Toh Shimazaki Architecture Forum
Japan Workshop 201
T-sa forum, an annual architectural workshop initiated and run by London practice Toh Shimazaki Architecture travelled to Tokyo for the first time this spring. Setting up its temporary studio at the British Council in central Tokyo from 29 March to 9 April, the t-sa forum welcomed 16 international students from the UK, Japan, South Africa, Denmark, Mexico and Columbia to explore the overall theme of Context and Craft.
The Tokyo-based forum was a continuation of the research from the summer t-sa forum in 2009, which investigated Adaptable Systems. The site for the most recent brief was an architecture bookshop Nanyodo at Jimbocho (the centre of bookshops and publishing houses in Japan’s capital). With the shop owner Tetsushi Arata and an assistant Masako Nakazawa acting as client, students were asked to develop an architectural principle for the site that would slowly evolve through a design process into adaptable systems. These systems were tested against the building’s use, context, site history and materiality.
In teams of five, the students attended three workshops titled Context, Craft and Casting headed up by London-based architects and designers Ana Araujo, Alain Chiaradia and David Phillips. Collaboration with leading Japanese practices also helped to foster creative and inspirational atmosphere. Architect Souhei Imamura of Atelier Imamu gave a lecture on Tokyo, around the theme of context and adaptability, and the t-sa forum participants visited the offices of Kumiko Inui and Kengo Kuma and Associates.
From here, each group developed the design for their own adaptable systems: circulation, hide and seek, storage, display and permeability. The resulting interventions and artefacts were presented alongside a 1:20 site model, which was built from layers of paper by all students. The completed pieces were then exhibited on site at the Nanyodo Bookshop for two weeks in April.
Participant’s Diary: Robert Grover
Having already taken part in t-sa forum in London last summer, again under the theme of craft and context I left for Tokyo unsure of what more I would learn from the t-sa forum experience.
Although half the length of its UK cousin, the achievements of the Japanese forum were no less impressive. A mix of craft workshops, studio visits, formal lectures and tours of the city helped guide a two-week design project proposing interventions into the Nanyodo Bookshop. The forum was a truly international affair with participants from all corners of the world but perhaps it was the change in location and the immersion in an alien culture that made this such a special experience for me. Studio visits formed an integral part of the t-sa forum and trips to the office of both Kumiko Inui and Kengo Kuma were truly inspirational.
The t-sa forum formalised intuitive working and discovery through making. Coming from a background of a more formal design process this approach was a breath of fresh air. Like re-reading a good book, repeating the t-sa forum deepened my understanding as well as revealing aspects of a way of working and teaching that had passed me by the first time round. Although I probably won’t be making casts out of agar jelly or setting fire to paper boats again anytime soon, the exposure to an unfamiliar philosophy lead me to question my own approach to design.
Tokyo doesn’t seem the place to lose control yet somehow, yet the t-sa forum managed to tap into my primal design instincts, even in the most ordered of cities.
The t-sa forum Tokyo was supported by The Great Britain Sasakawa Foundation, The British Council and Nanyodo bookshop. The fifth annual t-sa forum in August 2010 is now open for applications. For more information about the workshop visit http://www.t-sa.co.uk/forum.php.
