PORTFOLIO
RYUTA FUJII
Accumulating water, people, and history
01 30%
02
34%
03 Other creative works
Activating the grid
Skycube
Table of contents
49%
04
40%
1
Accumulating water, people, and history
Individual group/academic work
Semester: 2015 Fall (4th and most recent)
Professors: Keigo Kobayashi, Shu Yamamura, Yasutaka Yoshimura
Program: Public bath, water tank, tourism center
Total floor area: 3000m2 (300~500m2 for each)
Site: Araki-cho, Tokyo, Japan
In this final studio of the 3rd grade at Waseda university, students started out from researching on the inner city in Tokyo called Araki-cho, then asked to design architecture with 3 different programs in that city. At least one program has to have a relationship with “tourism�, as Japanese government decided to invite 20 million inbounds every year until 2020.
Research on Araki-cho, an inner city in Tokyo
Water pipe
2.0~5.0m
drainage
1.0~2.0m S = 1/1000
0m
50m
0.5~1.0m
S = 1/1000
0m
50m
The culvert
0.2~0.5m
Topographical map The history of this town has always been flowing with the transformation of the lake which is located at the center of the city. Until about 200 years ago, the residence of the lord of the land was right next to the lake.
About 10,000 years ago, an immence hollow emerged, which later turned into a lake.
Flood map Because of the basin-shaped form of this town, drainage has always been the main problem.
Water infrastructure The former lord in the Edo period also faced the problem, making a culvert flowing under the bank.
Design Process
The City and Japanese Public Baths The residence had been abandoned overtime, only to leave the lake at the center of the city. The town transformed itself into a scenic area with Ryo-tei(traditional Japanese restaurants), or Geisha-house. Traditional japanese public bath in the Edo-period also worked as a place where people gather and communicate, similar to the French salon in modern times. The objective of this project is to revive the culture of gathering around the “water� in this towm.
0.Former lake from edo period has formed the site into a basin
1.Inserted structures so as to express trace of water architectually
2.Drainage was a huge problem of the site because of the basin-shape, therefore water tanks are inserted
3.Public bath was added on the top in order to make the experience of diving into the former lake
-
t
water level
Axonometric Detail
3 Programs Regarding Water
0. Restoration of exsisting structures For the preservation of traditional atomophere of the city, old wooden structure which used to exsit on the site has been restored.
Unit joinery system using nails and glues as little as possible
1. Water as public bath
Different types of bathes are installed in the city so that tourists and locals can wander around the city while they enjoy the traditional Japanese bars or restaurants.
2. Water as an infill between people
Water has property of filling up the basin no matter what its shape is. This property is metaphorically translated into the function of the architecture; community space, a medium between different people with different characteristics.
Every unit is joined in the same method
3. Water as to protect the local area
The city has been suffering from drainage problem due to its topography. Therefore, water-storage tank is installed in every unit proposed.
People in the city can freely add benches or tables
0
1
2
3
4
5
0
10M
1
2
3
4
5
10M
Plan GL +3100 S = 1/100
RF Plan S = 1/100
B
▼Top GL+10100
A
▼WL GL+6000 ▼1FL GL +5500
A ▼GL+3100
▼GL±0
0
1
2
3
Key Plan GL+5300 S = 1/100
4
5
B
▼Bottom GL- 3450
10M
0
1
2
3
4
A-A Section S = 1/100
5
10M
2 Individual academic work Semester: 2015 Spring (1st studio) Main professor: Masayuki Irie Program: Memorial museum for Stephané Mallarmé Total floor area: 500m2/598yds2 Site: Nakano, Tokyo, Japan
Skycube
In this first studio of the 3rd year, a French poet “Stephané Mallarmé“ was the main theme. However, the site was located in Tokyo, Japan. Students had to make a reasonable story and architectural form which connect those two seemingly unrelated topics, which was the intention of the studio. I have made a story using one simple common thing between the site and Mallarmé; The sky.
Stephané Mallarmé
The Site
He was a major French symbolist poet, and his work anticipated and inspired several revolutionary artistic schools of the early 20th century, such as Cubism, Futurism, Dadaism, and Surrealism. In his late works, such as “Un coup de Dés“, Mallarmé explored the relationship between content and form, between the text and the arrangement of words and spaces on the page.
Deprive The Meaning of Sky From Its Context Mallarmé tried to deprive the words from its syntax or context, and explore the pure exsistence of a word itself. As this project is a memorial museum of him, the architecture should somehow express his exploration with its form. Walking around the site, I found the sky being blocked and “regulated“ from the cables and buildings. What mallarmé did to his words, is what this architecture does to the sky; deprive them from the context.
“For I am haunted! The Sky! The Sky! The Sky! The Sky!”
“L’Azur” (The Sky) 1864
STATION
15 2500
0
3
1
2
H-steel 100×100×6×8mm
Fixed sash window t=20
Meditation room
0 1 2 3 4 5
430
10m
150
3F
165
10m
100
0 1 2 3 4 5
240
B-B’ Section
H-steel 100×100×6×8mm
200
10400
Loft
2 1 GL+4700
3
Exhibition space
0 1 2 3 4 5
10m
2F
0 1 2 3 4 5
10m
A
9
B
Entrance
8 6
1
H-steel 200×150×6×8mm
7 1
2
B’ 950
3 4
100
50
5
100
A’
1F
0 1 2 3 4 5
10m
600 800
100
1150
A-A’ Section
3
Activating the grid
Semester: 2015 Spring (2nd studio) Main professor: Nobuaki Furuya
Program: Elementary school / Park / Library / Pedestrian deck
Total floor area: 2400m2/2870yds2 Site: Kodaira, Tokyo, Japan
In the studio, students worked on the site of their own elementary school which they went to. My school is located in a suburban area of Tokyo, the origin of which can be traced back into the installation of irrigation canal to in the Edo period. The long rectangular grid in the city was so formed that most possible inhabitants can access to water for their agricultural or daily use. Today, the grid has lost its function as water supplier, therefore I designed a school which can activate its form again.
Objectives
History of Kodaira
Design a school building which interacts with exsisting buildings by activating the shape of long grid which runs from south to north. The origin of the grid can be traced back into the installation of irrigation canal to in the Edo period. The long rectangular grid in the city was so formed that most possible inhabitants can access to water for their agricultural or daily use.
The city of Kodaira in 1674
The city of Kodaira in 1870
The Long Grid
The grid structure still remains in the whole city. Since cars have become the main transportation method, the grid has left little spaces to actually stay and play outside.
As the grids run from south to north, streets crossing from east to west are scarce. It mostly leaves small gaps between individual buildings.
Therefore, children often cross over that gap just for fun, presumably because they can have the feeling of “exploring“ in the city where they almost completely know.This spatiality of crossing gaps is attractive for children, so it is applied to this project to the arrangement of volumes.
Program
The Site
Kindergarden
Highschool
GYM Special Classrooms Normal Classrooms Teachers room
Design Process
Incorporate two vertical grid, turn them into pedestrian decks in order to make the fundamental structure. Two “crossover“ decks are also placed so that they run soonto-be demolished building site and gaps between buildings, connecting to the neighbouring highschool and Kindergarden.
Place and shape the volume of special classrooms so that people around the site can freely use those function when not in use by children, making a mutual relationship between the school and local people.
Children also have to have some time to think/learn in a quiet/ passive environment, therefore individual classrooms are located inside the deck.
4
Other Creative Works
Drawing “Where I am from, and where I am going“ Thesis project: Research on hostility and space-reproductivity of urban space in Tokyo Project at Bauhaus summerschool 2014: Drawing on space in Weimar, Germany Experimental Photography
Drawing: Where I am from, and where I am going Japan, or its capital and my hometown, Tokyo, is known for one of the most organized or sanitized metropolises in the world. Still, living there, I kept feeling that something is not correct with that cleanness. There were plays that I had always wished I could have done, which were banned or scolded . Now that I pursue architecture as my career, I noticed that these experiences could somehow connect to the unforseen problems contemporary cities are facing; Space of nothingness, and space for no-one, is expanding. In order to draw a vision of what an urban space where there is “something“ to do, I made a collage on the right, so that I could keep in mind what kind of space I have been looking for.
Research Project: Hostility and space reproduction in main cities of Tokyo Modern cities have always tried to keep themselves as sanity as possible, because the main objectives for modern cities were infectious disieases and criminals. In Japan, this “sanity” is overdriving that it is almost insanity. However, there are also activities which go through the loopholes of those regulations such as drawing grafitties, placing chairs and sitting down, skateboarding, or homeless people. In this research, those activities are called “space reproduction“ referring Henry Lefevbre’s definition of space. I tried to grasp the current situation surrounding public spaces in urban cities by means of fieldwork and mapping of the following aspects on the right. As a conclusion, an methodology in order to measure a city’s hostility was established in this research.
Shibuya
Surveillance cameras
Grafitties
Prohibition in parks
Temporary bench
Shinjuku
Hostile object in Tokyo
homeless people
Ikebukuro
Research area
CCTV field of view
Building footprint
Public space not watched
Ikebukuro
100%
13.2%
23.4%
63.3%
63.3%
Shibuya
100%
8.7%
24.4%
66.8%
66.8%
Shinjuku
100%
26.5%
23.6%
49.7%
49.7%
Bauhaus Summer School: Drawing on space In this summer course at Bauhaus university Weimar, Germany, I participated a drawing course for 2 weeks. For the last project of this course, I literally “drew“ lines on different places in Weimar, and tried to see what kind of effect a string of line can make. The result was fascinating: just because there are some strings of thin lines, a child started jumping to it, a woman stared at the lines 3 times when she passed by, and the cleaning car had to make a turn. That was the moment that I have noticed the power of architecture. Even with these cheap lines made of nylon, you can change people’s behaviour.
Photo works: Experiment on exposure