Mathieu Wauters * Selection
Mathieu Wauters 09/24/1985 Latemstraat 61, 9830 Sint-Martens-Latem, Belgium +1 646 504 5397 mathieuwauters@gmail.com
2004-2010 2009-2010 2007
2010-2011 2010 2008-2009
Master in Architecture, St-Lucas School of Architecture, Ghent, Belgium Graduated Cum Laude Master in Architecture and Urban Planning, Chiba University, Chiba, Japan (exchange student) Master in Architecture, Universitat Internacional de Catalunya, Barcelona, Spain (exchange student)
Louis Vuitton Architecture Dpt., Paris Assistant Architect Project Manager - China Zone (6 months) Xavier Donck & Partners, Deinze, Belgium Design Consultant (1 month) HB Design Pte. Ltd., Singapore Junior Architect (10 months)
Green Shotengai - Master Thesis 2010
The Green Shotengai is an urban planning concept borrowed from traditional Japanese urban characteristics. It offers an alternative solution to the inevitable development of a rural suburb some 35 km outside of Tokyo. With ‘Super Aging in Japan’ as a central theme, the project aims to find a compromise between the economically driven demand for the development of a new station area, and the needs of the local aging community. Rather than to follow the typical pattern of building identical shopping malls without any relation to the surroundings, as seen with many other stations along the same train line, the Green Shotengai is a combination of a pedestrian shopping street and an agricultural park, respecting the needs of the community and underlining the rural charm and identity of the area. Project nominated for entry in the “Young Architect Award” competition, organised by the American Institute of Architects, 2010
CONCEPT DRAWINGS
CHANGING ATTITUDES TOWARDS ELDERLY CARE AND INSTITUTIONALIZATION The Japanese generally have a negative view towards institutionalizing elderly people. Institutionalization is often regarded as shameful or as a failure of traditional values and widely associated with the legend of Obasuteyama, the mountain where, long ago, aging parents who no longer contributed to the family economy were taken by their eldest sons and left to die from starvation and cold. Living with their eldest son, being surrounded by their respectful grandchildren and receiving attentive care from their daughter-in-law is still seen as the ideal by most Japanese seniors. Institutionalization was often seen as abandonment by one’s own children. Especially seniors who were born in the Meiji and Taisho periods – who are now 80 years old and above – hold on to this ideal (Wu, 2004). However, as Japan arose from the ashes of World War II, the country underwent a second wave of mass westernization and industrialization (the first one being the Meiji Restoration of 1868). As a result, traditional values weakened gradually as more western ways were adopted, and the traditional elderly care system or ie system based on filial piety is being questioned more and more. Moreover, people who lived their lives mainly in the period after the war have adapted to Western values such as democracy and freedom in the post-war educational system and were largely influenced by modern material life and mass media. Therefore they have a stronger consciousness of basic rights and a different view of institutionalization. Sixty-five years after the war, we can see that the children of the baby-boom generation are showing a gradual shift in attitudes, moving away from traditional values and towards formal care.
CONCLUSION The declining family support and care for the elderly, combined with the evergrowing number of senior citizens has inevitably led to an ever-increasing demand for institutions and care systems for the elderly. Because of the unparalleled pace of this social change, and the enormous burden it puts on the Japanese economy, government institutions alone are not up to the job. Naturally, new forms of elderly care such as home help and group homes are emerging, and with the participation of the private sector the innovations in elderly care systems are going to be a phenomenon to watch for other industrialized countries worldwide, as they too are looking for solutions to this global problem. There are three possible reasons – besides the aging of the population – why there has been an increase in demand for institutionalization in Japan. First, the constitution of families has changed over the years. Extended family households traditionally performing filial piety are decreasing significantly. Secondly, Japanese women who were traditionally the primary caregivers for older adults have been participating increasingly in the workforce. Finally, Japanese views on the role of families are changing. There has been a significant drop in the number of people who considered that it was children's responsibility to be caregivers for their elderly relatives, and that it was the family's role to look after their emotional wellbeing.
In many respects, one can describe the past ten years in Japan as a period of elder care entrepreneurship characterized by the creation of an array of new services and facilities. These are needed to address the rapidly growing requirements of an elder population that currently represents over 22% of the population and is expected to grow to more than 35% by 2050. While the LCTI program has stimulated a considerable expansion in services and facilities for elderly care, their still remains a shortage of both because the number of elderly requiring care is rising fast, most likely faster than the number of organizations or institutions catering to them. Many countries will pay close attention to these evolutions as to draw important lessons for their own problems.
LEVEL 2
LEVEL 0
LEVEL 1
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LEVEL 4
ROOF
1/250
SERVICE
ROOMS
SHOTENGAI
SERVICEFLATS
PRIVATE PUBLIC
FUNCTIONAL SECTION
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Chaosbench 2010
As part of the revitalization efforts in Nihonbashi, central Tokyo led by Prof. Uno from the University of Tokyo, we were asked to design a piece of street furniture using very simply cut wooden members from a local woodmill. The idea was to create a bench that would reflect it’s surroundings. 8 layers of wooden members, each 30cm long, were stacked in a seemingly random order. The chaotic looking members were sawn off into a very straight form. The design reflects the “chaos within order” or “structure withing chaos” inherent to Tokyo and Japan in general. Exhibition “Timberize” Spiral Building (by Fumihiko Maki) in Aoyama, Tokyo May - June 2010
Design in collaboration with Rob Ragoen. Construction in collaboration with Rob Ragoen, Shunsuke Takeda, Akihiro Okada, Hideki Matsuura
Ruin in reverse 2008
What on earth are we doing?! As part of the Experimental Architectural Design Lab, this project aims to explore the possibilities of the “compact city�, along with organic, ever-expandable modular high-rise architecture. In a way the project was also about making a statement about the current architectural policy, and the endless consumption of land surface seen in the world today.
In collaboration with Axel Clissen and Tristan Gobyn.
What on earth are we doing?! 2008
Exhibiting the core aspects of the Ruin in Reverse project on 81cm: Green open space. Exhibition “81,125cm” Sint-Lucas, Ghent June - July 2008
In collaboration with Axel Clissen and Tristan Gobyn.
Bachelor Thesis Densification 2007
Located on a former industrial site along a river in the city of Aalst, this project comprises 80 housing units placed around a community centre. All of the 4 types of units have outside terraces overlooking the park and the river. The blocks in the southwest corner of the site are placed quiet close to each other, respecting the density of the city, whereas the northeast wings spread out to leave an open space that serves the residents as a semi-public riverside park.
Melting Pod Tour 2010
The Melting Pod Tour is a bicycle tour on which several small pods with different functions are strategically placed. In an effort to activate the town of Kashiwa Tanaka (Chiba, Japan), this project aims to attract national and international tourists arriving from Tokyo and other places across Japan while involving the local inhabitants in the process. This could be achieved for all three groups by joining the tour for a relaxing day in a nice rural area and to enjoy the bars, art galleries, (agricultural) exhibitions and so on. The basic idea is for people to spend a nice cultural and educated day in Kashiwa-noha Tanaka.
In collaboration with Rob Ragoen and Saeko Yusakawa
EXAMPLE SIMULATION POSSIBILITY
4
PODS
HAVE A LIVELY ARCHITECTURE AND DESIGN
1
3 2
2
1
LIBRARY
OUTSIDE READING
PODS PROVIDE A
2 pod TT ORIGAMI CLASS
JAPANESE CLASS LEARNING
FUNCTIONAL PLACE
SPACE FOR ALL KIND OF ACTIVITIES
COVERED ACTIVITIES
4
8 pod LR
BOOK CLUB
OPEN ACTIVITIES
3
INSIDE READING
AGRICULTURAL WORKSHOPS TRADITIONAL ART
REST POINT
ACTIVATED PLACE
11pod GM
ART INSIDE
CONCERTS
LECTURES
9 pod TM BAR
GALLERY
CHATTING PLACE
6 pod BL
LIBRARY
ART OUTSIDE
BIKE PLACE CLASSES
MEETING SPOT
ART CLASS
WORKSHOPS
MEETING POINT
MEETING SPOT TERRAS
pod SLEEP 15 pod
MB
meeting spot bar
14
dorm terras kitchenette bathroom
pod BI
bike rental information centre
pod BIG
art gallery information centre modern teaching traditional teaching
bike rental rest point meeting point library 1
pod RI
rest spot information centre
7
16 pod
LT
library modern teaching
8 13 pod
AR
pod TS
modern teaching
pod LR library rest point
6
agricultural gallery rest point
2
12 pod
TR
11 pod
GM
gallery meeting point
4
10 pod
GR
gallery rest point
LM
library pod TM meeting point modern teaching meeting point 9
bar library
5 pod
pod TT
traditional teaching
traditional teaching
pod BL
3
pod AG
agricultural gallery
pod TB
modern teaching bike rental
A Palazzo for Hugo Claus 2006
In the heart of Ghent, on a corner plot along the tree-lined Coupure street, we were assigned to design a luxurious waterfront house for the famed Belgian writer Hugo Claus. The program demanded that a library, a small theater, several guest rooms, a swimming pool and an exhibition space be integrated in a design for a house that had the potential to become a museum after the writer’s death. The glass volume -containing the library and vertical circulation- makes the connection with the adjacent houses while giving the concrete volume the prominence of a detached house. Private and semi-public functions are dispersed over the 2 distinctly different looking buildings, while visually connecting them by means of continuity of the load-bearing columns on the ground floor.
Material Skills 2006
The brief for this project was to design showcase housing somewhere along the E17 highway between the cities of Kortrijk and Antwerp. Key issues that had to be addressed were visibility of the design, special use of materials, and the possibility for a quick assembly. These demands resulted in a design that explicitly showcases itself as a billboard, floating across the highway rather than standing beside it. The vierendeel-beam box is supported by hundreds of concrete-filled bamboo shoots. Behind the printed glass faรงade lie 2 box-in-box houses built out of composite materials.
Louis Vuitton Architecture Department Nov 2010 - May 2011
Working as an assistant project architect at Louis Vuitton’s in-house architecture department in Paris has proved to be a unique opportunity to work with world-class professionals on multi-million dollar projects. Daily tasks ranged from administrative work to shop drawing verification to facade studies and interior design. The examples shown are facade studies for Hanghou Eurostreet, a global store set to open in 2012, Interior design such as the ‘Bags Bar’ for the Kunming Ginko store which opened in June 2011 and furniture and interior design for the 2011 expansion of the Shanghai IFC global store. Presentations were an important part of the job as work had to be presented bi-weekly to the executive comittee for approval.