Architectural and design features. General plan of Astana and retirement
You and I were looking at something like this, but here’s another one interesting idea. The Nakagin capsule tower was built in 1972 according to the design of the Japanese architect Kise Kurokawa. We can say that this is the world's first “capsule” residential building
Japanese photographer Noritaka Minami spent four years photographing a building built in Tokyo's Ginza district.
Here are some of his photos...
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It consists of 140 individual capsule modules containing offices and residential apartments. The capsules are blocks measuring 4 by 2.5 meters, secured to a concrete frame with just four bolts. Each capsule is a complete residential module, which has the ability to function as a completely separate unit - an independent living space, in addition, the capsules are able to connect to each other. They can be replaced, added, rearranged, thrown away as they wear out.
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These capsule modules have everything you need for life: a bed, a table, a bathroom with a toilet, air conditioning, a TV, a telephone, and so on. The production of these blocks and the interior finishing of the capsules were carried out at a plant in Shiga Prefecture, located 500 km away. from the Nakagin building under construction, and the finished capsules were transported along the highway on special trailers. On site, these capsule blocks were installed only with the help of cranes. Such a process was considered unheard of at that time. A life-size sample of the capsule was displayed at the entrance on the first floor of Nakagin Tower. This space, reminiscent of the internal structure of a spaceship, for the Japanese seemed to be the embodiment of childhood fantasies about “secret space bases” (from one Japanese children's cartoon).
Such a unit is easy to replace: they are manufactured at the factory and installed in place using a crane. All necessary communications - elevators, stairs, various pipes and wires are located inside the concrete frame. The height of the house is thirteen floors.
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Nakagin Capsule Tower is a shining example architectural style called “Metabolism”, which originated in Japan and assumes modularity, high adaptability, the ability to rebuild the structure and replace its components in accordance with the changing requirements of life.
Metabolism - (French metabolisme from the Greek metabole - change) is a movement in the architecture of the mid-20th century, which replaced the functionalism of the international style of the 1930-1940s.
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The author of Nakagin Capsule Tower is Kisho Kurokawa, who in the 1960s became one of the founders of the architectural metabolism movement. This direction immediately gained popularity. In contrast to the dominant theory of Le Corbusier at that time (buildings as “machines for living”), metabolists perceived the city as a living organism with all its processes. They divided it into permanent and temporary elements - bones, blood vessels and living cells that change over time.
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Metabolic architects sought to develop the principles of constructivism according to the concept of “changeable space.” The optimal structural basis of structures was combined with combinatorics - variational “cells”, due to which architectural compositions acquired a more diverse appearance.
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The Nakagin Capsule Tower in Tokyo made Kisho Kurokawa famous throughout the world and was recognized best work metabolism and is included in the DOCOMOMO International World Architectural Heritage List, and a life-size copy of one of the “capsules” is now visited by numerous tourists.
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In 2007, residents of Nakagin, citing cramped conditions and the presence of asbestos in the building's structures, voted for its demolition. Wanting to save his creation, Kurokawa proposed a large-scale reconstruction project for the tower. The reconstruction plan was supported by the main architectural associations of Japan, including the Japan Institute of Architecture, but due to high financial costs, work never began
After this, most of the residents moved out and abandoned their apartments.
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Kisho Kurokawa was born in 1934 in Nagoya and studied in Kyoto and Tokyo. In the 60s, the architectural metabolism movement, of which Kurokawa was one of the founders, became the last word in architectural thought. In his manifesto book “The Time of Machines and the Time of Life,” the young Japanese polemicized with Le Corbusier himself, whose concept of the building as a “machine for living” was dominant at that time.
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Despite success at the Osaka International Exhibition in 1970, the metabolist group disbanded. But Kurokawa continued to develop her ideas in his creativity and theoretical works. Among his main works are the City Museum in Nagoya, the Convention Center shopping center in Osaka, the Japanese-German Center in Berlin, the Melbourne Central shopping center in Melbourne, the Chinese-Japanese Youth Center in Beijing, the Tour Pacifique in the La Défense district of Paris, the new building of the Wang Museum Goga in Amsterdam, airport in Kuala Lumpur. Kisho Kurokawa also designed master plans for several cities in Asia. Recently, he often visited Kazakhstan, working at the invitation of Nursultan Nazarbayev on the master plan of the capital of Kazakhstan, Astana. Kurokawa's buildings have received numerous awards in Japan, France, the USA, Great Britain, and China; his books have received literary awards more than once - for example, “Philosophy of Symbiosis” was awarded the Japan Grand Prix of Literature.
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Since 1962, Kisho Kurokawa headed the company “Kisho Kurokawa – Architect and Employees”. The company has its head office in Tokyo and branches in Osaka, St. Petersburg, Kuala Lumpur, Beijing and California.
Having achieved worldwide recognition and fame in his main profession, Kurokawa also became involved in public and political activity: often spoke in the media, founded his own party, ran for the post of governor of Tokyo and for the upper house of the Japanese parliament in the Tokyo constituency.
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Kisho Kurokawa also worked in Russia. He participated in the competition for the reconstruction of New Holland in St. Petersburg, and in May 2007 won the competition for the design of a shopping and entertainment center in Yekaterinburg. Being one of the jury members in the competition for the construction of the Gazprom City administrative center in St. Petersburg, he, along with three other eminent architects, resigned from the jury in protest against the victory of a “project inorganic for St. Petersburg.”
In August 2006, Kurokawa became the creator of the project for the new sports arena of FC Zenit on the site of the stadium. Kirov in St. Petersburg.
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Inspired by the ideas of Kisho Kurokawa, a building was built in Bobruisk (Belarus) in the 70s of the last century. After some time, the residents got tired of the harsh minimalism of Kurokawa’s ideas, and became concerned about storing supplies of sauerkraut on the balcony. As a result, some architectural excesses not envisaged by Kurokawa’s admirers were added to the appearance of the Bobruisk building.
40 years have passed since the construction of the Nakagin Capsule Tower, and it is a fact that the building is becoming obsolete. It is worth noting that not a single capsule was ever replaced. Apparently, disconnecting and replacing one capsule is actually not so simple. The company that runs Nakagin insisted on demolishing the building and building a new one. Kurokawa Kisho died in 2007, but until recently he maintained that all the problems of Nakagin Tower could be solved by replacing the original capsules. At the councils of the Japan Architects Association, many are in favor of preserving the building, some even believe that the Nakagin Capsule Tower should be included in the list world heritage UNESCO. But no one knows the future fate of the building.
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Now, in 2013, "Nakagin Capsule Tower" is maintained in more or less acceptable condition, and recently, many people have been moving in here for a short time. The cost of renting a capsule module per month is attractive, the location of the Nakagin building is in the center of Tokyo. At the same time, this building, with its special atmosphere, inspires many to creative activity– perhaps the spirit of Kurokawa Kisho, who challenged the passing era with his values and his crazy fervour, is still passionately stirring up ideas in the young generation of creative people who have chosen the Nakagin Capsule Tower as their place of residence.
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sources
Kisho Kurokawa is a Japanese architect and one of the founders of the metabolist movement.
Kurokawa's main project, which embodied the ideas of metabolism, was the Nakagin Tower, the construction of which was completed in 1972. The building consists of two concrete towers containing 140 steel capsule modules that can be combined into larger living spaces. Each capsule was a compact apartment for one person - with a bed, a small built-in desk, a closet and a small shower. Moreover, the size of such a small capsule corresponds to the size of a traditional Japanese tea room.
The building was designed for sarariman, a term that came to be used in post-war Japan to refer to middle-class city employees. Now clerks also live in the house, but many of them use the “capsules” as offices or apartments during the working week, since the building is located near the business center of Tokyo. However, living in Nakagin Tower today comes with many inconveniences. Despite the fact that, according to the idea of the pioneers of metabolism, their buildings were supposed to be very durable, in 2007 the Kurokawa Tower was in danger of destruction. Residents of the building, dissatisfied with the cramped spaces and the asbestos content in the capsule structures, voted for its demolition. Wanting to save his creation, Kurokawa proposed a project for a large-scale reconstruction of the tower, but it was postponed due to the crisis.
Among his projects are the National Museum of Ethnology in Tokyo, the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam, National Center art in Tokyo, airport in Kuala Lumpur. Kisho Kurokawa became the author of the Zenit stadium project for St. Petersburg, and worked on the master plan for the capital of Kazakhstan, Astana.
Biography
Kisho Kurokawa was born in Nagoya in 1934. In 1957 he graduated from the Faculty of Architecture of Kyoto University, and in 1964 he completed postgraduate studies at the University of Tokyo under Kenzo Tenge. In the 1960s, Kurokawa was one of the founders and a faithful follower of the metabolist movement, who perceived the city and buildings as a living organism and opposed the modernist ideas of Le Corbusier. In 1962, Kisho Kurokawa founded Kisho Kurokawa Architect & Associates. The company took part in 38 national and international competitions, taking first place in 34 of them.
In February of this year, I received a call from the ENIgroup company (Moscow) and a pleasant female voice informed me that in March 2001, the famous architect Kisho Kurokawa was coming to St. Petersburg to film the Tokyo television film The Journey of My Soul, which in his anniversary year would be broadcast to everyone Far Eastern region. And she asked me to take part in these efforts. I remember summer days 1958 in Leningrad. The International Conference of Students of Architectural Educational Institutions was underway and among its participants was a young graduate student of Tokyo University Noriaki Kurokawa. He amazed us with his, as it seemed to us then, extraordinary dream of the Tree House and sharp criticism of the existing system of architectural education in Japan. Now about the film. Director Kiyoshi Nishida arrived first, then Kisho Kurokawa. I asked the assistant why his name is now Kisho and not Noriaki? And he received the answer: It’s all very simple - the hieroglyph of his name is read in Japanese as Noriaki, and in Chinese as Kisho. World famous he received in English translation the Chinese pronunciation. And so he wished to stay for everyone - Kisho. At the Academy of Arts, our meeting began in the Architecture room, then we moved to the museum conference room, where the discussion broke out. Besides me, Evgeny Rapoport and Igor Bilibin took part in it - former members conference in 1958. To Bilibin’s question: Why don’t people like modern architecture? Kurokawa replied: Because, firstly, before building, you need to think carefully and firmly know what you want to offer, and, secondly, the customer often spoils everything. An enlightened customer is rare. Like all the major architects of the 20th century and like a true Japanese, Kurokawa is an architect-philosopher, conceptualist and innovative practitioner who gave the world many amazing works. Therefore, his work deserves not just coverage, but careful and detailed consideration. One of the attempts to comprehend the Master’s work, coupled with his own comments, is offered to the interested reader.
Metabolism and Symbiosis
More than 40 years ago, along with the ideas of Metabolism proclaimed by Kenzo Tange, Kisho Kurokawa formulated the basic ideas of the philosophy of Symbiosis and sought to follow this in his work. His building, the Nakagin Capsule Tower in Tokyo (1970), became widely known. Here his idea of a tree house had already been realized: monolithic capsules of one-room apartments were mounted on the trunk of communications (stairs, elevator, water supply, sewerage, electricity, communications). Installation of one residential capsule takes 45 minutes. Therefore, as necessary, the house can grow without an architect. The master's ideas are presented in his books From the Age of Machines to the Age of Life (1998) and The Philosophy of Symbiosis (1997), as well as numerous essays. He himself briefly outlines his ideas: For more than 40 years I have been preaching the key concepts of Metabolism and Symbiosis. These words were not chosen by chance: they are intended to reflect the transition to the Age of Life from the Age of Machines. My architecture is a constant expression of the concept of Metabolism, Symbiosis or both. Any form, style or material should be applied according to function, climate, cultural identity, or geography. My path as an architect and the Metabolism movement began in 1960 as a challenge to this Age Machine Today, the prediction that the Machine Age is being replaced by the Age of Life is gradually becoming reality. If the machine is the expression of the age of homogenization, then life embodies the era of pluralism and diversity. Architecture will eventually move away from the universal international style and will move on to an intercultural style, which aims at the symbiosis of the universal and the regional. Unlike the times of racism and provincialism, this will be a century of regionalism, open to dialogue with the rest of the world, i.e. open regionalism. I preach the philosophy of Symbiosis as a key one in the 21st century, and for many fields, in particular, for physics, biology, biochemistry, electronics, economics, politics, science, philosophy, art, literature, architecture and urban planning. The concept of order in the age of Modernism is best represented in the so-called. Bourbaki system. The ideas of Euclid, Galileo, Descartes, Newton and Darwin are all components of the Bourbaki system. They emphasize dualism and seek established symmetry in their respective fields. In contrast, the new concept of order is called a non-Boerbakian system. My idea of a linear-cluster city of Metabolism is based on the same idea of \u200b\u200bthe Symbiosis of parts and the whole. The theory of symbiotic evolution, put forward by the American biologist Margulis and representing the largest revision of the Darwinian theory of evolution, is attracting attention around the world. This theory implies that competing antagonistic species can evolve by forming a symbiotic relationship. We may well find manifestations of such a connection in science, economics, art and culture. I believe that such changes occur once every 200-300 years, and therefore we, architects, must seek out and integrate such connections into all related fields.
The transition from the values of the Bourbaki system to the concepts of the non-Bourbaki system implies:
- emphasizing not the whole and unified, but the autonomy of parts, subsystems and subcultures;
- active involvement of heterogeneous and opposing elements;
- emphasis on an indefinite intermediate space, which was previously denied by rational dualism;
- cultural pluralism, which does not believe that there is only one ideal;
- emphasis not only on the rational, but on the symbiosis of the rational and sensual.
- man is no longer considered the pinnacle of nature; the symbiosis of humans and other species, humans and nature is considered;
- reliance not only on universalism, but also on cultural identity, spatial context, linguistic diversity. The desire for global symbiosis of different cultures.
All these questions are related to the principle of the Age of Life. By implementing it, we can find the New Architecture of the 21st century. As for the theory of Metabolism, the biological term of the same name, metabolism, is used here. The process of metabolism and waste disposal demonstrates the change, growth and balance of the life form, which in turn means sustainable self-sustaining architecture, or ecological architecture. Sony Tower (Osaka, 1973) was designed based on the Nakagin Capsule Tower (Tokyo, 1970). The capsule cabins, escalator block, piping and air ducts are all external and open for easy waste disposal and maintenance. This work is an example of Metabolic architecture and ecological architecture. Metabolism also expresses the aesthetics of Japanese culture, the principle of temporality. This idea that everything material will eventually collapse has its origins in the Buddhist concept of the transitory. Japanese tradition does not give of great importance directly to the material; We all know very well that nothing can exist forever, but the spirit and relationship between architecture and its environment is eternal. This feature of Japanese culture is present in all areas of modern Japanese society. An invisible tradition, aesthetic feeling and philosophy are inherited here. The common view of world order is based on the theory of stages of economic growth put forward by the American economist Rostow. His hypothesis that developing countries first go through a start-up stage, then move to a maturity stage, and then to a stage of highly developed consumer culture, influenced many areas of activity in the 1960s. Modernization meant Europeanization. According to this idea, the gradual Europeanization and homogenization of world space is a completely logical course of things. The philosophy of symbiosis is fundamentally different from this idea of homogenization. Lévi-Strauss's structuralism preached that the idea that world cultures occupy hierarchical levels on the way to the progress of civilization is incorrect; his discovery was that every culture is autonomous and has its own specific character, which can be non-hierarchically related to any other culture in the world. From this point on, Western culture became relational. We saw that the true wealth of the world will lie in the pluralism of cultures and their symbiosis.
I created new philosophy symbiosis in the 60s, simultaneously with the beginning of the metabolic movement. In my opinion, symbiosis embraces opposition and contradiction, promoting new, creative relationships mediated through competition and tension. The concept of Symbiosis speaks of that positive connection in which participants strive to understand each other, despite mutual opposition. Symbiosis preaches a connection that breeds a level of creativity. This level cannot be achieved by any of the participants alone. Symbiosis is an interactive connection between the actions of giving and receiving a response. The philosophy of symbiosis covers various dimensions, or degrees of freedom, namely: - symbiosis of the history of the present; - symbiosis of tradition and latest technology; - symbiosis of nature and man; - symbiosis of different cultures, symbiosis of art and science; - a symbiosis of regionalism and universalism. From modern architecture, I think we should keep the abstraction. Abstraction is a common feature of modern architecture, modern art and modern philosophy. In the philosophy of symbiosis and intercultural architecture, abstraction will become a prerequisite for polyvalent meaning. In ancient times, abstract geometric shapes, particularly pyramids, cones, squares and circles, symbolized a view of the universal that transcended the boundaries of regional cultures. Abstract geometry has a double meaning. It not only has a universality that can be used by different cultures, but also a clearly expressed historical meaning, mediated through the type of processing, placement, technology and material. Combining 20th century abstraction with the iconography of history and the cultural identity of topos in a cultural cosmology, I aim to put abstract Symbolism to the philosophical test.
Astana
One of Kurokawa's largest urban planning projects is the master plan for the new capital of Kazakhstan, Astana, developed by him on the basis of a project that received first prize at an international competition. In the author’s presentation (essay “Symbiotic City”, 2000), the concept of the city is as follows: “The twentieth century was the era of the primacy of the mechanistic principle, the twenty-first century will be the era of transition to the Principle of Life. The concept of primacy life principle expressed by keywords - metabolism, renewal, symbiosis, ecology and global environment. The new capital Astana, which embodies the above-mentioned concept, is designed to become a city of the 21st century, a symbiotic city. The new capital will be born in the symbiosis of the history of the old city of Akmola and the new built capital of Astana. Its urban planning structure is formed by the east-west railway axis and the bed of the Ishim River, flowing from southeast to northwest. The Ishim River ran along the border of the former city of Akmola, and was almost completely excluded from the daily life of the townspeople, only flooding the city during the snowmelt period. To protect against floods, a dam was built in the upper reaches of the river. After reconstructing the dam, creating balancing ponds and tidying up the riverbed, the river will become beautiful and safe. Trees will be planted along its banks, which will create a riverside park in combination with new residential areas along the river. A River City will emerge in symbiosis with nature. Thus, the Ishim River will no longer mark the border of the city. The new capital of Astana will arise on the banks of a river flowing through the city like the Seine, Thames or Moscow River. In winter, the air temperature in Astana sometimes drops to 30 degrees below zero. In addition, wind speeds from the northwest direction reach an average of seven meters per second.To protect against this wind, an artificial Eco-forest will be created in the southwestern part of the city in a swampy area. Its role is not only to soften the influence of wind, but also to revitalize the steppe-forest eco-system. The outer ring road will be surrounded by a forest corridor on both sides to provide protection from the wind. On the border of the old and new cities it is planned to establish a Central Park, connecting to the existing park area, which includes the Presidential, River and Sports parks. Its vast territory will cross the ring road and reach the Capitoline Park, which in turn will connect with the forest area of the airport. The city's green network is also formed by eight forest tiers emanating from the Central Park area. All tiers of the green zone will connect with forest corridors along the outer ring road. The new capital will be a green city, created in symbiosis with nature. Astana embodies the idea of a metabolic city. Population growth in any city depends on natural population growth, as well as various social processes. In new cities this process occurs at a rapid pace, in big cities these rates are higher due to social changes. According to calculations, Astana will receive 100-200 thousand new residents, and thus the urban population will reach 400-500 thousand people by 2005 and 600-800 thousand in 2030. The master plan envisages the creation of a city with well-balanced metropolitan functions and a population of up to one million people. The master plan is unique in that it provides a linear zoning system (as a principle of urban planning) that can adapt to constant development. The linear zoning system is structured along two city axes running from east to west. It includes the following zones: - green buffer zone starting in the northern part of the city; - current factory and future high-tech industrial territory; - existing urban areas (multifunctional zone); - river city and residential areas along the banks of Ishim; - Government city (open and semi-open for public access); - business (commercial) center (Business City); - airport territory. The principle of linear zoning allows each zone to develop from east to west in accordance with the growth of the new capital along the main urban axes. In this way, the idea of a symbiotic city with well-organized metropolitan functions adapted to constant development will be realized. At the heart of the new capital, two urban centerlines are planned. One of them, called Business City, will run along the business and shopping areas of the city. It will connect the railway station area in the northern part of the city and the existing park area in the south. Then it will cross the Ishim River and stretch further in a southern direction. In the north, this axis may eventually cross the railway station area; in the southern part of the city, it may continue to develop in a southwestern direction. Another axis of urban linear planning - the Government City - includes government buildings, Parliament buildings, the Supreme Court, the residence of the President, as well as diplomatic facilities, embassies and various institutions, official, public and cultural centers. In the memorial park adjacent to the existing central city axis, a monument will be erected in honor of the founding of the Republic of Kazakhstan. The urban axis of the Government City is intended to serve as an expression of the spirit of the new capital - the philosophical concept of “House of Eurasia”, proclaimed by the President of the Republic Nursultan Nazarbayev.
Astana will be a city of harmonious coexistence of people and machines. The main modes of public transport are generally considered to be city buses and private transport, with a sharp increase in the number of private cars expected in the future. In this regard, planning for vehicle parking in Business City and Government City is carried out within the framework of a specific strategy, which involves the construction of underground areas or the use of space under artificial tiers. All this as a whole will contribute to the creation of a beautiful urban landscape. In addition, in the future, the central ring road will develop into an elevated highway, this will ensure reliable communication between the left and right banks of Ishim. As for public transport, it is necessary to connect urban areas (airport, city center, Government city, existing city center and railway station) from north to south with a light monorail. All streets will have not only pedestrian sidewalks, but also boulevards. As a result, Astana will become a city of harmonious coexistence of people and machines. Moreover, it is planned to build three ring roads. One of them - the outer ring road - will connect future expressways and all radial roads along the outer border of the city, and will also play the role of a bypass route to prevent transit traffic flow through the city. Along it it is planned to build a wholesale warehouse center, a truck terminal and other logistics facilities. Outside there will be agricultural areas and areas for the construction of a wind energy station. The area between the outer ring road and the inner city ring road is reserved for subsequent development. As an exception, it can accommodate such objects as a university and a military base, an international trade and exhibition center, sports complexes, cultural institutions, a Hi-Tech Park, a wholesale warehouse center, a truck terminal, etc. The inner city ring road is designed to carry out a very important unification function the existing city, which is divided by the railway and the Ishim River, with other areas - an industrial zone in the northern part, an existing mixed-use zone, a River City, a Government Center, a Business and Commercial Center. The Central Ring Road will provide a connection between the existing city center and the new city center - Government City.
Three ring roads will make it possible to create a new type of capital - a ring city of the 21st century. The master plan of Astana was created on the basis the latest methods planning in accordance with the so-called Master System and Master Program. The first implements urban functions based on a planning concept that includes ring roads, a linear zoning system, a green forest network, a business and commercial axes, a government city, an Eco-forest, and a waste management and recycling system. The Master Program is designed for five years. It is designed as a multi-stage plan that takes into account the large-scale development of urban functions and various changes due to population growth. In addition, the Program contains strategic research on the construction of priority infrastructure facilities." The aesthetic value of the composition of the city center depends on the artistic qualities and methods of placing architectural forms from the point of view of their perception "from the perspective of human eyes." The supporting elements of such perception will be four volumetric-spatial compositions: the Presidential Residence, the Administration building and the Parliament building (on the eastern side, embodying the “gate” of the center), Independence Square in complex with the Monument and the cultural and entertainment square with the circus building. In connection with these objects, the rhythm of alternating the heights of buildings will be regulated, which will give dynamic expressiveness to the volumetric-spatial composition of the building. The city center is designed according to the principle of a peculiar rhythmic composition in a “concert” performance with changes in tempo, musical variations, which will create a special atmosphere of the urban environment. The so-called background of the sky horizon - the height of the sky, the liveliness of the city, silence and The elegance of the park with spatial architectural dominants is the circus area in the western part, the Monument in State Independence Park, the buildings of the Presidential Administration and Parliament (the visual effect of the front gate) and the President's residence. In the Central City Park, located along the east-west axis of the Government Center, various water features (fountains, cascades) were designed, which will add variety to the architectural background, improve the microclimate, and enliven the environment of parks and squares. Small architectural forms (yurts, kiosks, shops, cafes, bars) in keeping with national traditions are provided. Night lighting will contribute to the expressiveness and attractiveness of the capital.
Kuala Lumpur Airport
The new airport is undoubtedly an outstanding phenomenon, both from an architectural and functional-technological standpoint. Therefore, in order to more accurately understand the design concept, let us again turn to the author himself: “The site for Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA) is located 60 km from the capital of Malaysia, Kuala Lumpur. Apart from several hilly areas, the area is flat; its size 10x10 km After winning the international competition, when I was chosen as the architect of this project, I proposed to the Malaysian government to formulate a regional development plan, otherwise the area between Kuala Lumpur and the new airport could be chaotically developed. Thus, the concept of Eco-Media City was born. concept of the Kuala Lumpur Linear Metropolitan Corridor. My proposal was to create a fundamentally new experimental city of the 21st century through the formation of transport, information and environmental infrastructures between the capital and its new airport. Subsequently, a plan was developed to create a transport infrastructure combining the construction of two expressways and. one high-speed specialized railway line, allowing the travel time between the airport and the city to be reduced to 30 minutes. Then a plan was created for the Multimedia Super Corridor (the information infrastructure of the Eco-Media City), an intelligent City and a zone called Cyber Jaya, the prototype of which is Silicon Valley. The plan calls for government offices to be moved to a new location, somewhere midway between Kuala Lumpur and the new capital. The Prime Minister's residence and a number of other structures were completed at the same time as the new airport. The environmental infrastructure - the ecological corridor - is still at the planning stage. This zone will gradually take the form of a corridor as private investment increases. The Eco-Media city will be formed as a network of compact villages connected by three infrastructure elements - transport logistics, an optical information network and an ecological corridor. Palm trees and rubber trees are grown in the airport area, and in the future it is planned to set aside the area surrounding the airport for an experiment in the artificial restoration of tropical forest. Creating a forest surrounding the airport will be the most effective method of blocking aircraft noise. This is the foundation of the concept of symbiosis of forest and airport. Moreover, we also believe that this idea will be effective in expressing the uniqueness of Malaysian topography.The symbiosis of forest and airport involves more than simple forestry planning around the airport. Among other things, a miniature tropical forest will be created inside the airport itself, between the main terminal and the apron, as well as in the courtyard in the center of the satellite building. This symbolizes the Forest in the Airport and the Airport in the Forest. Both arriving and incoming air passengers will experience a forest experience that gives them a taste of Malaysia's unique identity. In general, a network of forests is required that supports a diversity of species; an ecological corridor is required through which the flow of this biological diversity flows. Once fully completed in 2020, the airport will be able to serve 120 million air passengers annually. The airport plan calls for a combination of four runways of 4,000 meters each, with a fifth runway of 2,800 meters in length, which will be used for shuttle flights to Singapore. All this will bring the new airport into the ranks of the largest international transport hubs. Understandably, many wonder why Malaysia, with its population of 20 million, requires an international airport of this size. The reason lies in the intense strategic competition between Malaysia, China and South Korea for the right to become the host country of one of the three new international transport hubs in the Asian region, designed for hypersonic aircraft. Naturally, those countries that build such nodes and related infrastructure will most likely become a financial center, not to mention an international information center, tourist and industrial. In other words, the world has already taken a step into a new era. In the past, airports were built because there was a need for them. Now the strategy is to build airports that create demand. For such a daring plan transport hub the concept of metabolism was used. The project involves a set of cells in the shape of a hyperbolic paraboloid with a length of 38.4 m. The roof of the main terminal building is supported by conical columns. This design will best express the identity of the traditional and Islamic culture of Malaysia. In cross section along the central axis, the cell looks like an arch. The interior space created by the combination of cells will recall the domed shape characteristic of Islam. One of the main reasons why we chose a hyperbolic cell is that it is made of rectilinear elements. Already at the first stage of concept development, the idea was born to create a ceiling from a single-layer tubular lattice and straight wooden panels, since the main product of the country is timber. The 1st phase of KLIA opened on June 30, 1998." Kurokawa's invention and design elaboration of a distinctive spatial structure - a hyperbolic paraboloid based on Middle Eastern Islamic traditions - is a major contribution to the development of modern tectonic architectural form.
Museum in Hiroshima
Among the museum complexes built according to Kurokawa's designs, the Museum of Modern Art in Hiroshima (1989) stands out. This is the first building of its kind built after the atomic bombing. It is located on a picturesque hill with an area of 29 hectares, covered with forest and surrounded by dense urban development. It has a dynamic asymmetrical composition. The entrance is organized through a “broken” ring of a circular square. The lighting of the exhibits was very interesting. There are no two identical rooms in the building. The hill on which the museum stands is covered with stone. All forms are symbolic and reminiscent of the tragedy of Hiroshima. The museum is the first public institution in Japan dedicated to the study of modernity. In Hiroshima, the word "modern" refers to the period after the atomic bombing. It carries special meaning, making a connection between art and peacetime. The building sits on a 50-meter hill on 75 acres within the Hijiyama Art Park, for which Kurokawa also designed the plans. The composition includes a sculpture garden, educational institution open-air, viewing platforms, open spaces and natural walking paths. This high-rise museum site is reminiscent of the Acropolis in Athens, surrounded by forest and completely protected from the noise of the city below. Numerous staircases, like a river bed, descend from the museum into the park. One of them leads to the central area of the complex. Once there, visitors move from gallery to gallery along the ground floor and then only descend into the underground halls (to preserve the city panorama, 60% of the building is hidden underground). Therefore, the building is essentially a roof, 660 m long, whose design is reminiscent of traditional warehouses in the 19th century. Conventional building materials such as stone, ceramics and aluminum in a modern combination create the effect of unity between the present and the future.Melbourne Center
The Melbourne Center (1993) brilliantly solved the problem of interaction between new architecture and the existing architectural landscape. Here, a block of varied buildings has been transformed into a building, united by a single 3-5 storey “plate” (several floors are built underground). The corner entrance to the complex is marked by a spherical mirrored glass dome. Mirror cone includes former factory gunpowder and grapeshot from the time of colonization of Australia. The result was a very bright compositional solution themes of interaction between regional and modern, old and new. The internal space of the “crystal” cone presents a truly enchanting spectacle, formed by passages through open galleries, fragments of a brick factory building with its own interiors. The dominant feature of the entire complex is the elegantly drawn skyscraper.Singapore Tower
The 67-storey (230 m) high-rise building, built in 1992-1995, became the final dominant feature of Republic Square in Singapore. It compares favorably with the surrounding buildings with its plasticity and color. In order to provide a beautiful view of the ocean from most office premises, the upper floors of the tower are rotated 45° relative to the podium. In this case, the upper tetrahedral part smoothly transitions to the octagonal base. At night, when the lights come on, the tower becomes a kind of lighthouse for Singapore.Hotel Kiosera
The building is located in the Kokubu Hayato technopolis not far from Kagoshima Airport. The project's client, the real estate company Kyosera, asked Kurokawa to express the concept of all-consuming love in architecture. The architect proposed an elliptical complex 60 m high, in the form of two arms gently hugging the central glass atrium. Function rooms and meeting rooms are located on two underground floors. Halls for wedding ceremonies are located on the 2nd floor, restaurants - on the 3rd; and on the top floor there is a living room, main bar and administration. Guest rooms imitate the elliptical structure of the complex and follow the shape open hands. Each 20 m2 room is a comfortable, wide space with extra-large windows. The central atrium extends skyward across all 13 floors of the hotel. The triangular space on the ground floor is occupied by a small chapel, the main motif of which is a cross and a ruby crescent for guests inclined to spiritual quest. Exhibits are displayed in the hall industrial design, embodying the fusion of technology and art. A collection of eclectic art representing sounding works Local artist Junji Yoshii from Kagoshima, prints by artist Yoko Yamamoto, create a special atmosphere throughout the building. The snow-white oval undivided volume of the Kiosera Hotel looks impregnable and significant against the background of the environment. However, from the exit side of the atrium, the picture changes dramatically. The compositional design of the hotel is based on a combination of the elliptical surface of the walls and the openness of the atrium. The open, lightweight design of the glazing and the plastic forms of the floor galleries determine the scale internal space, so the atrium, filled with light, makes a bright impression.Toyota
The city with a population of 350 thousand people is known for being the headquarters of a large automobile company. According to Kurokawa's designs, two iconic structures are being built here - a pedestrian and transport bridge and a football stadium. They are conceived in such a way that they will “work” together compositionally, forming an architectural symbol of the city. The retractable roof of the stadium (capacity 45 thousand spectators) has a design similar to that of a bridge, the two central 140-meter spans of which are reinforced with arches with cable ties. Construction of the bridge is completed in 2001. It is part of the Park Road, connecting the main green areas of the city and suburbs. Intended primarily for pedestrians rather than vehicles, it has 10-meter sidewalks on both sides, staircases leading down to the river and viewing platforms. At the same time, the steps are arranged in such a way that they are comfortable to sit on, fish, and watch fireworks. In a word, the function of a bridge outgrows the significance of just a transport structure.
It is also important that the new bridge does not change or straighten the complex river fairway and, while dominating the space, does not disturb the natural landscape. Dr. Kise Kurokawa Today he is not only one of the leading architects in the world, but also a major architect-entrepreneur, a member of many academies (including the Russian Academy of Architecture and Construction Sciences), an adviser to presidents and governments of various countries. His book "Philosophy of Symbiosis" was included in the top ten best books in the world according to the year of publication. He received the right to design and build many large projects as a result of victories in international competitions. Kurokawa's works are characterized by a rare elegance of form. Their expressiveness is based on the author's design elaboration of the latest structural systems, efficient materials and skillful work with light. Coloristic solutions enhance the symbolism of large shapes and details. “Pure” geometric forms are organically complemented by “historicism” and masterpieces of modern realistic art. It is probably impossible to combine the many conflicting demands of the philosophy of Symbiosis into one composition. But the Master’s talent always finds what in a particular case can be dominant and what can be background. Today it is a generally accepted fact that “on the modern architectural horizon, Dr. Kisho Kurokawa is undoubtedly an outstanding personality.” This applies both to his ideas for the development of architecture and to the practical creation of many wonderful buildings in the world.
The Japanese architect Kisho Kurokawa had a lot in common with Russia. He was a fan of Russian avant-garde architecture, fell in love with a Russian girl in his youth and even wanted to stay in Russia forever. Many years later, having won the 2006 international competition for the design of the stadium for the Zenit football club in St. Petersburg, the master planned to return to Russia for a long time to personally oversee the construction. However, fate decreed otherwise.
Kurokawa never looked his age and, even at 70, remained in excellent physical shape. He worked tirelessly, receiving orders from around the world, participating in professional competitions and giving numerous lectures in Japan and abroad. How did he do it? This question interested journalists and colleagues of the master no less than the postulates of his famous philosophy.
The architect himself said that he sleeps no more than three hours a day, starts work in the studio early in the morning, finishing closer to eleven, then writes articles until two in the morning - and so on every day. To maintain such a schedule, he played sports and always made grandiose plans for the future.
The famous architect was born in 1934 in the Japanese prefecture of Aichi. He studied architecture at the universities of Kyoto and Tokyo. He graduated from Kyoto University in 1957 with a bachelor's degree, and in Tokyo he studied under the guidance of the great Kenzo Tange. Kisho Kurokawa's father was also an architect, but young Kurokawa used the opportunity to use his parent's name only once in his life, when he registered his architectural bureau in 1962.
“Metabolism” by Kurokawa
Kisho Kurokawa, together with like-minded people, among whom were K. Kikutake, F. Maki, M. Otaka, formed a group, marking the beginning of a new architectural direction- metabolism. In 1960, the group performed for the first time at International Congress design in Tokyo with the manifesto "Metabolism 1960 - proposals for a new urbanism." Its members drew an analogy between a living organism and a city, which is also capable of growing and changing. In their opinion, architecture, like biological structures, should not be static: since over time many of its elements wear out and become unusable, they need to be replaced with new ones. Metabolists were not interested in a separate, self-contained building, but in a group form that served as a structural frame. Such a form cannot be damaged by reducing, enlarging or changing the elements that fill it. Metabolists contrasted closed and complete systems with open and ready for further growth.
The metabolic approach to architecture, on the one hand, is futuristic, as it postulates the creation of an environment that can adapt to all changes in people's lives. On the other hand, metabolism is an appeal to the origins and traditions of Japanese culture, in which the concept of the house as a fundamentally temporary object was formed. As a rule, quickly erected, it could just as quickly collapse (or be dismantled).
The same can be said about everyday items, because few of them were made with strength and durability in mind: worn-out straw sandals were replaced with new ones at every stage of the journey; dresses consisted of separate pieces of material, fastened so that they could be easily ripped apart for washing; tatami floors were replaced every autumn, etc. Architectural structures, which were also built without the expectation of long-term existence, were built from easily and quickly replaced standard elements. Thus, constant update became the key to the sustainability of Japanese culture.
The first design experiments of the metabolists were dedicated to the city of the future and reflected the global trend of futurological searches of those years. Kisho Kurokawa, having created the wall city and spiral city projects in the early 1960s, explored the possibilities of three-dimensional development of urban infrastructures.
The architect's main project, which embodies the ideas of metabolism, is the Nakagin capsule hotel, construction of which was completed in 1972. The building consists of two concrete towers with 144 steel capsule modules attached to them. Each capsule is a compact apartment for one person, with a bed, a small built-in desk, a closet and a small shower.
The development of capsule architecture ideas can be seen in the example of the Sony office tower in Osaka. The ten-story building combines a stable base and a capsule structure. The capsules here are the same size as those at the Nakagin Hotel, but are made of stainless steel. The facade contains steel panels, glass, marble and copper plates. The basic principle of metabolism was implemented in the Sony tower. By the way, in the early 1990s, all the capsules in it were replaced. The building has won many professional awards and is an example of sustainable architecture.
Kurokawa showed his commitment to the ideas of capsule architecture when designing his own home. The architect's summer house, built in the Japanese village of Karuizawa in 1974, is named by the author "Capsule House K". It is a miniature concrete tower from which four steel capsules are suspended. They contain two bedrooms, a kitchen and a tea room. Connecting these rooms is a living room in the center of a concrete tower.
The capsule house is distinguished by an extremely laconic appearance and an extremely cozy interior, designed in a traditional style using natural wood (which did not prevent the capsule kitchen from being equipped with the latest technology). Kurokawa's building, which became one of the symbols of Japanese metabolism, at one time also served as experimental confirmation of the competent organization of a small space and the organic interconnection of all its parts.
Grey colour
Revealing ideas about beauty in Japanese culture, the master created his own philosophy of architecture, based on the inclusion of “gray areas” in the work. He deliberately appealed to the gray color and “gray areas” in the building, placing emphasis on them. By the “gray zone,” Kurokawa understood the intermediate space, which cannot be classified as either external or internal - it is the middle element, that intermediate zone that helps the interpenetration of opposites, harmonizing them.
With his work, the architect demonstrated the possibilities of gray, abandoning bright colors in favor of more restrained ones. gray shades. Gray is presented in the master’s works as a color that creates qualitative characteristics in architectural works, fills them with meaningful images, and integrates the works into a series of traditionally conceptualized ones. The chosen color emphasizes the natural texture of the materials used - concrete, metal structures. First of all, it is the color scheme that reveals the architect’s understanding of the traditions of his culture and contributes to a more complete perception of his creations.
In the bank building in Fukuoka (1975), the intermediate space is created by extending the roof over one of the side facades. The architect views the resulting “gray area” as corresponding to the same functions that the engawa, the open gallery of a traditional Japanese house, assumed. Just as in the cool shade of an engawa you can chat with guests, so in the gray space of a bank in Fukuoka an atmosphere is created that is convenient for people to communicate. This confirms the continuity of the functional purpose of the “gray zone” in relation to the gallery surrounding traditional house. Not only functional correspondence, but also substantive characteristics link the engawa of a traditional house and the “gray zone” of a bank.
Just like engawa helps avoid exposure outside world to an enclosed living space, the gray zone created by Kurokawa allows visitors to escape the clutter of a noisy street and the dry business atmosphere of a bank. The laconic form of the building embodies the simplicity and reliability that are so relevant in banking. The cube-shaped building is 45 meters high; its upper part, supported by a powerful corner abutment, hangs over the open area. In this way, the architect created an organic transition between the building itself, its interior and the urban space.
The development of ideas of gray space can be traced in the National Museum of Ethnology (1977). It is a group of covered galleries with a courtyard, organized into an architectural whole with a larger central volume. Each individual element of the ensemble is raised above ground level, thus continuing the traditions of Japanese construction and creating a “gray space” inside. The gray color of the building is combined with the play of shadows in the interior. “My interest in color,” Kurokawa wrote, “is concentrated on the insensitive state of duration resulting from the collision of two opposing elements and neutralizing each other in such a way that the two colors exclude each other in the shadow.”
The shadow enveloping the interior creates a gray space. The architect emphasizes the difference in shadows with different materials: aluminum, granite, etc. This gives rise to a play of imagination, saturates piece of art images and refers to the meanings that fill the penumbra, still understandable to representatives of Japanese culture.
Pavilions and exhibitions
Kisho Kurokawa was repeatedly invited to create architectural projects, designed to shape the image of Japan before the world community. This is precisely the task posed to the architecture of the World Exhibitions. Kurokawa designed several themed pavilions at Expo 70 in Osaka. For example, the Takara pavilion demonstrated the fundamental principles of Japanese metabolism. The structure consisted of prefabricated “shelves” filled with residential elements, thereby having unlimited possibilities for increasing or decreasing parts of the structure.
Since all units of the structure were manufactured in advance, the entire structure could be assembled in the shortest possible time. Therefore, Kisho Kurokawa's Takara pavilion was installed at the Expo site in one week. Assembly was a simple process: lifting the block, placing it and securing it with latches. The idea of unlimited modification of the structure (if necessary) is fundamental to metabolism; it introduces the life of the building into the life of the city, allowing the structure not to remain an achievement of the past or a dream of the future, but to always be modern.
The exhibition area of Expo 85, held in Tsukuba, was divided into eight blocks, the concept of each was developed by different architects. Kisho Kurokawa was responsible for the organization of block G. Since block G is narrow and long in plan, the architect designed it in the form of a street running along its axis. The pavilions were to be located along the street. One side was reserved for the participating countries - their buildings were full of bright colors and showed a variety of forms going back to the national traditions of each country. On the opposite side, Kurokawa intended to place Japanese pavilions. To beat this situation, which is quite difficult in artistically, the architect decided to completely abandon color in the design of the Japanese pavilions of his block.
The idea worked one hundred percent thanks to the creation of a bright and unprecedented contrast: foreign pavilions, fighting among themselves for the most spectacular color solutions, looked at the black and white pavilions of Japan. It was this contrast that Kurokawa managed to make advantageous for his country. In the absence of color, the Japan side of the street was aesthetically immaculate. With their appearance, the buildings demonstrated the canons of beauty that are followed when constructing residential buildings in the Land of the Rising Sun.
The master's pavilions to the greatest extent (among all the Japanese blocks at the exhibition) conveyed the national character of exhibition architecture in the tradition of the sukiya style. According to him, the interiors of the pavilions were designed in the spirit of elegant simplicity and restraint. They combined an empty gray space, devoid of any decoration, with a framed wall structure into which white panels were inserted, reminiscent of fusuma and shoji (external and internal partitions of a traditional Japanese house). At dusk, these pavilions were perceived from the outside as a gray space, but inside the wall panels were illuminated - so, thanks to the effect of the tight shoji paper, which let muted light into the traditional house, a warm interior was created.
After the end of any World Exhibition, its site is freed from national pavilions and receives a second life. On the territory of Expo 70 in Osaka, according to the design of Kisho Kurokawa, the National Museum of Ethnology was erected in 1977. The master placed the main emphasis on the meanings and symbols revealed to the attentive viewer. This work reflected the philosophy of Kurokawa, who combined elements of different cultures into a single artistic image.
Airport project in Kuala Lumpur
The best ideas of architectural metabolism formed the basis of the Kuala Lumpur Airport project. The new building of Malaysia's main air gate was intended to replace the then outdated Subangi Airport. There were special requirements for updating the business card of the capital of Malaysia. It was necessary to create the world's largest airport with five runways, which could become one of the three air transport hubs in Asia.
Kuala Lumpur Airport. Fragment
with meteorological tower
When developing the appearance of the future Kisho Airport, Kurokawa tried to take into account all the various nuances in the convenience and use of it by staff and passengers, turning the structure into a miracle of engineering technology. The world's first fully automated message was launched between the two terminals. The driverless air train immediately became a real sensation and the main attraction of the airport. In addition, multi-registration, a free cinema hall and massage rooms have also begun to operate here. High-speed elevators and moving walkways, an abundance of greenery and light, and many other important and useful technical innovations have complemented the appearance of the airport in the capital of Malaysia, making it one of the most famous and popular, confidently ranking among the top ten in the world.
The main terminal is a four-level building, designed in such a way that it is ready for expansion at any time. Repeated shells are reminiscent of traditional Islamic domes, aiming to convey a symbiosis of advanced technology and Muslim tradition. This idea was also revealed in the interior, where Islamic motifs are also found. The beautiful three-dimensional geometric shapes on the ceiling are supported by elongated multi-colored columns that widen towards the bottom.
The lighting is interesting, giving the airport a special character. There is a real tropical garden in the airport hall, which becomes the center of attraction for many passengers. Large-scale landscaping served as an example of the famous Kurokawa symbiosis - the harmony of architecture and nature. Kuala Lumpur Airport is still considered the best environmentally friendly airport in the world.
In 2000, construction of the first Dinosaur Museum in Japan was completed, which is also a major scientific center. It is no coincidence that the city of Katsuyama, Fukui Prefecture, was chosen for its location - it was there that the largest excavations of prehistoric remains in Japan were carried out. The main building has a streamlined shape, using simple geometric shapes. The space of the building is very interestingly organized. Upon entering the museum, visitors take a long escalator down to the ground floor, where fossils from early famous life on the ground.
The underground level houses exhibitions of fossils in rock directly at the spot of discovery. From there, visitors can walk up to the main exhibition hall, which includes a display of dinosaur fossils. The glass dome served as a huge exhibition hall. The museum has various dioramas with automated dinosaurs that can move and make sounds. The four levels of the building are interconnected modern system stairs and escalators, reminiscent of the skeleton of a large prehistoric animal.
General plan of Astana
One of Kurokawa's most ambitious projects is the development of a master plan for Astana, the new capital of Kazakhstan. This competition became one of the main professional victories of the architect. When Nursultan Nazarbayev decided to move the capital from Almaty, he sent out invitations to many famous architects. The fundamental idea in Kurokawa's project was the harmony of the urban and natural environment. The architects who worked on the general plan before wanted to make the river bed the architectural axis of the city. Kurokawa considered such a decision a big mistake, because the metropolis would have polluted the vital artery of the entire region in a few years. The approach of the architect, who insisted on the paramount importance of the natural context, pleased the Kazakh authorities.
In the late 1990s - early 2000s, stadium design became an important page in Kurokawa's creative biography. In 1996, the master created a project for the main stadium for the Japanese city of Oita, which was supposed to host the World Cup in 2002. The large-scale complex consists of a main building, a fitness center, a swimming pool, two multi-sports fields, 11 tennis courts, etc. The main stadium features a retractable roof, allowing it to be modified and used all year round. Thanks to its gentle curved lines, the spherical shape of the stadium fits perfectly into the surrounding landscape. The architect proposed using Teflon membrane panels in the structure, which would reduce the need for artificial lighting during the day by 25%.
In 1997, Kurokawa developed a stadium project for the city of Toyota. When creating the project, it was assumed that Toyota would become one of 15 contenders to host the semi-final games of the World Cup. Therefore, the stadium was designed for 60,000 spectators. Later, the city dropped out of the race, the project had to be revised and the number of spectators reduced to 45,000. Even despite the reduction in the size of the structure, one can appreciate the talent of the master. A small plot of land next to the river was provided for construction. According to experts, it was almost impossible to accommodate a stadium with the required characteristics on such a territory, so the project was calculated down to the millimeter.
Krestovsky Stadium project in Russia
The stadium, designed by the famous Japanese architect, was supposed to appear in Russia after the 2006 competition. Kurokawa’s creation “Spaceship” was supposed to replace the one that was then occupied by the Zenit club. True, some elements of the monument of Stalinist architecture were planned to be preserved. One of the conditions for participation in the competition was that the applicants had completed stadium projects. As is known, in Japan Kurokawa had already built the Oita and Toyota stadiums, and among the participants in the competition he was perhaps the most famous architect.
Kisho Kurokawa's project was distinguished by restraint and elegance. Viewed from the sea, the spectacular white structure resembled a multi-tiered ocean liner, and when viewed from above, the stadium resembled a flying saucer. The bowl of the stands was covered by a dome with the silhouette of an eight-masted sailboat. The project involved the use of high technology. The stadium's retractable roof was equipped with a membrane structure that was inflated with hot air to melt the snow. Many elements, including the roof, were planned to be monitored remotely from Tokyo. The retractable football field could be moved outside the stadium to provide fresh surfaces all year round.
Kisho Kurokawa became a real legend in his homeland, and in other countries his professional authority was considered indisputable. While his architectural firm was headquartered in Tokyo, it had branches in Osaka, Nagoya, Astana, Kuala Lumpur, Beijing and Los Angeles. More than 50 objects for various purposes were built according to the master’s designs; his concepts and plans formed the basis for the master plans of four new cities. Kurokawa wrote 20 books and a huge number of articles. He was awarded every possible professional prize and award, with the possible exception of the Pritzker Award.
Of the 38 national and international competitions, in which Kurokawa took part, at 34 he took first place. The master himself always said that he did not care about creating the “Kurokawa style”. Despite this, its buildings are easy to recognize. They are bright and unique, but always distinctly restrained. They are both modern and preserving the main traditions of Japanese culture.
The atomic bombing of Japan on August 6, 1945 virtually wiped out the city of Hiroshima. It began to rise from the ashes only from the late 1940s, receiving a new plan, residential development, administrative and cultural facilities. was one of those architects who created a new look for Hiroshima. The Museum of Contemporary Art, opened in 1988, was not only the only art site in the city at the time, but also the first art gallery built in Japan after World War II.
Hiroshima is different special treatment to history, and the concept of “modern” here still means the period “after the atomic bomb.”
In a place where all pre-war history has been eradicated, the term "modern" has a certain depth of meaning. Therefore, when designing the Hiroshima Museum of Contemporary Art, Kurokawa had to create a symbolic object that subtly and precisely connected the world of art with the surrounding urban space.
Large-scale projects like this are always aimed at creating an image of the future of a particular city. In the case of Hiroshima, this issue was especially acute. As you know, back in 1949 it was proclaimed a “city of peace,” so it is not surprising that the complex being created was supposed to become a symbol of this world and at the same time embody the memory of the terrible tragedy that happened. This was perhaps the most important reason why the Hiroshima Museum of Modern Art project was so important to Kurokawa.
The top of the 50-meter high Mount Hijiyama was allocated for the museum. According to the plan, it was planned to place a large Cultural Center, main part which the Museum of Modern Art was intended to be. The architect designed a four-story building with an area of about 10,000 square meters- such a scale in relation to Japanese museums is quite rare.
In order not to overwhelm the surroundings with the volume of the building, the two lower floors of the building were hidden underground. The museum is surrounded by greenery, since the entire ground part is surrounded by a park densely planted with trees, the open areas of which were specially created as exhibition areas and intended for sculptural compositions.
Mount Hijiyama, as Kurokawa aptly noted, dominates Hiroshima like the Acropolis dominates Athens. The architect tried to emphasize and strengthen this symbolic meaning with the location of his building and well-thought-out accents.
The building also serves a memorial function. The central zone of the museum, around which all volumes of the complex are grouped, is courtyard in an open ring. The main semantic load, according to the architect’s plan, lay precisely on the central volume, which is the architectural and symbolic dominant. The center of the building is empty, and the ring points to the city where the atomic bomb was dropped. Opposite the empty open space of the central part, a special platform was created on which a huge, 6.1-meter high, bronze sculpture by Henry Moore “The Arch” was placed, framing a panoramic view of the resurrected city.
The blinding shine and flashing reflections of the sun on the metal surfaces of the museum building are associated with atomic explosion, and even the open central part, raised above the entrance platform, can be compared to an atomic mushroom towering over the city.
The gigantic open circle of the central exhibition halls is raised on columns, revealing a huge gray space. Creating an intermediate gray space is one of the master’s favorite creative techniques. The impression is enhanced by the gray color of the entire volume of the building. The most important central part of the building, which is the focus, with its architectural form “pulls” the visitor inside, into the gray (that is, shaded, fascinating and attractive with its coolness) museum space.
Communication with historical memory conveyed by the architect through the use of elements of traditional Japanese buildings. The high gable roofs he developed, which complete all the above-ground parts of the museum, are easily “read” as part of the traditional construction methods of the Edo period (XVII–XIX), especially revered in Japan.
A visible embodiment of the philosophy of symbiosis put forward by Kisho Kurokawa can be found both in the plan of the building and in the rhythm of its roofs. The pointed ends of the museum complex are directed towards the center, gathering together at the central element and thus illustrating the connection of the whole and its individual parts. The architect himself defined his idea of symbiosis as having deep and strong ties with the national tradition: “The philosophy of symbiosis returns architecture, which was supplanted by functionalism, to its harmonious development.
Who is familiar with Japanese culture, will immediately notice that the philosophy of symbiosis has deep roots… In the early 60s, I was only interested in the symbiosis between man and technology, the symbiosis between man and nature, and only later, in the 70s, did I begin to study the symbiosis between man and history.”
The materials used in the construction of the museum - stone, tile and aluminum - are successfully combined, effectively creating a symbiosis of modern architecture with traditional elements. The walls of the museum are lined with aluminum panels, which was probably intended by the architect as a metaphor for traditional Japanese buildings - “kura”, which for a long time remained the only type of fireproof buildings in Japanese castles and cities. Their main structural element was iron doors that blocked the air flow.
Back in the Middle Ages, a tradition developed that long defined the Japanese lifestyle: storing unused furniture, things and dishes in a special room. Only the essentials for everyday life remained in the rooms, everything else was in storage. In the summer, winter things were put away there and vice versa. For several centuries, fireproof warehouses and storage facilities became a symbol of reliability and safety for the Japanese.
Due to the fact that a forest zone was created around the museum, its territory was almost completely isolated from city noise. The techniques of the famous directing of visitors’ movements in space, which one might encounter while walking, for example, through traditional gardens and monasteries in Japan, were fully used by the architect when constructing the museum park. There are winding walking paths around the museum building, allowing you to enjoy the outdoors and explore the park's attractions. In several places there are open areas with beautiful panoramic views of different parts of the museum and park complex.
In the museum itself, to facilitate the circulation of the flow of visitors, there are many staircases, generously, even with some redundancy, arranged according to the plan. Perhaps they the main task is not to fulfill its function, but to create a more vibrant artistic space. In the exhibition halls to the left of the main entrance there is permanent exhibition, and the rooms on the right are intended for temporary exhibitions. The museum's interiors are designed in muted colors, creating Kurokawa's famous gray space.
Immediately after its completion, the Kisho Kurokawa Museum of Contemporary Art in Hiroshima gained worldwide fame and received many awards, including the Grand Prix and Gold Medal of the V World Biennale of Architecture in 1989 and the Architectural Institute of Japan Prize in 1990.
The Hiroshima Museum of Contemporary Art is built on the top of Mount Hijiyama, overlooking the city destroyed by the atomic bomb on August 6, 1945. Professing a philosophy of symbiosis, the architect combined Asian and Western historical as well as local elements in his design.
The museum's rotunda evokes the classic domed museums of the early 1990s, except here the round shape is broken up by an opening from which one can see a panoramic view of the city. Kurokawa's interest in museums began when he was working on National Museum ethnology (197) in Osaka.
This art museum made of steel and reinforced concrete covers an area of 2282 sq.m. Its open central layout serves as a meeting point for gallery bays that run longitudinally, and its gabled roof echoes the roofs of the houses. neighboring village. The stones in the square, surrounding the supporting columns of a broken rotunda lined with metal panels, are the remains of a destroyed city at the foot of the mountain.
Architecture is a sublime statement and expression of the ideas of the era in which it was created.
Father Kisho Kurokawa (1934-2007) led the Japanese Metabolism movement in architecture of the 1960s. Two V structures - the Nakagin Capsule Tower (1972) in Tokyo and the Sony Tower (1976) in Osaka - serve as a tangible reminder of the importance of spreading ideas through which cities and buildings using mass-produced architectural elements can organically develop However, his career rich in other creations.
Kurokawa became one of Japan's intellectual architectural leaders, graduating from Kyoto University in 1957 with a academic degree at the University of Tokyo. His style demonstrates a symbiosis of modern Western and Asian forms. He founded his own company in 1962, and his award-winning creations can be found throughout Japan and in countries in Europe, Asia and the Americas. It is worth highlighting the government buildings of Osaka Prefecture (1988) and the Sports Club (1990) in Chicago, Kuala Lumpur International Airport (1998) and the extension to the Van Gogh Museum (1998) in Amsterdam. Museums and cultural sites brought Kurokawa the greatest fame, with a total of 14 of them during his career.
The Hiroshima Museum symbolizes recognition of the tragedy of the past, and hope for the future of the country, which is reflected in objects of modern art. The museum's design echoes the skeletal, collapsed 1945 dome in the city's Peace Memorial Park.
It bears similarities to Basil Spence's Coventry Cathedral (1962) and Berlin's Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church designed by Egon Eiermann (1963). These structures pay tribute to the military past and serve as hope for a bright post-war future.
Architectural and design features:
- The open ring indicates the city where the atomic bomb was dropped;
- The central part of the museum is an open circle.
- In the central part there is a round platform framed by a colonnade.
- The museum is located on the top of a 50-meter mountain and is surrounded by a park.
- The building has two underground and two above ground floors.
- The building is lined with metal panels.
- High gable roofs convey the traditions of Japanese architecture from the Edo era.
- Natural stone is actively used in architecture.