59 TOYO ITO - Tomorrow Where Shall We Live? Bangkok, 1996

It was in January 1996 when Toyo Ito gave his first lecture in Bangkok.

Actually he was already in Bangkok in early 80s. Then he got the impression of people living 'like a fish' on the watery environment from the canal of Bangkok.

“I recall a boat ride I once took on a canal in Bangkok and the impression made on me by the sight of people living on the water’s edge. The people had adapted successfully to their watery environment......... The people dwell like fish, their bodies steeped in water......... The water flowing about those people was overwhelming, and the space that enveloped them was extraordinarily humid.”

from Toyo Ito, “The Transparent Urban Forest”, The Japan Architect, 1995-3 (Programming)
 

First excursion of Ito-san in 1996 visit, therefore, was a boat ride in the canals he likes.

In the photo here, there are Kulapat Yantrasast, Sujin Osatarayakul, myself, Ito-san, and Pratran Teeratada

On the back of the boat, we have Pakorn Mahapant and Suphakij Pathamanad. 

The boat ride, perhaps, fascinated Ito-san even more, because Bangkok was, no longer a natural primitive environment as when he first visit in the early 80s. But rather it was partly transformed into a modern metropolis with recent advanced technology influenced the way people living with its original primitive environment - people living on the canals were equipped already with cellular phones and satellite systems.

The way people in Bangkok lived, impressed him. While the way he got impressed, fascinated us who had been living in Bangkok since we remembered.

The title of the lecture was "Architecture in the Electronic Age". Ito-san introduced the concept of living with the new technology, especially in the media environment.  The role of architecture as an artificial or second nature to integrate the relationship between man nature was emphasized.

The lecture was hosted by art4d  and sponsored by Mitsubishi Electric (Thailand) and Japan Cultural Center Bangkok. Thanks to Monkon Ponanutree and Pratarn Teeratada, the editors of art4d, who actively supported the event. Kulapat Yantrasast of WHY architecture, who, by then was completing his Ph.D. at The University of Tokyo and I were coordinating the event.

After the lecture, Ito-san got a great idea. He proposed us (art4d + Kulapat + I) to continue our event in Bangkok by doing a competition and exhibition throughout the year of 1996. We were extremely intrigued and very honoured. He even offered to help for sponsorship from Japanese companies in Bangkok. Ito-san told Mitsubishi Electric executives that he must to support the future architects of Thailand!

The series of events in 1996 in Bangkok, began with the lecture in January, followed by the competition for ideas for an installation with the title "Tomorrow Where Shall We Live?".

"ในช่วง 20 ปีสุดท้ายของศตวรรษที่ 20 นี้ เมืองใหญ่หลายๆ แห่งของไทย โดยเฉพาะกรุงเทพฯในฐานะศูนย์กลาง ดูจะได้พัฒนาไปอย่างมาก พื้นที่เมืองหรือ urban space ที่เป็นผลพวงจากวัฒนธรรมไทยที่หล่อเลี้ยงสภาพแวดล้อม น้ำและธรรมชาติที่อุดมสมบูรณ์ในเขตมรสุมนี้  ได้ถูกพัฒนาไปโดยได้รับเทคโนโลยีสมัยใหม่เพิ่มเข้ามา อาคารมากมายหลากหลายถูกสร้างขึ้นมา เครือข่ายการสัญจรขยายตัวออกไปอย่างกว้างขวาง นอกจากนี้ยังมีพัฒนาการที่รวดเร็วปานสายฟ้าของเทคโนโลยีการสื่อสาร (communication & media) ที่ผ่านประสิทธิภาพที่สูงขึ้นของระบบคอมพิวเตอร์ต่างๆ อาจกล่าวได้ว่าเทคโนโลยีเหล่านี้ กำลังทำให้พื้นที่อยู่อาศัย (living space) ตลอดจนรูปแบบชุมชนของเรา เปลี่ยนแปลงไปอย่างมากทีเดียว แต่ทว่า พร้อมๆ กับความสะดวก หากกลับกลายเป็นผลที่เราได้รับจากการที่มีคนมาอยู่อาศัยร่วมกันในเมืองใหญ่ จนปัจจุบัน "ปัญหาคนเมือง" เหล่านี้ได้กลายเป็นวิกฤตการณ์ในชีวิตประจำวันของพวกเราไปเสียแล้ว ณ.วันนี้ ที่เรากำลังก้าวสู่ศตวรรษที่ 21 ถึงเวลาแล้วที่เราต้องมาช่วยกันคิด เปิดมุมองพิจารณากันใหม่อีกที ถึงความสัมพันธ์ระหว่างธรรมชาติและเทคโนโลยีและสภาพแวดล้อมพักอาศัยของเรา ว่าจะมีลักษณะอย่างไร แล้วสำหรับตัวคุณเอง อยากจะอาศัยอยู่ในสถานที่แบบไหน สภาพแวดล้อมอย่างไร ในอนาคตอันไม่ไกลนี้ ลองเสนอความคิดแบบมีรูปธรรมมาดูกัน แล้วมารอดูกันว่าเมื่อฝันของคุณได้ทำให้เป็นจริงขึ้นมาแล้ว มันจะมีลักษณะเป็นอย่างไร "

Competition Brief of "Tomorrow Where Shall We Live?". 

This time, we got the support from Faculty of Architecture, Chulalongkorn University as a co-host with art4d for the event. Also Ito-san helped us to get the sponsorship from Shimizu Corporation, Taisei Corporation, Thai Kajima Corporation, Thai Obayashi Corporation, Thai Takenaka Corporation and of course, Mitsubishi Electric.

In May 1996, Ito-san came back to Bangkok to judge the competition. Six students entries and Six professional entries were selected.

After that the twelve selected entries worked on developing their ideas into an installation which was installed during Chulalongkorn Academic Exposition 1996, in November the same year. It was a very big deal event. I was then studying in Colombia University in New York and returned to Bangkok for one week for the event. Kulapat was also working in Japan, he, as well, returned to Bangkok. It was a big reunion too.

We went to venue together a day before the event with Ito-san, and got very excited. Almost every corner of Faculty of Architecture buildings were transformed into an installation space in an attempt to answer the question of Toyo Ito: Tomorrow Where Shall We Live?

I wrote a report on the whole year event for a+u magazine 97:11:

..."(to answer the question) Tomorrow Where Shall We Live?" seem to focus on media and communication technology according to his lecture and message. However, the most interesting point in this event is how to formulate the message of the future with the specific context: Bangkok, the opposition of nature and technology.

From the imagination of participants to a time they have never reached, an urban approach is used in Blowing in the Winds, Penthouse SALA in the Forest City and Express Way Module House. The imagine Bangkok urban space in the future as a product of the present development such as a left over space between buildings, under expressway structure or the rooftops of high rise buildings. The solutions result from using media as an additive dimension compensating for the loss of pleasant space. Particularly in Blowing in the Winds the flow of winds and media is an important characteristic to generate living space according to their similar nature.

At the same time, Experiment in Ripple Space, Future Resident System, Share Time, Envelope and Virtuosoic Evolution predict new social conditions and use architecture as a response to new social systems.....

Exposed Living and Naked House focus on the lost of tangible human dimension by extreme use of media and computer technology... The last group seems to answer the question of tomorrow by more abstract installation with an idea from Buddhist Philosophy. Wel Come Home expresses the journey of our life through time that finally ends with death...... Untitled 1996 which is full of multimedia installation, approaches living space as the mass of energy of four basic elements combining to be emptiness, while 'light' in the architecture space represents enlightenment, the infinite for the future.

Almost all of the installations propose to visualize their ideal space from the imagination. They produce direct experiences in the audience through the model space and inadvertently architectural form itself seems to be less important. As the nature of invisible media, architecture with minimal form but maximum effect would be the answer for our tomorrow....."

Ito-san also sent his installation with the name of Tarzans in the Forest of Media - the idea of media cladding which is light and flexible and that protects us and controls the profuse flood of information was represented in the installation by a model of the rather abstract version of the interior space of his by then on-going project, Sendai Mediatheque.

The installation "Tarzans in the Forest of Media", Bangkok, 1996

In the world, although the event could be very small drops of water in the big sea, it was very significant for the place such as Bangkok. Many architects and young students were inspired and encouraged to rethink about their role as an architect, the environment where they live and want to live.

In 2006,  ten years after, when Ito-san had his solo exhibition, The New Real in Architecture in Tokyo, his exhibition allocated a small part to mention our event in 1996. He hopes to see the future of Asian architects / architecture growing up from Bangkok! 

On March 17, 2013, it was announced that Ito-san is 2013 Pritzker Prize laureate, the sixth Japanese architect who received the honour.

His great works have shown how great architect he is. But it is not only that. The very small events he did with us in Bangkok has shown that he is greater than the works can tell. His enthusiasm to engage the future generation of architects anywhere is truly impressive.

I am certain many architects in Bangkok, who in 1996 had a chance to be in his lecture, to be part of the competition and finally installation including myself, got influenced by Ito-san eagerness to create solution for people to live peacefully, pleasantly and naturally in the built environment. We promise we will try our best to answer your question every time we build...  As the question is very simple, very true and very inspiring --- "Tomorrow Where Shall We Live?".

Thank you very much Ito-san. 

The participants in "Tomorrow Where Shall We Live?" installation:

The Exposed Living: 

Kanika R'Preedakul

Wel Come Home:

Terdpong Mongsonti, Wuttinun Jinsiriwanich, Wit Ariyasriwattana

Blowing in the Winds:

NopppadolChatpattanapong, Sant Suwatcharapinun, Tortakul Nisawattannun

Penthouse SALA on the Forest City:

Hiroyuki Nishioka, Tomohiro Nakamura, Prasitchai Promliphonkul, Prajerd Chabchoy, Vicha Leelathanankul

Naked House:

Yanyong Junviranong

An Experiment in Ripple Space:

Runroj Leesinsawad

Future Resident System:

Direk Wonpanitkrit

Expressway Module House:

Seri Sawangwattanarat

Share Time:

Noppon Pisutharnon, Jessada Srivanichayaporn, Norrarit Boonsomchitr, Sarawoot Juntarasangaram

Virtuosiuc Evolution:

Puttichart Wanichtat, Kitti Monkolwibool

Untitled 1996:

Sarawut Chutiwongpit

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58 Watery Living

Water has great influences in our way of life since the beginning of time here in the region. Floods, flooding are nothing new. Just recently we forgot how to live with it.

 Sumet Jumsai, a prominent architect of Thailand, writes a controversial book 'Naga: Cultural Origins in Siam and West Pacific' on how water shapes the so-called amphibian lives of people in the region. Although some parts of the book are slightly too fancy about water, it is rather inspiring.

Toyo Ito, a prominent architect, has made a very interesting observation on how we, people in Bangkok, live with water, from his boat ride trip:
 “I recall a boat ride I once took on a canal in Bangkok and the impression made on me by the sight of people living on the water’s edge. The people had adapted successfully to their watery environment......... The people dwell like fish, their bodies steeped in water......... The water flowing about those people was overwhelming, and the space that enveloped them was extraordinarily humid.”

:Ito, Toyo, “The Transparent Urban Forest”, The Japan Architect, 1995-3 (Programming), Tokyo: Shinkenchiku-sha, 1995.

From 2011 floods, it seems that, really, we have forgotten completely how to "dwell" with water as Ito describes. 

In 2010, floods damaged many cities in Thailand. Bangkok was somehow safe. However, we were quite alarming with the damage and danger caused by the water. Many architects and designers got together by TCDC discussing about floods and how designers could be part of the flood reliefs or preparations. As a result of the meeting, with Pim Sudhikam and Terdsak Techakijkachorn of Chulalongkorn University, we organized a summer workshop on "Watery Living" during June - August 2011, just right before floodings...

The workshop was not aiming to 'invent' a new way to deal with floods, rather to study how the local have been dealing with floods & flooding in the past centuries. Perhaps, perhaps, we can help to improve something, using our design skills.

We chose a small village at the junction of two small rivers in Ayutthaya,  Hua Wiang as a case study. Ayuthaya is a giant plane where usually receives floods every year. (When it was a capital of Siam during the 14th-18th century, the strongest weapon of the city when enemies surrounded the city was flooding). By then common people were living mainly on floating houses. The village used to be a small market with several floating houses along the river junction. But in the mid-20th century, floating houses were prohibited because of its nomadic nature as well as the arrival of engine boats which made strong waves. So they were moved and fixed on ground. In Hua Wiang, many houses can still be traced back to the original typology of floating house. However, because of the floods, the-fixed-on-firm-ground houses are developed to deal perfectly with their annual floods.

This is the general view of the village on the rivers.

Most of the houses are elevated super high from the ground, around 4-6 meters depending on the area.. the overall is quite strange because you can walk through under all the houses.

You can see that some houses are lifted very high from the ground and the shore. The villagers have lifted the houses several times in the past 2 decades because the level of the floods keeps raising up. (The method to lift the house is also super interesting, we will talk about it later in the future post).

During the dry season, people would walk under the houses with short cuts from one to another - a dry walking network. Well, of course, during the floods, they use boats - different network is formed. 

Since some houses are lifted so high that some elderly who don't want to walk up and down from the ground level to the main level of the house 20 times a day invented "a mezzanine living platform" between the two levels for dry season only. During the floods, the platform is under water. They simply move the stuff up high.

You can see a small living room with a fan, a cushion, a mat and small person items. A lounge.

With the similar concept of the in-between platform, some houses along the river are built with several platforms with different levels.

The interior space with many levels, the space is rather complex and interesting. They can organize their lives according to the water level, move their stuff up and down. At the same time, it is not too far from the 'ground'. Since the house can be reached via different ground levels or water level.

The veranda space of a house is much lower, closer to the water level, while the main house is rather high up.

One of the house is a beauty salon of the village. The lady with glasses is the owner of the salon. Her salon is really high (level).

Because of the flooding nature, everything here is rather light and movable: all the furniture and utensils. Everything is ready to be relocated in case of floods --- living light. Even some parts of the walls, the floors are movable and adjustable.

The plants are all in pots ready to be moved up and down upon season. What a light life! ^_^ Not to mention some of the electrical wires attached with outlets or light bubs that can be rolled up when water arrives... ----> genius indeed.

 With the bamboo structure, they can plant vegetables above ground. At least when the flood is not too high, they can still have some stocks of vegetables.

The best invention so far is the super high plant tanks. They use the pre-fabricated concrete rings (usually used for water storage) stacked up to become a high plant tank, so that during the floods, they still have fresh herbs (such as hot pepper, basil, lemongrass and etc. - very crucial for local cooking).

Not only the houses are lifted so high, the spirit house is also elevated so high from the real ground to meet with the water fluid ground during the floods.

Learning from the village, we were brought back to where we perhaps used to be - living lightly with water. It may sound rather romantic, however, seeing all these, I believe we can improve our modern city, modern life to blend more with water with very simple methods. This year 2012, hopefully, we will be able to handle more. Since water is all around. -_-"


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02 Toyo Ito: The New Real In Architecture

On the evening of 6 October 2006, Tokyo was completely harrassed by one of the heaviest rains they had in several years. I was at the reception of a solo exhibition of Ito-san 'Toyo Ito: The New Real In Architecture' with Tee (our Narong Othavorn who was on the mission for art4d) at Tokyo Opera City. Very exciting moment. A lot of people I did not see for some years.

This is part A of the exhibition which features mainly the newest and most exciting project of his now, Taichung Opera Hall in Taiwan with the idea of 'Emerging Grid'. (I also wrote a small review on this exhibition and the idea of 'Emerging Grid' in Domus Magazine, December 2006 - www.edidomus.it ). There is a very big model of the building with very cute landscape (transparent trees) - We love Ito-san because of this!
(this image is a courtesy of Tokyo Opera City Gallery, thanks to Yoshida-san)



Looking through the gigantic model of Taichung Opera Hall. What a space!



This is in the model, showing how those functions would be housed in such a building. :O



This is how the super thin concrete slab which will be used in Taichung Opera Hall is constructed. It is a small building just completed in Kakamigahara, Japan. Actually I have seen the same technique he used at the main building of Fukuoka Island City Park, very exciting. This has to be credited to Sasaki-san, the super structural engineer who often works with Ito-san. Look at the wooden mold for the concrete! The Japanese craftmen are really the master on this kind of thing!
(this image is a courtesy of Tokyo Opera City Gallery, thanks to Yoshida-san)



Entering this part, I had to take my shoes off (very Japanese indeed). The glarry white room with curvy terrain showing 6 models of the recent works of Ito-san which are made by the real materials they were built.
(this image is a courtesy of Tokyo Opera City Gallery, thanks to Yoshida-san)



The cuttest thing here is the way you interact with the models: you have to sit in a small hole on the terrain to see the models up close. Very nice.



Wandering in the bleak space, and soft terrain. I was feeling like sitting on the floor all the time. But nobody did so... :( At the end I did not dare to be 'different'.



In this space, we finally met and greeted Ito-san. Looking tired but happy, he was surrounded by zillions people who wanted to congratulate him on this special occasion. Thanks to Kobayashi-san (one of the senior staffs of Ito's office) who brought me cut all the long line of people waiting to see him - being foreigner in Japan sometimes helps. :)



The last space is the chronological display of 35 years of Ito's office. This is really amazing, since he has kept all the records from his first house sketches and diary! Did he know by then that he was going to be so great and people would want to do this kind of exhibition out of his works? Maybe he did....
(Sor told me after seeing the picture of this part that he has to start keeping all sketches we always trash everyday, just in case - in case in the next 35 years we would have to day....!)
(this image is a courtesy of Tokyo Opera City Gallery, thanks to Yoshida-san)


At the entrance, there was a performance of this Italian craftman who makes the Ripple Chair of Ito-san. Very impressive to see it real!

I bought the exhibition catalogue which is done by Akira Suzuki-san. Although some of the images are not at their best quality, it is a very nice catalogue. Also there two other books, very cute. They are books for kids on Ito-san architecture! Love them!

Before heading for dinner with friends and those who are 'ito-san's kids' (they used to work with ito-san, or collaborate with him somehow), i got also some souvineirs for allzone guys....

Rachaporn

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