JIHYO BOOKS beyond 2020 LEGACY (Inheriting History, Facing the Future)

If I were to describe myself as an architect in one phrase, what would it be? “The Wood Architect” is one correct answer, but I also find “The Architect who Turns Renovations into Architecture” interesting. Earlier architects’ work involved constructing eye-catching new buildings from scratch. Architectural history textbooks are also full of such constructions. However, a great deal of my work involves renovating and preserving existing architecture, and a lot of it is surprisingly interesting. Among the buildings covered in this book are the Kabuki-za Theatre, the Nihombashi Mitsukoshi Main Store, the Keio Takaosanguchi Station, the Kyoto ShinPuhKan, and the Hotel and Museum Royal Classic Osaka. I have done preservations, restorations, and several new recreations of historical buildings, as was the case with the Kabuki-za Theatre and the Royal Classic, a recreation of the Shin Kabuki-za Theatre. While it is not that no architecture has ever been built this way to date, I do not think the phenomenon of an architect like me garnering attention for their renovation work like this has been very common. I believe that our era demands renovations, and these have become the mainstream in architecture.
 
In the old cities of Europe, renovation constitutes almost all architectural activity. To construct a new building would be an exceptional act of the highest order. Skillful renovation can allow a city to inherit something old while simultaneously exuding a fresh atmosphere, and this makes city governments and designers compete with each other. Japan, too, has finally arrived at that stage, and it may be said that I am one of the pioneers of this new era. This book is a compilation of what participants have revealed to me about their struggles and what they find interesting about these projects.
 
It also contains a story about Japan National Stadium. You might think that it was newly constructed, but we undertook that project as a renovation of the Meiji Jingu-no-Mori. The underlying idea was to include architecture in the project to preserve the environment of Gaien-no-Mori that was to be protected. From that perspective, I think that all architecture is renovation, because the plot is already present; you just preserve the land and the surrounding buildings as they are. There is absolutely no such thing as a new building that can be built from scratch. How to make the most of what already exists is the foundation of the activity of architecture.

 

(Written by KUMA Kengo, Professor, School of Engineering / 2020)