Kouyama Hisao (香山 壽夫) has been a force to be reckoned with in the modern architecture scene in Japan, even though outside of the country, he is rather obscure. A PhD of engineering in architecture, Kouyama embeds technology into his buildings effortlessly. For example, in his design of the Saitama Arts Theater District, the interior walls of the concert hall are ever so subtly slanted in an elegant manner. Few would understand that these are not as decorative as they are an acoustic treatment of…

Fig.1: Kikutake’s Skyhouse Diagrams 1958-1985 Between Land and Sea (118) Le Corbusier’s Diagrams of Maison Dom-Ino 1914-1915 Le Corbusier: Œuvre Complète Vol. 1 - 1910-1929 (24-26) In Kikutake’s Skyhouse, which metabolized over the years subsequent to its completion, the architect’s only concern was to create an armature that functional spaces could be added onto. It is perhaps not about the hanging on of these functional spaces but their plugging in. This concept of an armature echoes a conce…

Digital Reconstruction of Sham Shui Po By using a technology called photogrammetry, a section of Sham Shui Po (or anywhere on Earth really; so long as Google Earth has 3D coverage of the place) may be recreated as a digital model. The workflow is as follows: A series of photos is taken at an appropriate interval and with adequate overlap. Google Earth Studio (available in beta testing mode by invitation) is a good option to produce these photos remotely and globally in consistent quality and wit…

Chaos and Order /Order is born from chaos, and chaos order. Extinction is (the same as) creation./ ‘Material and Man’ Kawazoe Noboru The formation of the Metabolist group rose out of the uncertainty and apprehension from a generation of wartime but also from the optimism for the future. It is a movement of paradoxical elements: to preserve the uniqueness of national identity by avoiding to be derivative of Western influences, but also to start afresh by distancing from the mentality of the past …

Fig. 1: A Photo from 'Subdivided Flats' Series by Benny Lam Hong Kong is considered one of the most densely populated cities on earth.1 At 7 m2 (roughly 75 ft2), its area per capita allowance in public housing is among the lowest global standards. Residential high-rises constitute a large portion of Hong Kong’s skyline and are often described as “pancake stacks” due to their repetitive extrusion of floor plates. Even within the same floor, apartment units are also built as modules in a standardi…