Riken Yamamoto, this year’s Pritzker Architecture Prize winner, has shaped a meaningful career trajectory designing buildings that manifest the complex and subtle dimensions of social systems. In announcing its award, the Pritzker jury noted the “consistent quality of his buildings” and his aspiration “to dignify, enhance and enrich the life of individuals—from children to elders—and their social connections.” I had the opportunity to speak with Yamamoto about these and other aspects of his work in his Yokohama office in 2007. What follows is our previously unpublished conversation which, despite the delay in its publication, embodies some of the concepts and principles that have guided Yamamoto’s work until today. (The interview was transcribed by Suma Pandhi and has been edited for clarity.)
You often use the term shiki (threshold) when describing your work. What is the significance of this concept?
When I was a graduate student, I wrote my thesis on the topic of the threshold and later contributed to a book on the concept. In thinking about the threshold, I developed an interest in the house and the way it shapes human relationships. In the traditional Japanese home, the zashiki is an entrance used only to receive visitors. It is a formal entry that is separated from the daily entrance used by the residents. The zashiki represents the zone between public and private. In this way, architecture is constructed the same way family and social relationships are constructed.
You have used the notion of threshold to define space. In what way is space seen as a threshold?
In traditional Japanese space, threshold is a type of structure. This isn’t just the case in Japan but also in Europe and Asia. That said, these architectural traditions are comparatively different. So, threshold really is an abstract concept. Architecture may change in its form and components, but its configuration is the same.
You discuss how the typical family has changed. In the Shinonome Canal Court project, you developed an unexpected arrangement that offers a new threshold space. As a result, the bathroom and the kitchen are located by the exterior rather than interior walls. This project accommodates the increased number of people working from home. Is this the home of the future?
Up until now, the home has been one house for one family. This probably started in the 1920s due to the influence of European housing as a one-family, one-house system. The threshold has acted as a connection between the home and the public domain. It was meant to relate the two spaces to each other. But if the threshold disappears, this in-between space is gone. You can close the house with a steel door, but then it becomes very private—much like how the modern family has become increasingly private. As a result, housing today is more about shutting out the outside.
What brought about this change?
In 1950, Japanese housing changed quite a bit. Influenced by Europe, the Public Housing Corporation was established due to the housing boom that occurred ten years after WWII. The housing supply company built apartments modeled after the European style from the 1920s. Thus, 1920s-style housing was built in Japan in 1950. However, this did not work because there was no relationship to the outside. The children, mother, and father all lived in this closed domain, and this arrangement did not work for the mother. In the Shinonome Canal Court project, we opened up the interior space, using glass to create an openness that still allows for a closed space at the same time. This interior zone becomes a threshold, and the occupants can decide how to use it. For example, one is an office for the father, another is an atelier, and another is intended to receive guests. The threshold can be used for anything.
Like the glass in this project, you frequently reinforce spatial concepts with particular material systems. One project that embodies this idea is the Ecoms House, which is made of aluminum.
Yes, there are actually two aluminum houses. Aluminum is expensive because it uses so much electricity to make, so prioritizing recycled content is important. In Japan, there is an established recycling market. For example, at least 80% of aluminum cans are recycled. About half the aluminum used in the aluminum houses is recycled content.
Were there challenges in using aluminum as the structure?
Because it is relatively weak? No, if designed and installed correctly, an aluminum structure can be as strong as a steel one. I became interested in aluminum as a structural material because it wasn’t being used in this way. I considered how to apply aluminum using a modular system with structural connections. So, my first thought of aluminum was for structure.
In the Future University Hakodate Research Building, you used steel in a similar way. The material simultaneously functions as structure, cladding, and interior shelving.
Yes, it is similar to the aluminum houses in that the wall is visibly structural. But this is a much larger project. I wanted to use materials in relatively small modules, but the large scale required the steel and latticework to be different systems.
How are the programmatic activities in this project accommodated?
Because it is an educational building, the environments change according to the educational needs. On one hand, the educational system influences the construction system. On the other hand, the environment impacts the educational system. There are two perspectives on the content of the architecture and the social system or activity. Based on our research, we determined that the social system should influence the architectural design. However, the building also strongly influences the social system and the occupants’ relationship to the environment. For example, we employed glass in the classroom walls so the professor is always visible. This changes the educational system entirely.
Japanese architecture tends to dissolve spatial divisions that are reinforced in other architectural traditions. For example, I think of your Inter-Junction City projects, in which you attempted to embody the form of the city within an individual site—thus merging the often distinct realms of architecture and urban design.
The U.S. and Europe have a strong influence on Japan, which in modern times adopted Western zoning approaches that separate commercial and residential areas. However, according to this model, only housing can be built in residential areas, and only offices can be built in commercial areas, which is very limited. The reality is that there is more mixing of activities in today’s cities. Urban areas throughout the world are now facing this problem. We need to develop a new system that allows for more flexible architecture and city planning—one that accommodates the changing needs of urban environments.
And some spaces should be truly flexible. In your projects, there are spaces intentionally lacking assigned functions. For example, the Yamamoto Mental Clinic, which has a highly structured program, includes spaces with programmatic ambiguity.
More than ambiguity, this project is also for the people who use it, so this space is open. It’s not a particularly attractive space when seen from outside the building. However, the inside is facing out. As a result, activities aren’t visible from the outside, but the exterior can be seen from the inside. It becomes that kind of space, designed for visibility from within.
This strategy seems to embody your view of architecture and its connection to broader issues.
Yes, as I mentioned before, the social system and construction system will determine the role of the architect. I believe design can strongly influence society in unimaginable ways. The building system can bring change to a social system regarded as unchangeable.
The views and conclusions from this author are not necessarily those of ARCHITECT magazine.
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