HOW TO BE LIVED : MATERIALIZED IMMATERIALITY
KANA ARIOKA
GNT S1 I Exploring Craftsmanship: PRACTICE AS STUDY
This studio requires individual work for the whole semester
Max. 12 students
Image left: Tanikawa House / Kazuo Shinohara, photographed by Koji Taki
INTRODUCTION
This studio is about looking profoundly into the act of human living.
‘The Lived-in House’* is a book of philosophical architectural critique, as yet untranslated. Koji Taki, a photographer of architects such as Kazuo Shinohara, Toyo Ito and Kazunari Sakamoto, later worked as an art, photography and architecture critic. One of his best- known works is ‘The Lived-in House’ with the first edition in 1976. The book describes the house, not just a dwelling container, but a complex text in which human time and space are woven into. The work unearths the ideas and imaginations of humanity that converge in the ‘house’. The theory of space that unfolds here is not about the materially enclosed space, but space as a chain of memories shaped by a dialogue with the body.
The passive form of the rhetorical phrase emphasizes the absent subject, the ‘inhabitant’, and implies an ‘architecture’ made by the ‘architect’ as opposed to a ‘house’ produced by the ‘inhabitant’, the meaning of which is critically questioned in the text.
* Ikirareta-Ie (original title), Koji Taki, 1984 Seidosha
In this studio, students are challenged to design and visualize space by extracting spatial concepts from architectural references and understanding human behaviour in relation to these spatial concepts. The project delves into the space in dialogue with the body and engages in a creative exploration as a process of coming into contact with the architectural philosophy, and sublimating it into a possible contemporary architectural critique.
***
HOW TO BE LIVED: MATERIALIZED IMMATERIALITY
With the engagement ‘Exploring Craftsmanship’, we dare to ask how space, which appears to be perceptually dematerialized, is given by material reality. On the one hand, the concept of space is extracted and questioned in the frame of ‘how to be lived’, and on the other hand, the details realized by material reality are equally studied.
First of all and before everything: Architecture is a matter of humanity.
QUOTES
If we take a look at ‘The Lived-in House’, we find an ‘EVENT’ emerging at the centre of the house, and the behaviour of ‘THINGS’ that keeps appearing and disappearing are related to this event, and only the ‘PLACES’ for them emerge in a sequence.
‘The Lived-in House’ / Koji Taki
CONTENTS
FIRST MOVEMENT
ONE HOUSE AND ONE ART WORK
This studio starts from the study of three houses designed by Kazuo Shinohara. Each house is given a reading by specific spatial concepts and the students are invited to understand profoundly sense of space around these houses.
Three projects and spatial concepts are followings:
Tanikawa House – theatrical VOID
House in Uehara – with / without DEPTH
House with an Earthen Floor – live in ESSENCE
The lecture on these houses will be given at first studio day. After that, each student is invited to take one house – amongst these three – and one conceptual art work as reference. First movement of the studio is about to study the reference related to spatial concepts – at least one – and the students are invited to re-write the story around the house by exploring sense of space and by questioning on ‘how to be lived’. In parallel, one conceptual art work reference will be chosen in order to explore new way of visualizing the reference project and to help on sublimating the essence of it, by reflecting the relationship between EVENT, behaviour of THINGS and PLACES.
Each student should show their authentic understanding of the project and suggest a new prism on reading. Once again, looking into the architecture as a matter of humanity.
The progress will be once a week debated at the studio days as foreseen and is expected to be illustrated by 1:20 corner model – or 1:50 entire model of the house -, drawings, texts and whatever visual illustrations in form of a booklet.
SECOND MOVEMENT
A PROJECT FOR A PLACE TO BE
The collective archive as outcome of the first movement is in our hands. Explore the essence of what we learned during the first movement and develop an own project. The project should be a proposal for a PLACE TO BE. It can be a HOUSE/HUT/SHELTER but it can also be a proposal for urban nomad in a city. The students are invited to reflect and represent authentically on ‘how to be lived’ in the space they propose.
We believe that to understand the concept of the lived-in house by contemplating it is to place oneself at the centre of the matter. What would be our place in this era called Prosperity without Growth*? Is it not to remain centered on the place where our own physical and psychological essence coincides? How, then, can we construct a sense of place as home? For us, for one and anyone who is an other.
The assignment of the project is to challenge the construction of a sense of place. The project is a creative exploration of space in dialogue with the body, a process of delving into architectural philosophy and sublimating it into a contemporary architectural critique.
The site for the project is to be proposed by each student during the first movement. We encourage interventions in places that are accessible and familiar to each student.
Handmade drawings and models are encouraged. A sketchbook or map collecting those sketches is part of the output. Detail and material are all together immediately part of the debate. The progress and the production accordingly will evolve gradually to arrive in the delivery of ‘HOW TO BE LIVED: MATERIALIZED IMMATERIALITY’ together with a chapter of an essay as a whole.
The project should be developed individually.
** Prosperity without Growth: Economics for a Finite Planet, Tim Jackson, 2009 Earthcan
ASSESSMENT
Assessment will take into account regular attendance at the studio, with the design process being presented to the teacher on a weekly basis. There will be one mid-review, counting for 30% of the marks.
Furthermore, each assessment will take into account the content (60%), the graphic elaboration (25%) and the oral presentation (15%).
Although individual work is required throughout the semester, debates often occur throughout the studio. Students are strongly encouraged to actively participate in debates. The ability to demonstrate authentic reflection on ‘how to be lived’ is crucial in this studio.
REFERENCES
BOOKS
– Space and Place: The Perspective of Experience, Yi-Fu Tuan, University of Minnesota Press 1977
– City with a Hidden Past, Fumihiko Maki, Kajima Publishing 2018
– Searching for the Language of a House. Architectural Photography of Koji Taki, House of Architecture 2023
…
PROJECTS
– Pao: Dwellings For the Tokyo Nomad Woman / Toyo Ito, 1985 and 1989
– Design Metaphors / Ettore Sottsass, 1972-1979
– Tower House / Takamitu Azuma, 1966
– First Work Set in Storage Form / Franz Erhard Walther, 1963–69
– Crate House / Allan Wexler, 1990
– Le Cabanon / Le Corbusier, 1951
– Tanada Office / Atelier Bow-Wow, 2016
– House without Depth / Atelier Bow-Wow, 1994
– Corrugated House / Kenji Kawai, 1966
– On Kawara: 1966
– ‘Parallel Lines, Analyses’ / Dóra Maurer, 1977
– L’Hôtel / Sophie Calle, 1981 – 1983
– Wall Drawing #260 / Sol LeWitt, 1975
…
AGENDA
The studio will be on every Wednesday. The dates are following:
SEPTEMBER 25
OCTOBER 2, 9, 16, 23, 30
NOVEMBER 13, 20, 27
DECEMBER 4, 11, 18
FIRST MOVEMENT: ONE HOUSE AND ONE ART WORK
from SEPTEMBER 25 to OCTOBER 23
SECOND MOVEMENT: A PROJECT FOR A PLACE TO BE
from 30 OCTOBER to 18 DECEMBER
The mid-term review (internal) will be on October 23. The official submission is on December 18. Supersalon is foreseen on 6-10 January (format to be decided).
The field trip to visit the Umbrella House by Kazuo Shinohara in Weil am Rhein in Germany is foreseen during the Atelierweek (4-8 November). We will cluster the studio’s with Hera Van Sande and share the reviews and the field trip.
DELIVERABLES
FIRST MOVEMENT
- a corner model of the reference project in scale 1:20 or a entire model of the house in 1:50
- a booklet of the entire study and narratives (format will be given)
- a digital presentation
SECOND MOVEMENT
- a model of the entire project in scale 1:50
- a model of the significative corner of the project in scale 1:20
- series of drawings and visual representations
- a booklet of the project (format will be given)
- a digital presentation
Read the full studio description here (pdf)