Unpacking the Ishinomaki machine

UNPACKING THE ISHINOMAKI MACHINE - THE PERCEPTION OF MACHINE AND INDUSTRY IN MODERN SOCIETY -

Master project for Cecilie Vibe Nielsen Tutor: Niels Grønbæk Political Architecture: Critical Sustainability Spring 2016

UNPACKING THE ISHINOMAKI MACHINE - THE PERCEPTION OF MACHINE AND INDUSTRY IN MODERN SOCIETY -

2

Contents

The Topic 6 intro 7 concept 8 inspiration

10

Background

26

perception of industry and factories

27

man and machine

28

production

36

The site

38

intro

39

analysis

42

the role of architecture

58

method

61

References

62

Timeline

64

CV

3

66

BILLEDE AF IN

4

NDUSTRI

5

The Topic

Introduction

6

The Topic

Introduction

Over time cities have been focusing more on people and their needs.

Urban planning has consciously tried to develop green cities, more sustainable environments and public spaces where people interact with the surroundings and each other. Urban space and buildings, especially in central urban areas, are focusing on including the people through conversions of ex-industrial areas, re-use of waterfront, facades, space from the street etc. Cities are not only thinking of expanding outwards, but inwards too. However the industrial part of the city that often defines the image of the city is generally placed on the outskirts and excludes people, the idea of public use, and the whole idea of modern urban planning. This is a development which has taken place since the industrial revolution with factories as dark phenomena, which are hidden or located far from the inner city.

A factory conveys the impression of duality. By the duality aspect is meant production and product. People’s general view of manufacture and product demonstrates a completely separated perception of the two. The product – the outcome is part of the image of the city. People know that their city has the production of a product and know what it is capable of. The production and the knowledge of the production have developed from being in touch with the people to becoming more and more distant from people. Most people are ignorant of the origin of the products.

If the city is for the people, all parts of the city should be included.

Unpacking the Ishinomaki machine is based on the interest of ope-

ning up a huge paper factory in Ishinomaki, Japan. It is placed in an industrial area on the outskirts of the city. It is seen as a mysterious box which is isolated and closed for public use, though its appearance and productions have a big impact on Ishinomaki.

7

The Topic

Concept

Unpack: un pack

- to take something out

- open, remove the contents from (e.g. a box)

- to make (something) easier to understand by breaking

it up into smaller parts that can be examined separately synonyms: unfold, reveal, uncover, expose, disclose

Vision/purpose: 1. Immaterial expression To what extent could it be a potential to unpack the factory by changing the perception of the industry in a local context? How can architecture break the pattern of our perception of indu- stries?

The overall idea is opening up the factory to public knowledge and interactions. To “unpack” the factory. Expose the inner factory; rethink the industry in an urban, architectural and social context.

2. Material expression How can the factory become more attractive? How can the factory be unfolded? The intention is reorganizing production patterns by looking into the birth of the production contra today’s modern technological production.

The idea is to create an open structure which includes the people and improves the understanding of the product.

3. Experiment The approach is an experiment, a speculative theory, and a utopic perception of our future. It is an experiment that attempts to bring the people closer to the isolated part of the city and strengthens the knowledge of human made artifacts. Creating new potential for industry in rethinking the factory.

8

The Topic

Concept

Rethinking the perception of industry

Rethinking production and people’s interaction

9

The Topic

Inspiration

10

The Topic

Inspiration

The Ishinomaki machine The paper machine in Ishinomaki is buzzing and puffing twenty-four hours a day. It digests water and wood from the local area belching smoke in return, concealing its actions by a frame of its mixed volumes.

Nippon paper factory being the biggest paper mill in Japan produ -cing all kinds of paper takes up one square km with its buildings and is dominant due to its conspicuous appearance and pollution. The factory proved highly fascinating to me – from a far distance its high smokestacks influenced the sky, up close, the different shapes of the buildings presented a sharp contrast to the rest of the city. During the fieldtrip it became this enigmatic living box no one could enter buzzing with activity and production, but it was hard to get a glance of what really happened inside.

11

12

13

The Topic

Inspiration

Dualism Urban planning in most cities is isolating industrial areas from the remaining part of the cities, due to economic and logistic requirements. The industrial revolution brought the factories to the city and caused the cities to grow. Back then, the factories were placed in the periphery of the city and still today most industries are placed next to the water or on the outskirts of the city. The industrial areas become isolated from the city and the people. The factories become these enclosed and mysterious machines, where the citizens know the outcome and what the “machines� are capable of, but they do not know the process and the work behind the product1. The inside of the machine is not only practical or functional; in some machines (mostly the old ones) by opening them up they might reflect a clearer visual understanding of the invisible creation of the product. By opening the machine is meant an overall opening due to the fact that most products go through more than one machine before becoming the final products. The machine is not made for explaining the production but by observing the material being put together, pressed, washed etc. it may convey an overall understanding of how it is created. If the machine would be open and visually accessible would the perception of the product change?

This duality does not only exist in urban planning, but it appears in our language as well. Commercials and propaganda are examples of deception in order to hide what the products really are. After transforming materials and creating products, the creations are given names that do not explain the process or what they are made of. The language we use and companies’ communicative approach hide (in some cases) the perception and knowledge of the production process. Why do we accept this separation? Instead of adorning the process of the product, we isolate and hide the machines and transform them to secret and closed objects concealing the real product by creating new words.

What would happen to our language and understanding of product and production, if production and factories opened up to public perception, not only by informative direction, but also from an architectural perspective?

14

The Topic

Inspiration

Concealing the production:

The product

The worker (professional by education)

Espionage

The amateur (by interest)

Promotion

The spectator (people)

Urban planning The concealment of the manufacture of the product has different layers. They can be divided into the categories: espionage (caused by competition), promotion (may be ethical reasons) and urban planning (may be caused by pollution, noise or logistics). People have different access to the production, the spectator (people) has the least access to and knowlegde of the production.

From an observer’s perspective: Immaterial Expression

Material Expression

industry = image of the city

industry = enveloped production

Physical Presence

isolated, excludes people and public space

closed machine

Mental Presence

influences the economy of the city by employment

mysterious machine distant and invisible

15

The Topic

Inspiration

Libeskind’s memory machine illustrates the interior of a theater machine containing different mechanical parts interacting with each other 2. The memory is perceived as text and the machine becomes the object writing it. The appearance of the machine resembles the backstage of a theater, which might convey the impression of duality.

The machine is trying to “produce� an act or a story. The story is not visible; it appears on the other side, a new area, which is in a way completely separated from the work. Theater buildings and production in factories share certain similarities in the way that they are separating the outcome from what is behind. Generally the scenography on a stage is trying to seduce the audience to believe in the act and story presented on the stage (the exterior) disregarding the backstage work. The scenography is hiding the changes, the practice, the preparations and the accomplishments behind the performance.

16

The Topic

Inspiration

17

The Topic

Inspiration

SĂŁo Paulo, Brazil

Munich, Germany

Malmo, Sweden

Sendai, Japan

18

The Topic

Inspiration

Industries City boundary Inner city

Vienna, Austria

Karachi, Pakistan

Kyoto, Japan

Milan, Italy

19

The Topic

Inspiration

part of the process

human interaction

housing within industry

the exhibited - the hidden

20

The Topic

Inspiration

way of living

mechanical human

man machine communication

feeling the product

21

22

23

The Topic

Inspiration

24

The Topic

Inspiration

Japanese paper tradition and production In the course of time paper has been an essential part of Japanese culture. It is treated with respect and honor. The paper culture, especially in Japan, represents the mirror of the soul – in its flexibility, solidity and whiteness. Its materiality makes it weak, but its content strong. It absorbs and reflects human existence: history, information, facts, art and ideas in drawings, form or text.

Paper has been and is still a symbol of sacrifice and respect for the gods and for man himself. Folded or cut out, it extends the scope of speech and gesture. The original Japanese religion, Shinto, had a strong link to paper and paper-related art. Therefore in working with the material the craftsman had to be sincere, honest and pure in his work, since the slightest taint of darkness in his spirit would transfer itself irrevocably to his paper3.

Something written or drawn on a piece of paper is still respected and regarded seriously in contrast to a digitalized version. The process of uttering something and writing it down on an object, to be held and felt, gives a strong attachment and understanding of what is conveyed.

Paper is a finished product, but at the same time it is still in the process of becoming. Human beings interact in a new production process when transforming and changing the direction of the finished product.

Today’s mass production methods differ extensively from the handmade Japanese paper, washi. The handmade method contains the three principles of Japanese aesthetics: purity, harmony, and respect – the producer is much more in touch with the material. Today’s production is more about efficiency and economy – through the concern for efficiency the producer distances himself from the process.

25

Background

Perception of industry and factories

26

Background

Perception of industry and factories

The perception of industry and factories Drawings and pictures of the industrial revolution seem to illustrate a dark past, where industry took over the city and transformed it into a bleak existence. The conditions at the time differed from the present conditions extensively, and the illustrations were attempting to depict the conditions of the workers, too, these being gloomy and dark.

However, since the time of these black images the idea of factories as polluting and otherwise dangerous entities has prevailed in our perception of industry. These black images are still stuck in our memory and color our view of today's industry.

It is, of course, a fact that factories often pollute with detrimental impact on the environment and human beings. But since the 18th century technology, human beings and production have changed.

This image of industry still prevails even though there are other understandings of industry as well. Today, urban planning consciously focuses on developing green cities and a more sustainable environment. Industries are placed on the outskirts of the city, the infrastructure is reorganized and green areas placed everywhere possible.

Facing the greatest challenge of the century: the hyperobject4 of global warming, politicians are discussing future production and lowering of emissions.

The vision of changing the machinery of our society is promising even though results occur slowly. Envisioning a changed production system may result in a changed organization - even of human beings’ lives and actions.

27

Background

Man and machine

28

Background

Man and machine

Man and machine In the course of time, man has strived to enhance human capacity through machines. Not only for efficiency’s sake, but also due to a fascination and understanding of life. The reconstruction is not a reconstruction as in a painting, a movie or a play, where the story is reconstructed from one point of view in a locked framework.

The painting only represents a glimpse of the story and it is up to the observer to construct the time before, after or even at the time of the picture. The play and the movie are extended versions of the painting and have in a sense a stricter framework. There is an obvious distance from reality when it is an object to be observed. The reconstruction of reality through machines differs from the observed objects due to its function, its interaction with the human being and its present mobility.

Throughout time, the construction of the machines has been inspired by the motion of the human beings and natural phenomena – their functions and qualities have been reconstructed into a metallic version. How has technology changed us? Machines produce more than the artifact. They change people without our knowing that they do - they have their own nature. Suddenly, humans are more efficient, faster and stronger - the machines become extensions of the human body or a replacement. More and more human beings are replaced by technology, the jobs are not that physical anymore and we are suddenly in a position where we control and organize the movement by only using our hands and our eyes and not our entire body. The machine often becomes the connecting link between man and what he wants to achieve in various ways. The machine is an extension of nature.

29

Background

Man and machine

The machine is not only a physical object, but also a strategy or a way of organizing human life. Therefore, I am referring to three scales: the human scale, the spacious scale and the urban scale.

1.The human scale: is what we can observe, hold or use. At this scale the machine simplifies our movements.

2: The spacious scale is what we can observe, enter or interact with.

It may be a machine, within which the human being acts or operates the machine that surrounds him.

3: The urban scale is broader and relates to urban planning and our perception of industry in general. The machine may be the society and can be understood by the population or the culture.

The human scale In the human scale machines are artifacts created as servants for or copies of human beings’ movements with tools in daily interactions5.

We feel that we cannot live without them, but at the same time we do not approve of them as natural phenomena. They exist because we created them.

The first distancing from approving the machines to be natural is created in their materiality and artificial appearance – their stiffness and repeated perfection differ from a natural object. The second distancing relates to them being closed objects – the majority of people do not know what is actually happening inside the machine. It has its own life though we still control it by turning it on and off. We know what it will do, but we do not know how. The third distancing relates to the “fear” of the machine due to lack of knowledge. The users cannot control or predict how long it will live or function. The machine has its own life in some cases - when the machine does something unexpected or a strange movement. Of course, the creators have a more profound understanding of the product, but only of the main parts they are producing. The combined machine has many layers that are hard to understand and capture. The “fear” arises from the unknown and uncontrollable. Thus creating a dual perception of the machine.

Horror movies show the catastrophic effects of uncurtailed modern technology going wrong with machines taking over the world, destroying humanity. In contrast to natural and colorful human life, machines become dark/gray objects transforming all happiness to an evil world.

30

Background

Man and machine

Our own creations scare us and distance us from reality. We accept machines as artifacts and not as natural objects. H.C. Andersen wrote about the contrast between the natural and the artificial in his fairy tale “The Nightingale�, where the artificial bird/machine cannot match or live up to the real nightingale6. The machine is not real even though it exists and functions like the natural bird. The fake version of the nightingale cannot cure the Chinese emperor - to live he must be in touch with nature and the natural.

Among others, as illustrated in Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, the scientist creates artificial life, however it becomes a monster, which may destroy mankind7. Shelley expressed gothic fear of the loss of personal freedom if man became a slave to machines instead of maintaining human control.

31

32

33

Background

Man and machine

The Frankfurter kitchen8 was trying to optimize a space for cooking in the house. The work pattern in the kitchen was analyzed inspiring the organization and design of the kitchen. The housewife would have a more efficient working space where she could serve her family. The kitchen was the cockpit of the house and it was important that it was running smoothly.

34

Background

Man and machine

The spacious scale In the spacious scale of the machine, the human beings interact with the machine and become a unity in the process. The machine in this scale is not observed in the same manner as in the human scale, since the interior of the machine is accessible. The operating system becomes an extension of the human movements. Human beings enter the interior of the machine and cooperate with the machine and its actions.

In functionalism of the 20’s and 30’s the perception of the “machinized” society became a bit brighter due to change of focus.

Conceiving a building as a machine the focus changed from factories being dark polluted phenomena to house units as small machines that would save the family a lot of time and make their life more efficient and easy. Buildings were now to be designed according to the purpose of the building. During functionalism the machine was opened up enhancing people’s knowledge of the machine - completely opposite to the closed industrial period. The idea of machinizing an ordinary building (a machine for living)9 that everyone could use was not as dark as the idea of an industrial building (factory).

People could understand how the machine for living would function and lighten their lives.

We can define the spacious scale of the machine as a mechanical device. Mechanization provides human operators with machinery to assist them in their muscular requirements of work. Human beings merge with the machine and they become a unit. Today it appears as cars, cranes, planes, computers etc.

The urban scale The machine in the urban scale demonstrates an overall system characterized in two ways: urban planning where buildings and factories operate as machines in a certain context and as a cultural understanding of a society.

Leonardo Da Vinci’s way of illustrating the human body in geometrical figures10 may be interpreted as an equation to be solved by mathematical entities. This equation is related to the spacious scale. Would an equation for the urban scale or the Japanese culture in general be applicable? The scientific Management and Fordism11 developed the structuring of production in a more mathematical way. Through analysis of the daily rhythm efficient strategies like assembly line production was made. Can architecture make an equation that relates to an urban context or to society?

35

Background

Production

birth of production

traditional paper production

today’s production of paper

36

Background

Production

? future production

Production over time How has technology changed us? Generally most work takes place in an office today, where the only physical activity (besides using our hands and heads) is walking to a meeting or lunch. Looking into paper production the extent of physical work has been reduced too.

Back in time the producer used his whole body when collecting, cooking, beating, merging, pressing, drying the material that would become the product, paper, in the end. Today’s mass production contains huge machines that replace human activity in a more efficient and low-cost way. The job for the human is to keep the whole production running mostly by observing and coordination.

37

The site

Intro

38

The site

Intro

Intro The choice of site is based on a fieldtrip to Ishinomaki, Japan October 2015.

The city reflects a silent but pulsating atmosphere. The silence was created by the tsunami in 2011, which left marks close to the sea and in the inner city. The pulse and movement are due to the industries, which have always played an important role in Ishinomaki. The fishing industry has been the most predominant over time. Today other industries have come to the city and are located close to the coastline next to the fishing industries.

One of the biggest factories today in Ishinomaki is the paper factory with an area of one square kilometer and it takes up more space than the inner city. The owner of the company, Nippon Paper Industry has placed Japan’s biggest paper factory in Ishinomaki due to logistics, the need for cold weather, pure water in the paper production and because the government invited the factory to the city 70 years ago13.

This gigantic machine does not only take up a lot of space on the map, but its appearance is discernible in a five to ten km radius. In the housing area the factory dominates the view and further away the smoke and towers are still present.

39

40

41

The site

Analysis

42

The site

Analysis

Since the foundation of Nippon Paper Industry small industries have prospered; especially those cooperating with the factory. In the periphery small private steel factories are located and the number of industries graduate into the housing area, which becomes denser further north of the coastline.

The “industrial” road separates the paper factory from the houses and industries. The housing area is located between the industrial road and a commercial road further north. This road contrasts with the industrial road due to its dynamics, color and scale. In axis with the paper factory, housing area and small businesses, a six-floor building “Sega World” with game activities on the ground, first and second floor is located on the commercial road. Its scale and form manifest a weight on the axis of the site and create a kind of gravity in both “ends”. The colors of the site graduate from the commercial road with its strident colors to the housing area with its gentle and neutral shades to the grey, dirty, mysterious and enclosed industrial area. In a way, the industrial road forms a dividing line between the natural and the artificial. Arriving from the housing area and the commercial road into the industrial area, where the mysterious paper machine is placed, the public and private atmosphere change. The appearance of the machine draws attention and creates curiosity, but it is almost impossible to get a glimpse of the inside of the machine.

The machine is completely closed. The path from the commercial road ends with a gigantic rock, which can only be observed from the outside.

43

The site

Analysis

Standing on top of the Hiyorugaoka hill the moving and growing city is conspicuous. Viewing the north and the south of the city two different views are observable. The northern part exhibits the history of the city and represents the people’s homes. The southern part reveals the moving and changing city. The city is changing due to the tsunami and it is particularly evident in the south due to the location of the coastline. The tsunami 2011 resulted in vacant spaces close to the ocean and a lot of planning and reconstruction followed. But not only the tsunami’s footprints make the city move and change, also the majority of the industries in Ishionomaki which are located close to the coastline. The production and the movement based on demand and supply projects a feeling of a growing and vibrant city. They form 44

The site

Analysis Inner city

Residential area & semi-industrial area

Former residential area (before tsunami) Today: field and construction site

The site: Nippon Paper Industry and residential area

Industrial area

a belt from most of the coastline into the city.

Lots of industries have recovered since the tsunami, but an increase in vacant spaces behind the industries is easily observed due to a former residential area with houses swept away. It is the municipality’s intention to maintain this vacant green separation between housing and the industrial area. In the future, when planning a highway, attempts will be made to construct it on top of a lane on the green vacant site, which will protect the housing area from the next tsunami contributing to a stronger isolation of the industrial area from the city.

45

The site

Analysis

1 8 2

7

12

9

6 11 13

3 10

4 5

the raw production

Industrial road

enveloped production Commercial road

Sega World

46

The site

Analysis

1.

Material from the forest where from the wood is trans

ported to the factory 2.

Debarking and chipping - the bark is stripped from

the logs (it cannot be used in the paper production) the

rest is ground into small woodchips 3.

Chemical pulping - the woodchips are cooked 4.

Mechanical pulping – woodchips are ground to separate

the fibers (newspaper & magazine paper) 5.

Pulping for recycling paper 6.

Cleaning – the fibers are washed, screened and dried 7.

Headbox – squirts a mixture of water and fibers through

a thin horizontal slit across the machine’s width 8.

Wire section – the water is removed. The fibers start to

spread and consolidate into a thin mat. (sheet formation) 9.

Press section – squeezes the web of wet paper and lower

water content 50 % 10.

Drying – a series of cast-iron cylinders, heated to a

temperature of 100 o, where the web of sheets pass

through and drying takes place 11.

Calendering – heat gives the paper its smooth and glossy appearancet 12.

Coating – coloring the material 13.

Cutting and packing 47

The site

Analysis

Small companies cooperate with the paper mill

North of the paper factory the black volumes represent the cooperating companies

48

The site

Analysis

Different volumes from Nippon Paper mill

49

50

51

od

The site

Analysis

pulpwood receipts million BDT

hard wood import rate

% 75

20

74 73

1000 metric tons 17466 16429

70 69

5 million BDT

soft wood

20

%

hard wood import rate 75 0 2000 2005 2009 2010 74 2012 2013 2014

% trends 15 hard wood import rate 75 10

5

0

74 73

20000 17466 16429

70 69

62

5000

68 19037 18901 67 66

1200 1000 5000 800 90

62

12193

95

paper paperboard 95

00

05

10

12

13

14

600 400 200

export

0

90

95

00

05

1000 metric tons 1600 1400 1200

ns

1000 800 600 400 200 0

95

00

05

10

12

13

90

95

box board

coated

containerboard

woodfree

other 00paper 05board 10

newsprint 12 13 14

packaging

other paper

14

52

10

12

13

95

12791

00

12051 10977

05

10

16387 1506715181 15118 12791

16387 10000 1506715181 15118

65 64 15000 68 1000 metric tons 1279163 12193 67 12051 62 11657 1600 5000 11360 1097710890 11059 2000 2005 2009 2010 2012 2013 2014 66 90 1400 10000 65 64 63

90

15000 11657

12193

19037 18901

17466 16429

70 69

1000 metric tons

72 71

65 64 63

10000

20000

72 71

of paperboard production

11657

1000 metric tons

73

163

15000

68 67 66

10

19037 18901

20000

72 71

15

009 2010 2012 2013 2014

90

soft wood

00

12051 1097710890 11059 11360

05

box board 10 12

paper paperboard coated 13 14

containerboard

woodfree

other paper board

newsprint

packaging

other paper

14

box board

coated

containerboard

woodfree

other paper board

newsprint

packaging

other paper

The site

Analysis 12

books

diapers paper tissue

photographs magazines

9

carrier bag billboards office files

kitchen roll

toilet paper

money

coffee filter paper towel

newspaper envelopes pack of agenda cereals business bus/train cards tickets restaurant bill

3

reports

6 the use of paper throughout the day

The environmental impact of paper is significant. Pulp and paper is the third largest industrial polluter to air, water and land. The industry is the fifth largest consumer of energy of all the world’s energy consumers. It takes more water to produce a ton of product than any other industry.

Environmental organizations have pushed the industry towards more sustainability – technology has changed over time integrating sustainability in the process12.

Japan is the third largest paper and paperboard producer after China and the United States. Japan has numerous paper mills, nineteen of them are owned by Nippon Paper Industry.

However the production has decreased in the past years due to digitalization. The technology seems to replace the need for paper in books, newspapers, magazines etc.

53

The site

Analysis

50 km train line

Nippon Paper Industry Ishinomaki

Nihonseishiishimaki factory area: workers: pulp production:

1,110,907 m2 528 pulp 1.820 ton/day waste pulp 600 ton/day

produces 40 % of bookpaper in Japan Produces: newsprint, wrapping paper, paperboard, health care, printing and writing board, functional and special paper, paper packs, converting paper, business communication paper, linerboard and corrugated medium, household paper, products and professional products13.

54

The site

Analysis

view from train going inside the paper machine

Production has decreased over the past years due to digitalization.

Paper production in general will continue decreasing - the demand for books, newspapers is changing. If the production is to continue growing, the paper industry needs a new product with a heavy demand.

Facing the future – is the production going to stay in Japan? Payments in factories are lower in countries like India, Bangladesh or China, which means that higher profits are obtainable in these countries resulting in probable outsourcing.

Following the example in Denmark the factories may be phased out in the future14. “De Forenede Papirfabrikker” in Denmark was an amalgamation of the 15 paper factories that existed until 1975 when the paper machines were shipped to India. The buildings were demolished or reused for commercial purposes, offices or housing.

Is Japan facing a future amalgamation of its paper factories and later on outsourcing to India? If so should Nippon Paper Industry come up with a plan to phase out the factory?

55

56

57

The site

The role of architecture

Wearing the mechanical spectacles when looking at the three scales of the machine the perception of the industry seems scary and dark distancing people from the factories and making us accept the factories’ isolation and our ignorance of production in general. It is tempting to challenge the perception by changing architecture and the organization or rebuilding of industry, so that the interior of the industries is accessible for people in Ishinomaki.

58

The site

The role of architecture Interest My general interest considers the city as the living mechanical organism. Its pulse is driven by people, their interactions with it, and each other. They make it grow inwards and outwards - the city’s breath can be observed and sensed by looking at it as a unit. Zooming in, the unit contains different parts connected with the image of the city, but they seem to “work” independently with their own rhythm and pattern.

The more specific interest focuses on one of these parts of the city, the industrial area - the part that often represents the image of a city.

The industrial area in Ishinomaki is conspicuous in its size and isolation from the inner city. Its noise and appearance even from a far distance is attention-grabbing due to its contrast to the otherwise “cute” city with its silence which the tsunami created. The paper factory, the biggest paper mill in Japan, takes up one square km with its buildings, but dominates even more due to its appearance and pollution.

The fascination of the factory having such an impact on the city, and at the same time being this closed, mysterious and enigmatic box no one can enter developed my interest in people’s general perception of the industry. The factory has, of course, its financial reasons for its monoculture, but is there any reason why people accept the isolation of the factory and the ignorance of production?

Alternative factory (material expression) The intention of the project is to create and transform the paper factory in Ishinomaki. It could be a new typology, which grows from the existing pattern of the infrastructure and the paper factory’s production. The intention is to infiltrate the city in the factory by working with the three scales: the human, the spacious and the urban scale. The vision is to create a construction, which contains part of the existing factory and parts that are transformed by “unpacking” / opening it.

The construction will be a link between Ishinomaki and Nippon Paper Industry; it will contain the production of paper, public spaces (not defined yet) and infrastructural connections.

The paper factory seems to expand towards the other parts of the city, not intentionally or by itself, but through small cooperative companies located in the residential area. These middlemen are 59

The site

The role of architecture

Bringing the Japanese playfulness and architecture together.

the closest people come to the factory indirectly. These expanding elements of the factories could be a starting point for the unpacking of the factory or location wise they could offer the opportunity to bring in the residential area in the process.

The traditional way to manufacture an object and the production methods in the 1800s are for me fascinating due to people’s physical involvement in the production process. The idea is to apply a previous production method with people more integrated in the production process and transform it to modern Japanese society.

The method of unpacking the machine is to be approached in four ways: 1.

2.

3.

looking into the material, paper and its folding tech- niques and using it as a one of the design approaches for the architecture conscious of the factory being a living mechanical phe- nomenon driven by the people and production the relationship between machine and bodies will be explored when working with the three scales: human, spacious, urban scale - how the body can and will inter- act with the machine

60

The site

The role of architecture

4. various production methods will be investigated con

scious of the three scales: product, production and urbanity.

Production (immaterial expression) The idea is to focus on the hidden, invisible part of the creation of the product. It is through inspiration from the construction of theaters, where the front and the back of the stage is obvious. Instead of accepting this separation, the audience will be part of the play and become the actors themselves. It is not certain they will capture the whole play, but being part of it - they will feel it, get closer and open their vision to backstage. The play is the product and backstage is the production. Instead of people acting as the audience observing what the factories display, it is the intention that the architecture will invite people to interact or get closer to today’s creations, and may changing the perception of the general idea of industry.

Method Investigations in models, collages, sections, movies.

The method is like a theater, where the phases are the acts (the process) that will become the entire show (the architecture). The beginning is where the ideas are tested on the stage; they will be unfolded and questioned. The next phase will investigate the different scenes more profoundly and develop the ideas further, but still be open for new inputs and adjustments. The last phase will question the entire play. The scenes will be assembled and ready to be staged.

As an architect the observation of the play is from the audience’s angle. The architect is aware of the audience and should therefore see the play (the architecture) from their view. The role of the architect is backstage, where the whole play should be combined including all the different aspects.

The idea is to wear the mechanical spectacles where the three scales, human, spacious and urban, will be the zoom function in the development of the project.

The point of departure is the perception of industries and production vs. product – zooming into the Japanese culture – and further into the specific paper factory in Ishinomaki.

The project will be carried out with models, drawings (site plan, plans, sections, perspectives), collages / visualizations.

61

Comments and references

1 Matt Ridley has the same point with closed objects. No one really knows how a computer mouse is made. http://www.ted.com/talks/ matt_ridley_when_ideas_have_sex 2 https://lebbeuswoods.wordpress.com/2009/11/24/libeskinds-machines/ 3 http://www.bbc.co.uk/religion/religions/shinto/ & Dominique Buisson. The Art of Japanese Paper Masks. Cambridge: Finest S.A./Editions Pierre Terrail,1992.

4 Timothy Morton, Hyperobjects. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timothy_Morton 5 Completely opposite to the industrial revolution - people were the servants.

6 http://www.andersenstories.com/da/andersen_fortaellinger/nattergalen 7 http://literature.org/authors/shelley-mary/frankenstein/ 8 https://www.moma.org/interactives/exhibitions/2010/counter_space/ the_frankfurt_kitchen 9 http://www.la-croix.com/Culture/Voyages/La-machine-a-habiter-deLe-Corbusier-2015-07-28-1338996 10 http://www.world-mysteries.com/sci_17_vm.htm & Martin Kemp.

Leonardo Da Vinci – Experience, Experiment and Design. London: V&A Publications, 2006.

11 From the time where the scientific management was created until now technology has taken over and causes the increased lack of knowledge of the production.

12 http://wwf.panda.org/about_our_earth/deforestation/forest_sector_transformation/pulp_and_paper/ & http://environment.nationalgeographic.com/environment/green-guide/buying-guide/paper/environmental-impact/ 13 http://www.nipponpapergroup.com/english/ 14 Christian Kirchhoff-Larsen. Dansk Papir i 100 år. København: Bianco Lunos Bogtrykkeri A/S, 1989.

62

Comments and references

Other inspiration: Bill Hillier. Space is the machine. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1996.

Torsten Blume, Christian Hiller, Bauhaus Dessau Foundation. Human – space – machine. Stage experiments at the Bauhaus. Bauhaus Dessau Foundation and authors, 2014. http://www.bbc.co.uk/religion/religions/shinto/ http://www.netnicholls.com/neh2001/pages/aspects5/56frame.htm http://web.mit.edu/allanmc/www/mcluhan.mediummessage.pdf http://www.susangreenfield.com/science/screen-technologies/ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vernor_Vinge http://www.zmescience.com/science/arthur-ganson-kinetic-sculptures/ & https://www.ted.com/talks/arthur_ganson_makes_moving_sculpture

Valentino Braitenberg. Vehicles, Experiments in Synthetic Psychology. Cambridge: The MINT press. http://www.marthagarzon.com/contemporary_art/2012/07/rebecca-horn-body-art-performance-installations/ Donna Haraway. A Cyborg Manifesto. 1983

Charles Dickens. Hard Times. USA: Dover Publications, Inc., 2001. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jJTVtXK92Fc &

http://www.charliechaplin.com/en/biography/articles/6-Modern-Times Yoshiharu Tsukamoto & Momoyo Kaijima. Behaviorology – Atelier Bow-Wow. New York: Rizzoli International Publications, Inc., 2008.

Rem Koolhaas, Hans Ulrich Obrist. Project Japan – Metabolism Talk… Kóln: TASCHEN GmbH, 2011.

63

Timeline

Field trip 28.09.15 – 18.10.15

Phase 1

23.01.16 – 10.02.16 Research: topic, interest, site Program and project development

18.02.16 Submission of the program

Phase 2

11.02.16 – 02.03.16 Site model 3d model Unfold the concept Test the concept with different approaches Investigate paper-folding techniques Spacious volumes – looking into man and machine

03.03.16 Critique

Phase 3

03.03.16 – 04.04.16 Development of concept, structure (material and immaterial expression) Production methods – how and where can people be integrated in the process.

05.04.16 Critique

64

Timeline

Phase 4

05.04.16 – 03.05.16 The volume’s expression. How will it function as link between the city and the factory?

Investigate the consequences of opening up the factory to the company and the people Shape studies (light, appearance function etc.)

The combination of Japanese playfulness, traditional design and function in modern Japanese society.

03.05.16 Critique

Phase 5

03.05.16 – 25.05.16 Communication Develop project Final material

26.05.16 Submission of Thesis

65

CV

Education

Internship at Basic Master at The Royal Danish C. F. Møller program as Academy of Fine Arts School cabiof Architecture net-maker

BA at The Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts School of Architecture

2010

2011

Practical experience

2012

2013

Project at the studio, Powerhouse Student work at Kent Pedersen’s studio

66

2014

2015

Project at Kent Pedersen’s studio

Student work at Kent Pedersen’s studio - full-time

2016

UNPACKING THE ISHINOMAKI MACHINE - THE PERCEPTION OF MACHINE AND INDUSTRY IN MODERN SOCIETY -

Master project for Cecilie Vibe Nielsen Tutor: Niels Grønbæk Political Architecture: Critical Sustainability Spring 2016

67

68