Photographer Shintaro Sato captures beauty in the chaotic Tokyo cityscape viewed from emergency staircases at dusk. Check his site for the full gallery of high-resolution images.
[Link: Tokyo Twilight Zone]
See also:
- Suburban Tokyo nightscapes
- Highway interchange photos
- Fantastic Japanscapes
To NY-based architect-poets and “reversible destiny” philosophers Arakawa & Gins, comfort deserves only a limited role in the home. In their vision, a home that keeps its inhabitants young and healthy should provide perpetual challenges. A tentative relationship with your environment, they argue, is key to “reversing the downhill course of human life.”
This video takes a peek inside their Reversible Destiny Lofts in the Mitaka area of western Tokyo. Designed to stimulate the senses and force inhabitants to use balance, physical strength and imagination, the lofts feature uneven floors, oddly positioned power switches and outlets, walls and surfaces painted a dizzying array of colors, a tiny exit to the balcony, a transparent shower room, irregularly shaped curtainless windows, and more.
For the adventurous, two rental units are now available for 220,000 and 250,000 yen ($2,000/$2,400) per month, which is a bit pricey for Tokyo, but not outrageous. Short-term stays can also be arranged.
Styrofoam dome houses at Aso Farm Land (Photo by: Erika Snyder)
While styrofoam may be most commonly associated with disposable coffee cups, meat trays and packaging, prefab home manufacturer Japan Dome House Co., Ltd. uses it to construct easy-to-assemble modular kit homes.
Dubbed the “habitat for the 21st century,” the Dome House is an igloo-shaped structure built from snap-together wall sections made of 100% expanded polystyrene foam (styrofoam). It might seem like an odd choice of material for a house, but the company lists a number of advantages that styrofoam has over traditional materials. Unlike wood and metal structures, for example, the styrofoam Dome House does not rust, rot or attract termites. It is also highly resistant to earthquakes and typhoons. In addition, the walls, which are treated with a flame retardant, emit no toxic fumes in a fire.
Dome House interior
The styrofoam used in the Dome House’s 175-millimeter (7 in) thick walls is significantly denser and stronger than ordinary packing foam. The material has excellent thermal insulation properties, resulting in higher energy efficiency and lower heating and cooling costs.
Construction of the Dome House shell is quick and easy. The prefabricated pieces, which each weigh about 80 kilograms (175 lbs), can be carried by 2 or 3 people and assembled in a few hours. Once the shell is put together, coats of mortar and paint are applied for further protection from the elements. (Watch a short video of the assembly process.)
Measuring 7.7 meters (25 ft) wide and 3.85 meters (13 ft) tall, the basic Dome House has a floor space of 44.2 square meters (475 sq ft). It is possible to construct larger, elongated domes by adding more pieces, and joint units allow multiple domes to be connected into a single structure.
Dome Houses, which are approved by Japan’s Land and Transport Ministry, can be erected anywhere in Japan with the proper permit. According to the manufacturer, the versatile structures are suitable for use as hotel rooms, restaurants, freezer rooms, or even as hog farms.
The Aso Farm Land resort village in Kyushu uses about 480 styrofoam domes as lodging, recreational facilities and retail shops.
Aso Farm Land
The Dome House can also be used as a bar, karaoke room, steam room, and more.
Styrofoam dome bar
Mushroom House karaoke room at Suijin-no-mori hot spring (Oita prefecture)
Styrofoam dome steam room
Whether or not this type of home is truly “perfect for the modern age” as the company suggests, the price is right. Dome House kits start at around 3 million yen (under $30,000), which does not include the cost of transport, assembly, interior construction, etc.
[Link: Japan Dome House]
Japanese construction firm Kajima Corporation is using an innovative new skyscraper demolition method to dismantle a pair of old company buildings in Tokyo. (Watch a time-lapse video.)
Unlike conventional demolition that begins at the top of the building, Kajima’s new method starts on the bottom floor, where the support columns are cut and replaced with giant computer-controlled jacks. Once the floor is demolished and the debris removed, the entire building is lowered and work begins on the next floor. The process is repeated for each floor until the entire building is gone.
Kajima informally calls this the daruma-otoshi method, after the old Japanese game consisting of a daruma doll made of stacked pieces that players knock out one by one without toppling the doll. (Watch a super slo-mo video.)
According to Kajima, the daruma-otoshi demolition method — which is now being used to dismantle a 75 meter (246 ft) tall, 20-story building and a 65 meter (213 ft) tall, 17-story building — is safer and creates less noise and dust pollution because the work is kept close to the ground. In addition, this method cuts demolition time by 20% and makes it easier to separate and recycle the building materials.
[Link: Kajima]
Photographer Sato Jun Ichi explores the architecture of Japan’s flood control infrastructure in a huge collection of photographs taken over a period of 10+ years.
Ibaraki, 1997
Tochigi, 2006 // Saitama, 2007
Saitama, 1999
Chiba, 1997
Saitama, 1999
Saitama, 2006
Saitama, 2006 // Saitama, 2007
Ibaraki, 1998
Saitama, 1998
Miyagi, 1998
Visit Sato’s Floodgates site for about 600 more photos. (Use the links at the top left to scroll through the 37 galleries.) There is also a book.
Japan’s Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) has released a few details about the “Zero Emission House,” a state-of-the-art green home under construction at the site of the upcoming Hokkaido Toyako G8 Summit, where environmental issues will be high on the agenda.
Incorporating the latest in sustainable building technology, the 280-square-meter (3,000 sq ft) Japanese-style home is designed to have a small carbon footprint. A 14.5-kilowatt solar array and a small 1-kilowatt wind generator provide power to the home, which is equipped with next-generation energy-saving appliances, thermal insulation glass, vacuum insulated panels and a green roof. The interior is illuminated by a system of light ducts and OLED lamps.
Honda’s Asimo humanoid robot — whose exact carbon footprint size is unknown — will be on hand to serve tea to guests, who are welcome to test-drive the electric vehicles in the driveway and soak their feet in the fuel cell-powered foot bath.
Construction of the 200 million yen ($2 million) home is scheduled for completion at the end of June, at which time it will be unveiled to the foreign press. After the summit, plans are to transport the house to another location, where it will be opened to the general public.
[Source: METI]
“Musashino Plateau” and “Japan” — a pair of 3D computer animations directed by Nobuo Takahashi — illustrate (in dramatic fashion) how Japan’s landscape changed during the postwar period of rapid economic growth. The animations begin slowly with the early postwar recovery years, but the pace quickens to a frenzy as explosive growth during the bubble years (late ’80s/early ’90s) transforms the cityscape into a chaotic, tightly packed jumble of single-family homes, large apartment complexes and high-rise buildings. In the end, development grinds to a halt with the collapse of the bubble.
Video 1: Musashino Plateau
Video 2: Japan
[Source: Yoshida Gakuen Joho Business]
The Japanese landscape makes a stunning subject for high dynamic range (HDR) photography, as demonstrated by these images and the 500+ others in the Japan HDR Flickr Photo Pool.
Nihonbashi [Tokyo] — Photo: Altus
Wave Gate [Numazu] — Photo: Altus
Cloudy Day in Gotokuji [Tokyo] — Photo: stu72
No.6 [Kanagawa prefecture] — Photo: dokool
Machinery [Nippori station, Tokyo] — Photo: heiwa4126
Landmark Tower and Minato Mirai 21 [Yokohama] — Photo: shinnygogo
Shibuya Backstreet [Tokyo] — Photo: yongfook
In Tomoyuki Sakaguchi’s night photos of suburban Tokyo, familiar landscapes of densely arranged middle-class prefab homes, tightly parked cars, small gardens and anonymous street corners are somehow rendered strangely unfamiliar under the artificial glow of street lights. Check Sakaguchi’s website (or his book) for a huge collection of high-res images.
[Link: tsaka.jp]
