Virtualities
Virtual architecture can be understood in various ways. One is to consider unbuilt projects. History of Architecture shows many projects, which impact is sometimes even greater than it is for built ones. In the 20th century, Tony Garnier'sor Le Corbusier's are probably the most famous examples of such a case. But this phenomenon is not recent and not even that simple. Palladio's drawings made out of the villas he had built, had more impact on later English or American architecture than the original buildings, which could not be easily visited at that time. The same can be said of Ledoux's vision of a contemporary city, which originated from a few realized constructions. Original buildings become more virtual than their images. Kazuo Shinohara once mentioned that there are two kinds of architects, the ones who are making buildings and the photographers. With the Home Page of Internet, this phenomenon will grow even stronger. A second way to understand the idea refers to the recent development of computorized drawings and images. Although the means are different from the time of hand-drawings, and the possibility to manipulate reality through images is larger, the basic aims remain similar. To produce an ersatz of reality, to keep to the ideal.
The last possible way to discuss the meaning of these words, which probably fits the best Mikan's principles, is to consider a kind of practical virtuality. In other words to consider all the various meanings and possibilities of a building, or its potential. Prior to any concept of form or composition appears the wish to deal with a program (taken by the way as a virtual instrument). By this last word one means a special care for the users needs, preceding the distribution of the functions or the rooms on a sheet of paper, or the screen of a monitor.
In the competition Mikan did for a public facility, in the small town of Hiratamachi near Yamagata in the Tohoku region, this basic strategy is clearly expressed. Three main ideas directed the whole process. The first one is that is was a facility meant for elderly people. The second one is that it had to be convivial, knowing that Hiratamachi has a harsh climate. It is one of the hotest place in Japan in summer and there is a strong and cold western wind in winter. The last point is that, as much as a building made out of three basic units (a library, a day care center with meeting rooms, and an auditorium) with a public square and a large parking space, it is a crossroad within the town. From these concerns came the concept of a large wooden roof covering the whole building, its parking space and approaches like a primary shelter. Built on a single floor, with each basic units freely separated by a network of lanes, the facility was protected from the outside by different kinds of trees according to the orientation of each faces. The public square put within the building provided a protected space which could bring life inside.
Mikan's strategy based not on the shaping but on the virtualities leads frequently to very clear and simple shapes. Although it seems rather paradoxical, it is the direct result of a process (the contrary of a preconceived idea of a form) which tends to propose easily recognizable volumes, based on an attempt to understand the needs of the users. It recalls Louis Khan saying that to select a square for the plan of a construction was a no choice. The building or the structure thus created will offer a neutral place for a happening: the eveyday life.
(Manuel TARDITS)
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