Tokyo, Japan

Exploration

Akihabara, Tokyo

I studied abroad in Tokyo, Japan in the spring of 2013. Visiting Tokyo was a very culture opening experience for me. I was prepared for going to Tokyo, I studied Japanese for a couple of years prior, but the magnitude and scale of the culture and architecture was beyond my scope of understanding. When I first arrived in Tokyo, the amount of activity that I witnessed was new to me, I lived in Philadelphia in college but I didn't exactly live in a big city while growing up, and Philly was tame compared to Tokyo. 

Akihabara Crowd

I got to explore Tokyo pretty well during my 4 month stay, we were always traveling from one district to another, trying to understand Japanese architecture along the way. Our site for our architecture project was located at the heart of entertainment in Tokyo called Akihabara. That’s where we spent a lot of time taking pictures trying to analyze and understand what it was that made Akihabara so special.

Akihabara is special because it’s the electronics capital of Japan. Games, Anime, Manga, and anything Japan related that pops in the mind probably exists in Akihabara. It's a small area, but the buildings are tall and the crowd is non-step at all times.

Tourist Hostel

Kanda River, Akihabara

Our architecture class was assigned the role of creating a spa hostel for tourists that would potentially visit Akihabara. Japan is known for it’s Sentos and Rutenburos which are indoor and outdoor baths. So this allowed for exploration of Japanese culture while we designed the hostel. One of the advantage the site has is the Kanda River, which was located just beside.

My plan for the Spa Hostel began with the idea of creating collages to represent a scene that I could picture happening in Tokyo. This was still only my third year in architecture, so I felt a little lost with all the freedom that came with studying in Tokyo. As a result, I decided that just being able to imagine some scenarios into pictures would help ease the transition.

The Events

Sento

My collages started with an idea for a lobby. I found some pictures and decided that I wanted a big open lobby that connected to all the other main parts of the hostel. So there would be access to the sento, the rutenburo, the restaurant, housing, and event opening spaces along the way. 

Rutenburo

The Rutenburo was the second event that I collaged together. I figured having a natural outdoor bath that highlighted Japanese culture should be a big event. I also wanted connection between the Sento so the transition between the indoor and the outdoor was seamless. Thus I collaged together the sento as another event.

Eventually, I started working on combining the spaces so that they would work together to create one big space. I made simple mini models to get an idea for what the events would look in 3d space. This allowed for a clear understanding of how the spaces would fit together. After having an idea for how the spaces would go together, I started thinking about some of the other essential spaces that the hostel required. A dining area, a small shopping area, and housing was also added into the overall space of the 3 main events. These spaces were secondary because they would be revolving around the main idea of Japanese culture. I imagined the tourists that visited the hostel should have a traditional Japanese experience as the focal point for creating the architecture. So the openings that happen in the architecture also reflects how the residents could explore Tokyo from inside the hostel.

The Review

River Side Model

Tezuka-san from Tezuka Architects came to our Review. It was a bit overwhelming because he was a famous architect that made spaces like the Fuji Kindergarten which was very organically kids focused. One of the critiques that I received was my obsession with the events as being too focal, and not enough consideration in how the people actually interacted with the space. I described the spaces as a way to experience Tokyo, but I didn't explain the interaction between people sufficiently.  However, it was a very good learning experience because I learned how important the people are in architecture. The freedom of movement in space is crucial to how people experience space. This gave me the idea that just having rectangular open spaces with openings was not the best option for space interaction. Having natural pathways that canopy's over important events probably would have improved the atmosphere for the hostel guests.