午夜剧场

Recently, I have been hooked on YouTube videos of people building structures using primitive methods. Before they even begin building, they dig the earth, build a furnace out of clay, collect iron ore from riverbeds, smelt the iron in the furnace, and create their own tools for processing wood, such as chisels and saws. They also construct their own infrastructure for water and sewage, such as drawing water from nearby rivers, collecting rainwater, and filtering wastewater.

Today, we can drink water just by turning a faucet, and sewage flows away when we pull a toilet lever. Products ordered on Amazon arrive the next day, and trash left at the collection point is picked up before we know it. Architecture is a "vessel" through which these various "flows" pass. However, we are usually not very conscious of the flows before they enter or after they exit a building.

Furthermore, architecture is made of plant-derived wood and mineral-derived earth, stone, and metal. Architecture as a "vessel" is also part of the "flow" of natural material cycles when viewed over a long period of time. However, with our sense of time, it is not easy to visualize the flow of wood and earth circulating.

YouTube videos of building structures using primitive methods are excellent educational materials that visualize these invisible "flows." If the materials that constitute architecture as a "vessel," as well as the materials and energy that pass through it, are all part of a "flow," then these videos teach us the obvious: all we can do is understand the flows surrounding architecture and slightly change the way they flow.

Since 2014, I have been involved in the design of the buildings at the Miraisozojuku (Institute for Designing the Future) Beta Village adjacent to SFC. Under the title of SBC (Student Built Campus), we are attempting to have the students (where faculty, staff, students, and alumni are all considered "students") create their own campus themselves.

SBC has seven activity guidelines, one of which is "Never finish; keep engaging in trial and error." At the Miraisozojuku (Institute for Designing the Future) Beta Village, I want to continue the trial and error of understanding the flows surrounding architecture and slightly changing the way they flow.