• Korean Institute of Interior Design Journal
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• v.24 no.6
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• pp.87-95
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• 2015

Aldo Van Eyck and Herman Hertzberger explained 'In-between space' as an intermediate space between opposite elements such as whole and parts, inside and outside, open and close, central and decentral. From this idea, the meaning of 'in-between space' has developed and applied to works of Bernard Tschumi and Sou Fujimoto. In this study, the meaning of 'in-between space' was compared and analyzed based on two architects' works to reveal the design approach in terms of 'in-between space' Final Wooden House, N House, and Serpentine Gallery Pavilion among Sou Fujimoto's work were selected and Le Fresnoy, Lerner Student Center, and Acropolis Museum among Bernard Tschumi's work were selected to analyze. To understand their design approach, their works were compared and analyzed in architectural attitude, tools, construction style and the approach, concept, theme, relation, direction of in-between space. As a result, Sou Fujimoto uses 'in-between space' as a nebulous approach as intermediate space between opposite elements. For Bernard Tschumi, 'in-between space' is also an intermediate space to emphasize and make a tension between opposite elements. It is a method of solving the contradiction condition between old city environment and new architecture.

• Korean Institute of Interior Design Journal
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• v.24 no.6
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• pp.119-127
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• 2015

Sou Fujimoto is well known as the 3rd Japanese architect to participate in the Serpentine Pavilion project, especially youngest of all architects. His projects seem very experimental yet inviting, modern yet comforting and these feeling may be resulted in his metaphor of 'Forest' that is very often mentioned in his writings which originally comes from his personal experience of the city and nature. The purpose of this paper is to understand the Fujimoto's metaphor of 'Forest' and design language he uses to express this very idea. The researchers have analyzed Fujimoto's writings and interviews in order to understand his general design ideas and process, then extracted wordings describing 'Forest' in his works. Four main concepts were found and categorized as follows: blurring territorial boundaries, proliferation of parts, manipulating spatial relationships, and ambiguity in function. Then two or three projects were selected and analyzed in each category to understand design methods used. The results show that Fujimoto enjoys using gradation of density to blur territorial boundaries in order to express ambiguous outline of forest, and fractal reproductions in proliferation of parts to uses express wavering whole and modifying angles in manipulating spatial relationships to show hidden order.

• Journal of The Korea Institute of Healthcare Architecture
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• v.25 no.2
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• pp.17-25
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• 2019

Purpose: The analysis of spatial composition is required for the creation of healing environment in healthcare facilities. This study has been accomplished to provide basic data for the planning and design of hospital architecture. Methods: Literature review of healing environment and investigation on characteristics of spatial composition in healthcare facilities have been conducted. The architectural plans of four Sou Fujimoto's healthcare projects have been analyzed with space syntax. Results: The result of this research can be summarized as followed. First of all, the healing environments are consisted with architectural composition in addition to physical and psychological factors for healing environment. The second one is that the characteristics of spatial composition in Sou Fujimoto's healthcare projects are different private/public/corridor relationships in program configuration, loop or one direction circulation, combined or independent corridor with program, and radical or linear connection in spatial connection methods. The third one is that the characteristics of spatial composition in selected cases through space syntax are high variation on integration, low variation on connectivity, and high distribution in main circulation on ERAM(3). Implications: In addition to the specific spatial composition in healthcare facilities of the architect's project, it is necessary to analyze the relationship with other factors and facilities to develop the planning of hospital architecture.

• Journal of the Architectural Institute of Korea Planning & Design
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• v.35 no.8
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• pp.35-46
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• 2019

This study started from the interest about a theme repeated in a similar way among a group of architects in Japan. They argue that a building composed of random elements can lead to discoverable functions rather than fixed functions. Their work supports this to a certain extent, but at the same time raises the following two research questions. Can 'formal randomness' and 'functional discoverability' be completely identical? Does such a form sufficiently fulfill other functions of the building? In order to answer these two research questions, this study analyzes the relationship between form and function in the 'Children's Center for Psychiatric Rehabilitation' of Sou Fujimoto. The analysis proceeded in three steps. In the first step, I found that alcoves were the most important factor in functional discoverability by comparing scenarios with different conditions. At the same time, however, I could see that these alcoves were weakened in the process of functional adjustment. In the second step, I analyzed the final design and found Sou Fujimoto's response to the preceding problem. He thought that in-between alcoves created from formal randomness, were not enough and thus introduced a new method, cutting alcoves. This means that formal randomness alone does not fully guarantee both the functional discoverability and the fulfillment of the basic functions. In the third step, I searched for the significance of this problem through a brief comparison with other similar projects.

• Korean Institute of Interior Design Journal
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• v.23 no.4
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• pp.72-82
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• 2014

The Contemporary paradigm to understand the complexity and diversity is moving to 'Becoming' that taken place in reviewing at the relation of various concepts. In Japan, After the collapse of modern architecture has been declared 'Metabolism' was appeared. They tried to apply organism's metabolic system to buildings based on ecological thoughts. But Metaboilsm's projects had revealed limitations of representation that the city on the mechanical system became a huge scale. As a result, It caused a break the cultural context of the region in Japan. After then, Japanese Architects expressed a pluralistic aspects of modern society for the restoration of disconnected cultural context. From this perspective, The thought of 'becoming' is a new role for Contemporary Japanese Architect. This research is focused of projects of SANAA, Ito Toyo, Sou Fujimoto, because they have spatial thought about realizing the space through the ways organizing the various potential possibilities in the simple external form not stimulated. They are realize the 'becoming-space' within the architecture. This 'becoming-space' gives people in building the new characteristics and experience that potential interactions among user, architecture and nature. It is non-representational space not fixed, but changing organically and variably.

• Journal of the Architectural Institute of Korea Planning & Design
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• v.34 no.12
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• pp.39-48
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• 2018

In modern architecture, the concept is the central axis of the design process, but it is not yet a building. The concept is modified in the process of realization because it captures only a part of reality. However, in the works of some Japanese architects, the concept seems to have become almost a building. In this study, I tried to find the cause of such a contradictory situation centering on House N of Fujimoto Sou, which is a representative architect of such tendency. Specifically, I analyzed the concept of House N by dividing it into aspects of function and representation. The reason for this was to see if the functional aspects of the concept were not modified in the first place, or if the representational aspects of the concept covered the functional aspects. For this purpose, I used WLVAE, which is a visual analysis tool, to analyze the functions of design concepts, along with the analysis of photographs, drawings, and diagrams. As a result of the analysis, House N was also modified to conditions of reality in the process of building, but the initial purity was emphasized in the representation of the concept, so that the building seemed to be very conceptual. This fact suggests that the architect has divided the functional and representational aspects of the concept and has focused on the latter. In conclusion this can be seen as an expression of the architect's interpretation of the relationship between the house and the city through the building.

• Korean Institute of Interior Design Journal
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• v.26 no.1
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• pp.13-24
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• 2017

The semiotics philosopher Roland Barthes declared 'the death of the author'. This means a sense of skepticism about author-centered writing in literature, and that readers and critics must also change their reading attitudes. In architecture, too, author-centered design appears. Architects sometimes try to express their will and concepts strongly through their work. However, this architecture is oriented toward identity, self-revealing, self-centered, and eventually without inspiration. On the other hand, the signifier does not result in a single meaning, and it is architecture as text that allows readers to enjoy the pleasure of deciphering. The purpose of this study is to investigate that unilateral by the will of the architect. Or whether there is a potential for non-intelligence and the possibility of generating meaning. In particular, we will analyze the works of Rem Koolhaas, SANAA and Sou Fujimoto to see if they are free from the will of the architect and can obtain the user's true freedom. As a result, we want to reveal the potential of various interpretations by users in contemporary architecture.

• Journal of the Architectural Institute of Korea Planning & Design
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• v.34 no.4
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• pp.45-55
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• 2018

The purpose of this study is to analyze common features and methodological differences of PN-spatial characteristics found in architectural theories and works of contemporary young architects in Japan, such as Sou Fujimoto, Yo shimada, Keisuke Maeda and Junya Ishigami. These architects have paid attention to space between nature and inner space and have tried to establish their own architectural theory on that. Such space is ambiguous and PN-spatial in a way that it has features of both nature and inner space. Ambiguousness is a characteristic of modern architecture and PN-spatial characteristics are one of the features of Japanese architecture. This study aims to analyze the architectural theories and works of contemporary young architects in Japan from the perspective of PN-space and to draw methodological differences and common features. Their theories and works have common features in terms of 'ambiguous spatial boundary', 'unregulated spatial territory', 'detoured circulation' and 'architectural motifs', but each has their own methodology. To sum up, the works and theories of the Japanese young architects contain the philosophy and discourse of modern architecture in general. To be sure, they clearly have characteristics of Japanese architecture, which needs to be studied constantly.

• Architectural research
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• v.18 no.3
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• pp.91-102
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• 2016

This study examines modernist grid and boundary in the works of Toyo Ito - two of the most important notions characterizing the development of Toyo Ito as an iconoclast architect. Early in his career, Ito recognized modernist architecture's inherent tendencies to establish homogenous order and divide space by function was alienating people from their context. Ito identified the notions of modernist grid and boundary as the agents of Modernism which inadvertently served to impose this systematic order and severe separation. As a reaction against these tendencies, Ito sought to avoid the use of modernist grid and blur boundary in his architecture. In Ito's career spanning over four decades, he engages in an exhaustive inquiry seeking to modify these two core elements of architecture. This study investigates these two notions in Ito's works and examines the significance of the architect's exploration in the context of Japan's Modernism.