Being engaged in architectural design, we have left a number of "unrealized" buildings. Certain aspects of such "unrealized" buildings manifest themselves now and then in other works. To us, who created them, those unrealized buildings are as real as those that are constructed, but since it is normally only in our dreams that we can "visit" them, we decided to reenact those visits in the Virtual Architecture Exhibition.
(Kazumi Kudo)
FJ
As I reach the top of a steep road, I see a panorama of mountains straight ahead. Just below me is a lawn surrounded by a low ledge, where I can see an elderly couple walking in gentle sunlight, and young people talking chirpily, while sitting in an open-air amphitheatre. Beyond the lawn, I see glistening glass, which I find, as I approach, to be the roof of an atrium that covers a part of the valley. Under the glass are many rooms, where children and adults, men and women are moving around actively. Now and then, I hear cheerful voices from a distance. I wonder if they are from an elementary school farther away.
(Kazumi Kudo)
DATAName: Fukushima Comprehensive Women's Center
Area: Approx.7,000 m2
Functions: Research facility, exhibition halls, auditorium, accommodation
Designed for: Open design competition
AZU
On that day, I was dozing under a sycamore tree in front of the school gate. After breathing in the air enriched by the smell of the earth, I got up, and started back to my professor's office through a colonnade of trees and pillars. I passed some high school students and neighborhood residents on my way. From the window of my professor's office, on the second floor, I could see one of my friends making an impassioned speech in the garden. I put my paper on the professor's desk, and left for a wing of the building which is a tall tower clad with glass that reflects everything. In the evening, I was shown slides of animal experiments, in the penthouse at the top of the tower, but while the slides were being projected, my mind drifted and wandered between the constellations in the sky, and I wondered when I should get my second can of cold beer.
(Susumu Uno)
DATAName: Azabu University Campus
Area: 94,172 m2
Functions: University and high school
Designed for: Joint proposal with Sasaki Environmental Design Office for an invited design competition
HN
A cube is floating in the air size about 30 meters across, semi-transparent with a silver sheen. Through large holes piercing the cube can be seen the sky and the city. The surface of the cube is covered with louvers. As the louvers open and close, the surface alternates between transparency and reflectivity, and the walls of the cube appear and disappear as if they were breathing, concealing and then disclosing the activities within. At night, the cube is like a square paper lantern, with a contour that can be both defined and ambiguous.
(Kazuhiro Kojima)
DATAName: Hiroshima-Nishi Fire Station
Area: Approx. 5,200m2
Functions: Fire station, ambulance service training center, fire station drill space, martial arts hall
Designed for: Invited design competition
SK
I see researchers here and there. Some are having lunch in the garden: some are working in the building. The atmosphere is as free and relaxing as the pleasant breeze of spring. Over the premises, light-looking roofs spread with some ruptures in them to enable the sky to creep into the space beneath. The building provides a casual and unpretentious environment that fosters the creativity of researchers working on global environmental issues. (A fully air-conditioned, contained box-like building will neither fit in this area that still has a lot of flora, nor help people's creativity.) The building in front of me is built by a logical structuring system, and its floors, walls, and roofs are devised to effectively use renewable energy ム a much thought about and earth-friendly building.
(Hiroshi Horiba)
DATAName: International Environmental Science Research Center
Area: Approx.7,800 m2
Functions: Research institution, exhibition hall
Designed for: Invited design competition
OS
Passenger boats entering the harbor are welcomed by the pleasing sight of the large roof of the terminal building, which looks, from here, like a green carpet floating on water. The clear contrast of white ships and the blue sea adds life to the port city. After extensive navigation, passengers step onto not an artificial structure, but soil that forms gentle hills ム an experience that reinforces passengers' feeling that they have finally "landed."
(Mitsumasa Sampei)
DATAName: Yokohama Main Pier Center
Area: 47,952 m2
Function: Passenger terminal
Designed for: International open design competition
OT
The plate in the ground says "Room 33." I wonder if I can park here. I look around, and think how it is almost like a private summer house.
"There, it says 'To guests who came by car, please come to the front desk for check-in.'"
"Well, it sure is a large grass hill."
"Mom, there is a garden up there, and a barbecue set , too."
"This door is unlocked."
The room has a wonderful view of a green lawn spreading beyond a low stone wall.
"I'm going to get the luggage from the car."
"Mom, there's a path to the next house."
I remember, I have to go to the front desk.
"Look at the stone garden here! Is that large roof over there a restaurant?"
(Kazumi Kudo)
DATAName: Ota Ward Citizens' Village
Area: Approx.7,950 m2
Functions: Public resort facility, elementary school classrooms
Designed for: Open design competition
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