Today he is largely unknown. Cross-beams that connect the columns are located at staggered heights, as they would be if assembled from notched, interlocking wood members rather than poured together as a concrete moment frame, and in most cases the bracing beams are not used to support slabs above. Kiyonori Kikutake, Sky House, Tokyo, 1958. Reservoir: Nature, Culture, Infrastructure. Years ago, when replacement glazing was installed on the fifth and sixth floors, the slender concrete slab edges were also clad in aluminum panels to protect against further deterioration — a well-intended but aesthetically disappointing revision. Last year the museum’s architect, Kiyonori Kikutake, marked his 80th birthday by opening up another one of his projects, his own house, to a selected group of friends and visitors. Whatever intentions Kikutake had for designing Tōkōen as a prototype for open-ended, metabolically adaptable building systems, the building now faces the same problem of persisting for the enjoyment of future generations that all buildings of that era must confront. Japanese architect Kiyonori Kikutake’s Sky House (1958) remains an exemplary project that defines the Metabolist agenda but, more significantly, underscores the notion that a single-family dwelling can be ideologically recursive and strategic. last days 50% off! The world's growing vulnerability to planet-sized risks invites action on a global scale. Feb 21, 2017 - Explore Anna Gogoladze's board "KIYONORI KIKUTAKE" on Pinterest. In the case of corner rooms, there is a double-cantilever, its transparency expressing the lightness Kikutake sought. The idea that personal security required living one’s life surrounded by rigid concrete walls, reminded of one’s own vulnerability by the visual presence of structural elements — this scenario was incompatible with Kikutake’s aspirations for liberated modern men and women. 9 Inspired by Le Corbusier’s expressively formed béton brut work in France and India, Japanese architects began experimenting not only with concrete’s remarkable sculptural and structural capabilities (including excellent seismic resistance) but also its surface qualities, which could take on a handcrafted appearance. The world's growing vulnerability to planet-sized risks invites action on a global scale. [Mark Mulligan]. Nevertheless, it is useful to remember that over his career, Kikutake devoted more energy to resolving technical problems at a building scale than at a city scale; and it is this activity that I would like to explore more deeply. "My architecture was my protest, as a former landlord, against the dismantling of the entire landowning system..." A great many masterpieces of 1950s and 1960s Japanese modernism, Metabolist or otherwise, have already been torn down or are threatened with demolition. As is often the case with mid-century buildings, the interior had been significantly altered. At the time, reinforced concrete had been established for more than forty years as the structural material of choice for the nation’s architects, particularly those working on public and institutional commissions. In works such as Sky House, Izumo, and Tōkōen, the removal of conventional structural elements from everyday living environments was itself a primary goal, as much as or more than the illustration of a Metabolist narrative. Many experiments of his early years found their way into later projects at larger scales, though increasingly with the actual mechanics hidden from view beneath layers of cladding (exposed structure being disfavored in more recent construction for reasons of maintenance and thermal performance). Architects, Kikutake argued, needed to understand more keenly their role in society, and to address the underlying sociological and psychological unease of contemporary citizens before determining how, where, and what to build. A founding member of the Metabolist movement, Kikutake laid the foundation for an architecture able to intrinsically... Sky House - Tokyo By Kikutake Architects Published in Abitare 500 - March 2010 - The Hous... original vintage design furniture www.b22design.nl. Though invisible once the site was backfilled, this added significantly to construction time and cost. Demolished 2007. Also in the postwar years, precast concrete technology represented a significant advance for Japanese construction; slender linear elements, delicate screens, and intricately patterned cladding panels could be produced off-site in factories, then shipped to the construction site for easy assembly by means of welding, bolting, or additional casting. Both of these were necessary conditions for achieving and articulating the suspended structure of rooms at the fifth and sixth levels —the seventh floor being enclosed by massive structural girders suspending the fifth and sixth floors, and the fourth floor’s east-west transparency demonstrating a lack of conventional structural depth and/or support below. Though scientifically precise and requiring collaboration with top engineers, these investigations have been inspired more by the desire to produce particular kinds of spatial experience than by quantifiable (but one-dimensional) measures of progress such as efficiency and economy. Each member is precisely shaped and finished in a way that recalls the wood joinery of traditional carpenters. Kikutake, however, was not without a somewhat unlikely precedent in the renowned Le Corbusier. It appears here courtesy of the author and publisher. Instances of spalling concrete and exposed and rusting reinforcing bars are apparent throughout, especially on the fourth-floor terrace’s ceiling (i.e., the suspended fifth-floor slab). Leben. With the criticism on their unreality, his projects have been often treated like sci-fi comics. With the criticism on their unreality, his projects have been often treated like sci-fi comics. You are reading an article printed from Places, the journal of public scholarship on architecture, landscape, and urbanism. No project was too large or too small for the Metabolists. Considerations on the Theme of Marine Architectures in the Early Projects of Masato Otaka, Kiyonori Kikutake and Noriaki Kisho Kurokawa April 2009 DOI: 10.13140/RG.2.1.3818.9602 12 Following a narrative that paralleled his theory of metabolic urban growth, the architect set out to design a robust eight-story structure that could flexibly accommodate future additions and renovations. Though frequently referred to as a manifesto, the pamphlet was in fact a collection of essays and urban design projects by architectural critic Kawazoe Noboru and four young architects then launching their practices: Kiyonori Kikutake, Kishō Kurokawa, Fumihiko Maki, and Masato Ōtaka. Though windowless and structurally reliant on the continuity of their shear walls, the towers are articulated not as monolithic volumes but as column-and-beam moment frames with decorative precast panel infill. Ōtaka’s extensive post-Metabolism design career has so far eluded critical discussion in an international arena. Left: Kiyonori Kikutake, right, with Fumihiko Maki, ca. When the architect is deeply interested in a particular strategy or technique, opportunities for incorporating these into a project narrative will emerge. Kiyonori Kikutake, the architect, who has died aged 83, was the driving force behind Japan’s Metabolism movement, notable for audacious city plans that were in the best traditions of science fiction. In the prewar period, concrete structures had been typically clad in stone, brick, tile, and various plaster- or cement-based finishes; in the postwar period, in contrast, the architectural qualities of exposed concrete were increasingly appreciated as aesthetically acceptable, even desirable. Background image under Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License, found on freeaussiestock.com. Modern construction techniques developed in Europe and America for resisting gravity and wind loads must, when translated to a Japanese context, consider the possibility of far more extreme lateral loads due to earthquakes. In many cases this was a necessary condition for technical experimentation. If you would like to comment on this article, or anything else on Places Journal, visit our Facebook page or send us a message on Twitter. Kiyonori Kikutake (菊竹 清訓, Kikutake Kiyonori) (April 1, 1928 – December 26, 2011) was a prominent Japanese architect known as one of the founders of the Japanese Metabolist group. Located somewhat off to the side, away from the excitement attending the monumentally scaled Grand Shrine, Kikutake’s Administration Building appeared at first glance more diminutive and restrained than the “megastructure” I had imagined — it felt modest and very much part of the background. Reinforced concrete therefore was the default choice and central focus of technological experimentation. The construction of Tōkōen required only twelve months between October 1963 and October 1964, which seems miraculous given the complex coordination of trades and new techniques required of its contractor, Kumagaya Corporation. With time, it has proven easier to analyze and celebrate the political and social dimensions of his more daring unbuilt work and to assign a supporting role to technological investigations. Modeled and rendered with blender / post processing with photoshop. Kiyonori Kikutake Edo-Tokyo Museum in Tokio, Japan Kiyonori Kikutake (jap. kiyonori kikutake (1928 2011) a look at the legacy left by the japanese architect who was the key player in the metabolism movement of the 1960's. This is a critical distinction to make in understanding how Kikutake managed to create such a diaphanous wall of concrete louvers. Japanese architect Kiyonori Kikutake’s Sky House (1958) remains an exemplary project that defines the Metabolist agenda but, more significantly, underscores the notion that a single-family dwelling can be ideologically recursive and strategic. Sky House, Tokyo – Kikutake. From the outset, Kikutake understood his building as part of a larger ensemble, and he reasoned that the overall composition would continue to change to meet the demands of future owners and their clientele. Japan is famously vulnerable to strong earthquakes. A series of precast concrete ribs, spaced approximately 2.5 meters apart, are installed diagonally along east and west facades (with some interruptions for entrances); each rib leans inward from its ground-beam base against the more closely spaced ridge beams, to create a modified “A-frame” interior space. Itō, Itsuko Hasegawa, Kazuyo Sejima, and Ryūe Nishizawa to Jun’ya Ishigami, Sōsuke Fujimoto and beyond — has produced a bounty of innovative structural and architectural expressions. 5 His writings and works invite further attention precisely because they are not glib or simplistic but rather fully articulated statements of a worldview encompassing aesthetics, politics and economics, land use planning, technology, and human psychology. It features a modest interior program of offices, meeting rooms, and a double-height space originally used for displaying shrine treasures that required enclosure (currently serving as a reception area). The Sofitel Tokyo, a 26 story building completed in 1994 only survived 14 years before being demolished in 2008. The imposing scale of the four-story-tall grouped columns, exposed on the western entrance facade, is mediated by the addition of smaller, free-standing entrance canopy structures in the same language of post-and-beam, cedar-board-textured concrete. In an earlier, smaller project, Kikutake and Matsui had experimented with suspension-based lift-slab technology, but Tōkōen brought this to a new and daring scale. The concrete formwork has been carefully considered, using cedar boards to imprint wood grain permanently into the concrete surface and imbuing the whole with a sense of fine craftsmanship. See more ideas about architecture, japanese architecture, metabolist architecture. Particularly important retrospective studies of the Metabolist movement include the Mori Art Museum’s 2011 exhibition and associated catalogue. This new building undoubtedly added to the overall impression of diminution — not only of the Administration Building but also of its forecourt. 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