Dear AIA Japan Members and Affiliates,

We would like to invite you to our upcoming educational event, "TIME TODAY" by Dana Buntrock, Associate Professor at University of California, Berkeley. Dana Buntrock's research and teaching focuses on how architects engage the construction industry, with a special interest in architectural practice in Japan. Her first book, "Japanese Architecture as a Collaborative Process" has been widely acclaimed. She has taught in the U.S., Japan, and Australia before coming to UC Berkeley. A registered architect in the State of Alaska, she worked professionally in offices in Japan and the United States. For more information regarding Dana, please see:
http://www.ced.berkeley.edu/ced/people/query.php?id=29

This lecture has been registered with the AIA CES program and is valid for 2 HSW learning units. Please sign your name on the AIA member list at the reception desk.

Regards,
AIA Japan CES Committee
ces@aiajapan.org
http://www.aiajapan.org

TIME TODAY

My most recent project looks at how contemporary Japanese architects consider the impact of time in their work. This research is still in the formative stages, and I would like to discuss it with a group of professionals because I know the insights I can take from this discussion will impact my work tremendously.

There are a variety of ways that I am considering time, but one of the initial challenges I framed is suggested by the simple question of when (for a Japanese designer) corrosion is patina. That is, when is the aging of a material seen as negative (corrosion) and when is it positive or acceptable (patina)? In some cases, work by Japanese architects is built and detailed in such a way that material failure is shockingly inevitable ( e.g., the wood legs of Takasugian, wrapped in concrete and exposed to ground moisture) or even desired (Jun AOKI wants the pise/tsuchikabe in his Aomori Bijutsukan to crack).

The larger issue I will discuss related to these material choices takes on why architects are using more traditional material choices today, when such materials were not embraced by contemporary architects only a few years ago. Regional clients no longer demand buildings like those seen in global cities; they are insisting on materials and production that highlight their regional differences. But an odd result is that these buildings often are less enthusiastically received in Tokyo publications, and may not even be discovered by those outside the country who might appreciate the traditional features of these buildings. A good example of what I suggest can be seen in the relatively modest awareness of the Konpira buildings, by Ryoji SUZUKI. There are some interesting links to how tradition manifests itself in other Japanese aesthetic spheres, such as literature or painting; I call the shifts an architect may make to greater employment of tradition once he/she gains international notice the Western paradox.

Dana Buntrock
Associate Professor
Department of Architecture, University of California, Berkeley
http://www.ced.berkeley.edu/ced/people/query.php?id=29