic more effectively, we need to change the way we sell the product itself. The food sales floor has changed dramatically with the changing times. The division of labor has increased, and the distance between customers and shoppers has grown further and further apart. Once again, we must find a way to shorten the distance that has separated us and at the same time reduce waste and increase communication.

Ryoku-Do Tower

The qualities of the site is the view on passing trains with close access to the station, also it is between the old little house and the backside of a big shopping mall.
The project explores the concept of an ur- ban capsule hotel, where the rooms are only for sleeping and relaxing, while the main ac- tivites happens outside of the capsule – in the common spaces like terraces as well as in the corridors and of course the lively area of Jiyu- gaoka. The room unit explores the idea of the “capsule thrown to the city”.

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.