Default Mode Navigation Mode National Diet Visible from Inside
When the national Diet (parliament) building in central Tokyo is pictured in magazines or shown on television, it is rarely presented in a favorable light. All too often the neoclassic Diet building capped with its pyramid-like roof is treated as if it is the symbol of scandal and back-room deals.To most TV viewers, politics appears to be something conducted by people far away and inaccessible, who cleverly maneuver to protect and augment their vested interests everywhere but in the Diet chambers. The Diet itself they think of as no more than a sort of ritual forum where decisions made earlier and elsewhere are ceremoniously confirmed and made public. Because it is a ritual there seems to be nothing wrong with such vote-delaying tactics as sit-ins, "ox walking" (moving to the ballot box at an exaggerated snail專 pace), and even brawling on the Diet floor. These are performances such as might be found in a ritual or festival. Regardless of the debate and deliberations of the lawmakers, the outcome is predetermined, for the decisions have already been made elsewhere. The Diet has become an "event space," and a tiresome one at that. This is a most unfortunate state of affairs. If the Diet is not serving its purpose, it should be done away with. If it is of much value its merits should be clarified and made known. Simply to maintain an institution out of custom is a sheer waste of taxpayersユ money. The revitalization of Japanese politics depends on the reform of the current political system, but that is a topic for some other time. This proposal for a new Diet building is premised on the present political system as it remains today. A Diet building in a new shape may be able to contribute to the improvement of politics, and the question is how much?
The following is my proposal for a new Diet building that will change the character of politics.
Transparency: Visibility from Outside
It is imperative that what is going on inside the Diet building be visible from the outside. Having Diet sessions broadcast live on TV does not necessarily give the viewer an accurate picture of what is going on inside the building. If broadcasting could be equated with transparency, then no broadcaster would be blamed for any suspicious deed. Rather than publicizing its deeds via television or the Internet, the Diet should be directly visible, that is, its building should be transparent.But, even if this idea should be adopted, it would not be possible to see the inside of the present Diet building only by replacing its exterior walls with glass. The building itself should be of limited depth, say only about ten meters across. The walls, ceilings, and floors would be of glass. Instead of ferro-concrete, a steel and glass structure will be developed, to be used for pillars and beams. A combination of engineering plastic and diamond fiber would also be adopted.
Not everything can be transparent, of course. Restroom facilities have to guard personal privacy. There also will sometimes arise a necessity to hold confidential meetings. A way can be devised whereby, if Diet members happen to meet and want to talk in confidence, they can activate a system so that the floor and walls of a certain space will cease to be transparent for a fixed period, where they can carry on their discussion. People will know that a "secret" meeting is going on inside the darkened space. As long as lawmakers openly push the button and everyone knows they are having a "secret" talk in that specific space, they will not be considered suspicious. Holding a secret meeting at a place and time no one else knows increases our suspicions and encourages corruption.
Few people want to watch the Diet proceedings every day, and Diet members need not be constantly watched. What is important is that they need to be conscious that they may be watched. And we would hope that its appeal would thereby grow, like a woman (or a man for that matter) whose attractiveness grows out of the consciousness that she (or he) is being watched.
The extremely thin highscraper that I propose is the result of my desire to make every part of the building transparent in section. The new Diet building as seen from outside will look like a transparent board filled with numerous small semi-transparent or cloudy cubicles, halls, and chambers. Their walls can be transformed from semi-transparent to cloudy or vice versa at any time, and the constant changing of the transparency of walls somewhere within the building from moment to moment may remind one of a luminous deep-sea marine creature. The changeful light of the building will be proof that the political activity inside is open and alive. The new Diet building will be possible to approach with ease, and can be seen through from outside anywhere, anytime. Decentralized media networks, as represented by the Internet, and the virtual reality technology it provides, have demonstrated that work can be separated from workplace. It may become possible for Diet members to engage in deliberations without having to gather in one place. In fact, Diet members themselves may no longer be needed, for it may eventually become possible for people to participate directly in politics via media networks, thereby creating an "invisible Diet" existing only in the web of a vast network system.
The raison dユetre of a Diet building in an age when such things are possible lies in its very material presence, a permanent structure that can be seen and touched. To make this function even clearer, the Diet building should be "visible."
Of course, making the Diet building physically transparent does not guarantee that politics itself will be transparent. But the building as a matter of form does have impact upon the people who gather there. There is a good possibility that this form of building designed to lead legislators to transparency in their behavior and some contrivance for encouraging voters to visit it and actively participate in politics will bring gradual but steady changes in politics.
Penetration: Visibility on the Inside
The new Diet building should be visible not only from outside but from inside as well. Some contrivance will be devised to allow visitors to enter the building and walk around without disturbing their legislatorsユ activities. A set of glass tubes piercing the upper portion of the Diet building will pass through the chamber, lobby, and committee rooms. Through these tubes visitors will be able to observe for themselves what politicians are doing. These tubes will be accessible only through a limited number of entrances and exits. Loud voices within the tubes will not be heard outside. An appropriate security system will be perfected. The tubes would be strong enough to endure an explosion of a bomb, so that no damage will be caused to the chamber and other rooms.Through the tubes anyone could be present in the Diet chamber in the middle of deliberations, or stand very close to politicians as they engage in discussion at committee meetings.
In other words, the Diet building will embrace two different types of spaces that are together but never mingle, just like arteries and veins that run through the human body. One space will be for lawmakers and their staffs, and the other space for visitors and constituents. The two spaces will be in the same place but completely separate. They will be "connected" only in terms of mutual visibility. The observation tubes, which, though strictly separated from the lawmakersユ space, will bring visitors very close to them.
Seen from far, the dimmer-coated tubes will look like golden clouds. The glow of the "clouds" within the blinking semi-transparent thin board will be an evidence of the will and action of the people.
Linear Chamber and Non-arena Space
Now let us turn to the chamber. Legislative chambers are not meant to be places where lawmakers engage in noisy rows or hand-to-hand battles, but where they engage in individual deliberation and decision making. So, a new chamber will have space where each legislator can grapple with each item of legislative business. There will be a deep, large space containing steep tiers of seats separated by stairways arranged around a central stage. This arrangement will allow each legislator to concentrate on the agenda items brought up on the stage directly below them without being overly conscious of the other politicians around them. The chamber will be a functional space with the sets of this lawmaker-agenda relationship determined by the prescribed number of members of the lower or upper house of the Diet.The existing chamber of the Japanese Diet is built in the typical amphitheater style. It is not so much a place for deliberation as a premodern space in which individual agitators hold forth to a large crowd. A chamber should not be a theater, much less a fighting arena.
That style no longer fits the desired pattern of political decision making. With the adoption of the linear chamber design, the Diet building could be as narrow as ten meters, and everything going on inside would be visible from outside.
The support systems, moreover, should be improved. The new Diet building will contain blocks, each for one lawmaker, to house their secretaries and access points to electronic library resources, for instance.
The upper house of the Diet has been criticized for its minor role in the Diet. If it is truly meaningless the two-chamber system should be done away with. If the upper house raison dユetre has not been lost, its merits should be put to more use. On the assumption that the bicameral system is retained, the new Diet will be given a symbolic structure consisting of two separate buildings of the same size.
Translated Form
Architecture is, after all, an apparatus for rendering something invisible into a visible form. It is a kind of translating device. It creates a structure that takes a visible form. Giving a structure form is what counts. Designing is the work of translating what is invisible into visible form. The Diet building should be given the optimal structure and form for restoring political transparency and helping lawmakers perform their tasks better-a building in which the Diet can perform its functions to the best. This will send out a clear message of twenty-first-century Japan to the turbulent world around it. The method and form I present here may serve as a point of reference for, or be adopted by, other countries because they express universal values for the world's political system.
Unique and Not Found Elsewhere
What is necessary for the Diet building?If we seek not the dispersion that characterizes the vastness of the Net but convergence at a single point, the raison dユetre of the Diet building is the specification of its unique existence-as the only place where national lawmakers gather and deliberate.
The Diet should be a physical entity whose existence anyone can confirm with an actual visit. Confirming is the same thing as seeing. Human beings are of a visually-oriented species. Visual-related activity occupies as much as sixty percent of the human cerebral cortex. Seeing is knowing. Then, what do you see in the Diet?
You Can See It, But Not Really
I have endowed the Diet building with a paradoxical concept: "The one and only, but not just one." The building is the only one of its kind, but it is also not specific. It is a building you can see but not really. It does not have a specific shape. Its framework is made up of flexible joints. By fixing or releasing the joints and selecting the strength ofeach member, the shape of the structure can be changed.The exterior of the building is made of elastic covering, and minute actuators densely arranged on its inside maintain and adjust the form of the building. Consisting of small, linked cells, the covering resembles the skin of a living organism. Photosynthesizing organs and chromatophores are built into the cells, and the cells are activated by sunlight. The covering is made of crystalline liquid, and its penetrability can continuously be changed over the wide range of electromagnetic waves, including light and infrared ray. This effect can be used conversely so that the covering also functions as a screen on which an enlarged picture of the inside is projected. The cells have a self-cleaning mechanism made possible through photocatalyization, and so are maintenance-free. Study is also being made of the possibility of incorporating self-restorative capacity.
Two Factors That Determine the Shape
The overall shape of the building is determined by two factors. One is internal. The condition of activities inside is reflected in the form. For example, it swells when the Diet is in session, and becomes flat when the Diet is in recess. And vice versa. When there are many visitors, the shape swells again. When a session becomes clamorous or even violent, the inner space expands to its very limits, and the covering of the building turns into a transparent screen projecting the scene of the struggle.Diet members have a right to privacy. If they want to meet secretly, they can make part of the floor and wall immediately around them temporarily translucent. As long as it is known they are meeting in secret, the content of what is discussed should remain secret.
The other factor that determines the shape is external forces. On a windy day, the building has a sleek form, keeping the coefficient of drag low. When an earthquake occurs, the structural joints serve as an active tremor-absorbing system. The framework and skin of the building change in order to minimize resistance against not only wind and tremors but other external forces. The changeable, resilient form should also work well when the Diet has to withstand the storms of public criticism.
Natural artworks such as sunset glow and lightning are recorded directly by light receptors of the skin, and are played back inside and outside the skin. A fitting background for a heated debate may be a quiet scene of sunrise.
If the actuators of the skin are on vibration mode, the outline of the building is not set; it appears like a blurry image. Even if you blink your eyes, it is hard to see it clearly.
I do not take the position that any form is acceptable in architecture that is a package after all. The Diet building I conceive has a form that is some reflection of dynamics. It is something like living beings that assume various forms. In an environment where various forces combine, the forms of living beings are determined in response to a given combination. It is up to living beings what form they will take. (Actually, it is up to their DNA rather than their will.)
Gazes Within and the Enclosed Realm
Since the entire building physically changes and trembles, it is held aloft for safety. It cannot be touched from outside. It is not only untouchable but blurred once in a while, and cannot be seen clearly. A question arises as to whether the Diet building really exists. You can see what is going on inside it on television, but what you see can be created using a studio. In order to confirm the existence of the Diet building, you yourself must go and observe inside.The building incorporates space set aside for visitors. The space is a network of tubes running throughout the body. They take visitors everywhere. They run through the floor of both Houses, through the committee rooms, and into the secretaryユs offices. But, the outside and inside of the tubes are completely separated, though mutually visible. They never merge. The space for the lawmakers and that for visitors are in the same building but belong to different realms. Even if a terrorist, mingling among visitors, should detonate a bomb, the tube will not break, causing no hindrance to the Diet deliberations.
The two spaces are in such a relationship that they see each other but never meet or interfere. In exchange for giving up close physical relations between them, observing is unrestricted. Visitor can see what is going in any room, almost anywhere.
Just like so many blood vessels inside the body, the tubes circulate everywhere inside the Diet building. This is architecture to be looked at from inside. Its form exists not outside but inside.
Once you visit the building, you will clearly know the meaning and value of visibility and invisibility. Just as the information accumulated in DNA within the cells of an organism changes its form, the information you obtain through the tubes may change the building and the change may have an impact beyond the realm of architecture.
Are you certain, incidentally, that deliberations are really being held within that triangle-roofed Diet building in Tokyo, the present capital of the nation?
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