KEIO ARCHITECTURE

Forest Science and Engineering
－From Forest to Timber to Wooden Architecture－

The target of our lab is forests/timberland, forestry operations, lumber production and wooden architecture from science and engineering. Our lab builds several bridges over forests from architecture/urbanism. Current issues will be approached from innovative angles and new solutions will be proposed. It begins with basic investigation, and reaches technology development and social system design. Design is also the theme.

＊This lab has started in 2017.
＊To students; for the research topics of this lab, refer to the syllabus at Keio University.

In my student days I was devoted to design, so much so that after graduating in architecture I went to Germany to study the Bauhaus. However, I developed vague doubts about present-day architecture, and thinking that there was meaning and ideas into form, I chose to take the first steps in my working life in the think tank.

Architecture is an academic field that depends more than almost any other on understanding with one’s own five senses. In my experience, the beautiful photographs in architectural magazines and the actual space are never the same. Because of that, I continue to place importance on going to the actual place to see and understanding things through my own experience and senses. Expressed in terms from the world of architecture, in my research to date I have tried to unravel the questions of why a given building was built, how a town came into being and scenery produced, and the social mechanisms that lie behind them.

Japan has learned from the West and attempted to catch up with modern science, but thinking back it seems that in Europe important things are all left in place. In terms of architecture, there are churches in town centers and most city government offices are also historical buildings that have remained standing from long ago. Europeans are aware that the modern era has been built amid each country’s own historical and cultural conflicts. Looking at the urban planning systems in France, Germany and other countries, this mindset is clearly apparent in their social systems.

In contrast, buildings of traditional Japanese wooden architecture are facing difficulties because of the laws of the country itself. It is unfortunate that Japan does not learn from itself or think about problems on its own to the extent that it researches things in other countries. It is a country that possesses a marvelous industrial culture.

I will continue conducting research to solve the real problems we will face in the future and make proposals for the design of social systems and technical development. I encourage students to adopt the method of thinking for themselves, making their own input in order to produce their own output. Together we go out and conduct fieldwork.

To solve real problems, it is important to derive “novel thinking” and show it in any form. Through this process, it is my hope that students will acquire principles, specialized knowledge and varied methodologies, and develop the breadth of character and good sense suited to global leaders.