Architect Shin Takamatsu
Concept Talk Concept Talk WITH Shin Takamatsu

Section1

Architecture is always together
with the fundamental behavior of human beings.

- What were your thoughts when you started designing "SKY MISSION" as a house construction project by architect Shin Takamatsu?

Shin Takamatsu (hereafter ST): I am always thinking about architecture. Sometimes architecture is a house for people to live, sometimes it is a house where God lives, sometimes it is a place for people to gather like a museum, and sometimes it is a place where people worship or mourn. Therefore, architecture always exists together with the fundamental behaviors of human beings, and I believe that the essential nature of all architecture is constant.

In this sense, when I design a house, I am not thinking only about the house. For me, design is always about creating spaces where people can live and die with dignity and passing on what has been built to the next generation. This is the same in housing, too.

- When you think about architecture, do you mean that it doesn’t matter whether you are designing an art museum or a house?

ST : If we are going to be particular about the word “residence,” we might describe a “residence” as a piece of architecture in which living there is about making discoveries of some kind, where one can find new joy and new love in everyday activities.

- Unlike past Shin Takamatsu architectural works in Japan and overseas that have primarily comprised concrete and iron structures, SKY MISSION features architecture made of wood. Were you aware of this change in raw materials?

ST : I consider concrete and steel to also be natural materials, i.e., blessings of nature. Naturally, the same is true of glass and wood. Architecture is nature itself.

I was born in Shimane Prefecture. Since my relatives live near Izumo Taisha Shrine, I always played in the shrine’s precincts during my childhood. Izumo Taisha Shrine inspired me to become an architect. One day, when I was about ten years old, and I was playing in the precincts as usual, all the other children seemed to disappear, and I found myself alone. When I turned around, I noticed the main shrine looming before me with the setting sun in the background, and it seemed so incredibly large that I was transfixed on the spot. Before I knew it, I was moved to tears.

Now, when I think about what I felt at that time, leaving aside the question of enabling people to live conveniently in places, I can say that architecture has the power to shake our fundamental awareness as human beings. And in retrospect, architecture, for me at that time, was made of wood.

For a long time, this perception lay dormant in the depths of my memory, but it gradually began to emerge a few years ago. I began to think that I would like to build wooden architecture of a type that surpassed the fundamental architecture of Izumo Taisha Shrine. I do not mean surpassing it in terms of “size”. Rather, I believe that the intrinsic ability of wood as a material makes this possible. I have come to believe that it is possible to work with wood to help create something that is both architectural and something that transcends architecture.

I believe that this wooden construction project can be regarded as one aspect of such sentiment.

- What is your true intention in using your own hands to draw spaces without using a computer?

ST : There was a time when I used computers. However, I realized something quite simple, i.e., that computers don't make mistakes. So long as you set two points, a computer can draw a straight line with perfect accuracy. The hand, on the other hand, makes mistakes. The body is a very unreliable thing. Even so, it sometimes creates unexpected curves and quivering straight lines. Sometimes, such curves and straight lines can inspire the body to move in certain ways, and such movements can lead to completely new architecture.

The "world" that you draw with a pencil in your hand is paper. No matter how small the paper is, it is the “world”. The “world" of paper has its own boundaries. However, the images and imagination opened by the movements of the hand can easily transcend such boundaries. That is the point where architecture is born. That, for me, is the activity of design - transcending boundaries by hand. For me, that is the creative process.

- Is that why you continue to draw?

ST : Yes. There is absolutely no guarantee that drawing will give birth to anything. However, I believe there is no other way. Sometimes, I draw thousands of pictures. I trust the birth of architecture to this process.

The "birth of architecture" may best be described as the sudden emergence of architecture in the world of paper at a certain moment in time. The frightening thing is that not even a trace of the architecture that so suddenly emerged can be found in the thousands of sheets that were drawn up to that point. It is also certain that this miracle would probably never have come about without the thick wad of thousands of sketches that were drawn up to that point. It is the joy of the architect to be present at the moment when architecture descends into this thick expression of hand movement.

Section2

Nature and architecture are not separate.
Similarly, nature and humans are not separate entities at odds with each other.

- Earlier, you said, “Architecture is nature itself.” Could you be a little more specific?

ST : I mentioned earlier that concrete, steel, glass, and wood are all blessings of nature. Therefore, I believe that design is intended to return such natural blessings to nature through the vehicle of architecture. However, certain actions are essential to the activity. Let us take wooden construction as an example. Mr. Nishioka, a temple and shrine carpenter, once said, “Don't buy timber, buy the mountain”. I think he meant that you should grow trees in the mountains and choose the trees you want to use from among the trees you are involved with.

Similarly, there are “orientations” to the environment in which trees grow. Trees grow differently depending on whether they are facing south or facing north. In the southern direction, branches grow thicker, and knots are denser when used as timber. In the world of temple and shrine carpentry, there is a teaching to “use the wood as it is”. Therefore, if you look at the pillars of Todaiji Temple and so on, the pillars facing south are full of knots, while the pillars on the north side are knot-free. Another teaching says, “Use trees from high places for structural materials and trees from valleys for decorative materials”. Trees that grow in high places are strong because they are exposed to the sun, while trees in valleys grow in the shade and are soft, but they produce a very beautiful finish when used as decorative timber.

In this way, there are various techniques for returning natural materials to nature. In short, nature and architecture, and therefore nature and human beings, are not at odds with each other. Rather, they are a cyclical whole, and I believe that only the body has the ability to create such a union.

Section3

Kyoto is home to various kinds of wisdom that we modern people have forgotten.

- What is the significance of having an office in Kyoto in terms of your creative work?

ST : I have continued working in Kyoto ever since I graduated from Kyoto University. At one time, I wanted to get out of such an old-fashioned city and try my hand at a variety of architecture in a wider world; however, as time went by, I gradually began to reevaluate the meaning of working in Kyoto. In doing so, I began to realize that various wisdom that we modern people have lost sight of still lives on in Kyoto.

We architect, especially those born after World War II, have been trained with an education based on Western techniques and philosophies, believing that such methods and knowledge are the foundation on which architecture should stand. However, the city of Kyoto and its unique architectural structures have been molded by techniques and wisdom that are totally removed from such standards. Ever since this dawned on me, I decided to continue creating architecture based in Kyoto.

- For example, what are the characteristics of this architecture?

ST : One such feature is the “dimension system”. We have been thoroughly trained in the metric “dimension system”, which is the basis of architecture and urban development. Compared to the metric system, however, the “dimension system” that determines the architecture, and the city of Kyoto is slightly shrunken. It is not clear where the “shrunken dimension system" originated, but it may have derived from female body dimensions because Kyoto's lifestyle is centered on women, or it may have been based on the refined manners of the aristocracy from the Heian period onwards. In any case, this “shrunken dimension system” is both an old but also an entirely new method for me.

Anyway, if we consciously use such a method in our design work, we may be able to create buildings that are more in tune with our presence and appearance, even in cases of steel and concrete buildings built according to the metric system, which tends to be far removed from our physical senses.

In “SKY MISSION”, I am extremely conscious of this. If you visit a traditional Machiya townhouse in Kyoto, you will immediately notice that the heights of the doorways and the sliding door pullers are subtly low. In fact, such an arrangement is actually quite comfortable! In short, despite this “shrunken dimension system”, Kyoto is still full of lost techniques and wisdom. I hope to create architecture for the modern age while learning from such profound knowledge.

- Is there anything you pay particular attention to regarding the unique qualities of space in Japan?

ST : The unique characteristics of Japanese space are deeply rooted in Kyoto's architectural culture. To use another allegory, I once designed an Ochaya teahouse in Pontocho, one of the most representative neighborhoods for experiencing the flavor of Kyoto. An Ochaya is a merchant house where a master welcomes customers and sometimes provides entertainment for them. I received a request from the proprietress of such an Ochaya.

Naturally, I had no experience at all, so I went to the site with a plan that I had learned from reference materials. After looking at the drawings for a while, the proprietress suddenly threw them aside and said, “You don't understand!”. When I asked what she meant, she took the drawing and said, "The guests should not sit in front of the staggered shelves in this alcove. The shelves would cut right across the customers’ heads. That’s no way to conduct hospitality”. Another thing was the agarikamachi, which is a piece of wood at the front edge of the entranceway floor. This is a kind of threshold where maiko and geisha take off their footwear to enter a room. I had designed it with the “proper dimension” of 25 centimeters, which I had been taught at university. But again, the proprietress said to me, “You really don't have a clue, do you? This would split a geisha’s hem! Where did you go to school anyway?”

As this exchange went on and on, the scales fell from my eyes one by one. In short, Kyoto’s architecture, and by extension, Japanese architecture, has been shaped by such subtle manners and behavior, and in a sense, I believe that it will become even more sophisticated in the future.

- It is interesting to think about housing and architecture with women at the center, not only in terms of space but also in terms of hospitality.

ST : Needless to say, the various details in Kyoto's unique architecture were developed out of women's lifestyles, but that is not the only reason. Kyoto has experienced many wars during 1,200 years of history since the capital was relocated to Heian-kyo, although, it can be said that Kyoto has never experienced destruction. In a sense, it can be said that this immortal history has given rise to several peculiar spatial structures that have been built up over time.

One of these is the spatial structure of "hare" and "ke," which has been beautifully sublimated in the shinden-zukuri palace style of the Heian period. This structure, which has remained unchanged despite subsequent dizzying changes in power, has fundamentally determined the appearance of Kyoto.

──Could you tell us about “Origin”, which was the first architectural work you undertook?

ST : You could say that “Origin” was my maiden work. I arrived at the name by combining the name of Nishijin, which is, of course, a center of the textile industry, with the name “ORIGIN”. Incidentally, the client was the husband of an obi shop owner. He called us to his house, where he weaved obi belts in the back and ran the business in the front. The first thing he said to me was, “We’re going to rebuild the whole place. You design it!” Maybe this was the downside of the education I had received, but since I was a complete novice, I naturally asked the obvious question, “What kind of architecture should I design?” The owner said, “Isn't it the architect's job to think about that? Just create what you think is architecture, and don't worry about the rest. I will use the architecture you make.” Scales fell from my eyes. In other words, I was suddenly exposed to “ORIGIN”, the root that gave birth to architecture for me.

Anyway, in a sense, people like this owner can be described as genuine Kyotoites. If I were to leave Kyoto, it would mean me throwing away the opportunity to learn important things from such people.

Section4

“SKY MISSION” is all about how housing should co-exist with the sky.

- When I hear architecture and sky, I sense vertical awareness between the sky and earth. Did you have such awareness when conducting the design?

ST : Architecture is inevitably subjected to limitations during the creative process. Sometimes, these limitations pertain to volume, and sometimes they involve scale. However, architects always strive to create new structures by attempting to transcend such limitations, sometimes through physical methods and sometimes through abstract methods.

In that sense, the most challenging thing for me concerning “SKY MISSION” was the limitation of “height”.

- What thought went into naming the four designs “BY THE SKY”, “AROUND THE SKY”, “WITH THE SKY”, and “INTO THE SKY”?

ST : The challenge for “height” is underpinned by a longing for the “sky”. If you think about it, people’s longing for the “sky” has been present in architecture since ancient times. The desire to create architecture that scratches (scrapes) the sky has continued to result in structures that are called “skyscrapers”, and this will never cease. This activity has given rise to housing-related language.

In other words, “SKY MISSION” concerns thinking about ways we can live with the sky, and how we can translate that ideal into housing “forms”. In this process, several words were born.

<BY THE SKY> Living by the sky … <AROUND THE SKY> Living around the sky… It is precisely such words that stimulate my body, drive the movement of my hands, and guide me toward conceiving architecture.

ST : These four houses that will emerge in “SKY MISSION” will be houses that do not lose their value even if all artificial lighting is turned off. That’s because they exist together with light and with the sky.

Sometimes, you just come face to face with something intrinsic. I think we all have such experiences.
I want people to touch something like that and to find something that is not what it seems. A house does not exist without having a relationship with the sky.
I believe that thinking about how to live with the sky is the essence of “SKY MISSION”.