Until recently, to the sound of the word "Japan" my brain would react elaborating a precise sequence: manga, martial arts, karaoke, and several film suggestions. These were followed by the heroes and landmarks of Metabolism, alongside massive urbanscapes derived from apparently uncontrolled growth, as seen in Takashi Homma's Tokyo Suburbia. Then, one afternoon in 2007, I was struck by a peculiar Japanese house, irresistibly photographed by Iwan Baan in the pages of a Dutch architecture magazine. I didn't know yet the following years would be characterised by an uncontrollable flux of small Japanese residences, ubiquitously present in architecture blogs and magazines.
Published by NAi, How to make a Japanese house, by Cathelijne Nuijsink is the result of a prolonged research on Japanese domestic architecture of the 21st century, and offers a compass to orient oneself in the jungle of single family dwellings of two of three storeys that characterises the continuously changing urban landscape of Tokyo.
Those who expect a catalogue of residences, however, will be surprised. With this volume, the tireless architecture and design writer seeks instead to be followed in one of her many dérives within Tokyo's residential areas, allowing readers to witness her numerous conversations with three generations of architects — from luminaries Kengo Kuma, Kazuyo Sejima and Manabu Chiba, to young architects Junya Ishigami and Ryuji Nakamura. This way, every peculiar house project ceases to be a simple architecture model, and finds its place among a wider framework. Three essays by Yoshiharu Tsukamoto, Taro Igarashi and Jun Aoki, alongside six themed interventions by Nuijsink, draw attention to the links between small scale, neighbourhood, and city, to then discuss the social and political implications that have determined the design choices of the three generations analysed (50s, 60s, 70s).
Fabrizia Vecchione: After working as a journalist for so many years, you might be considered the voice of Japanese domestic-scale architecture in Europe. How did you get so close to this culture?
Cathelijne Nuijsink: By remaining curious and willing to learn about all things unknown (and there are a lot of them in Japan), and being patient. During the first two years of my studies at The University of Tokyo (2005-2008) I endlessly walked the streets of Tokyo, mapping my observations in order to understand the working of the city. After completing my master thesis based on those urban observations, I was eager to find out what the young generation of Japanese architects is contributing to this context. Since there was very little information about young architects born between 1970-1980 available at the time, I started to contact them one by one, visiting their offices, and asking all the questions I had concerning their design process. In order to judge their line of thought — in general, architects can say nice things but I also wish to see their projects — I joined the architects visiting their newly built work, which were predominantly single-family houses. After repeatedly returning to their offices for new interviews (always in Japanese), I think the architects understood my intentions, so they allowed me to visit and even invited me to join viewing their new work. I must have visited over 300 of these "eccentric" detached single-family houses in Japan during the past six years.
When looking into the portfolio of Japanese architects you will discover that almost everybody is designing single-family houses. Practically all contemporary architects in Japan started their career designing houses. And even master architects such as Kengo Kuma and Toyo Ito, who are now working on big commissions in Japan or overseas, still like to design a small single house from time to time as a kind of experimental exercise. Contrary to public buildings such as office buildings or museums, houses are overloaded with culture. You have to understand Japanese culture to be able to understand how Japanese clients can live comfortably in those houses designed by architects.
What are the common ingredients and the correct proportions to "make" a Japanese house?
What all projects I've studied share in common are urban context, strict building regulations, small size of the plot, and a low budget. However, as every architect starts off with a different set of very family-specific requirements, we cannot speak of "common ingredients", but there are certain themes reoccurring in the design of houses. Because the houses react to political, economical and social changes in Japan, the themes change every couple of years. Japanese architects designing houses right now, for example, are very much interested in making a connection between the house and the neighborhood, allowing the clients to find their own comfortable space rather than prescribing the precise functions, and finding a way to re-incorporate elements of nature.
You have to understand Japanese culture to be able to understand how Japanese clients can live comfortably in those houses designed by architects
There are a lot of photo books showing these "exotic", small Japanese houses, but none of them explains the context, the architect's intention or the life of the clients within the house. With this book I expand on what goes on in the mind of the architects when they are designing, explaining what connects the architects within one generation, and what makes each architect unique in their approach. This double structure makes it clear that we find not just a single type of architecture in Japan — modern, sterile white buildings — but most of all seeks to refer to how this design discipline is directly handed on from teacher to pupil.
Oh yes, I am not done with this research yet! I started off with fieldwork in Japan as I was eager to find out what Japanese architects were thinking without being influenced by too many Western theories. Now that I have explored the different design thoughts and documented them in the book, I am ready to place the houses in a cultural, social and historical context. The book was a side step of my PhD research at the University of Tokyo, and I am now back on track. I am currently a PhD fellow at the University of Pennsylvania, in Philadelphia, combining my architectural studies in Japan with Japan scholarship on anthropology, modern history, and gender studies. Expect an academic publication on those single-family houses and the culture around them in the near future.
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