co+labo radović  aSAUD 2O2O two special lectures by Heide Imai, from Senshu University

As aSAUD 2O2O moves towards the themes of cultural sustainability, Dr Heide Imai of Senshu University, Tokyo has, in two consecutive lectures, presented two of here recent and current research preoccupations. The lecture entitled Gentrification, Revitalization or what: Changing Scapes, Spaces and Places in Japan" moved "beyond the general concept of gentrification, and ask how the ambiguity of urban change can be understood. Being rich in data coming from different urban spheres in Japan, which experienced decline, failure but also rebirth and revival, the case studies presented will allow the reader to develop a deeper understanding for the ongoing restructuring processes which happen around us, yet cannot be fully understand until we know how they affect the everyday life of the ordinary residents, users and visitors (often in contrasting ways). Some of the results are presented in the just published book “Creativity in Tokyo - Revitalizing a Mature City" (2020, Palgrave, left up) which offers a glimpse into the complex structure of necessary elements that provide physical and particularly socio-cultural support to the whole chain of creative actors in Tokyo. The book presumes that city creativity is equally influenced by financial support, accessible infrastructure (in terms of spaces, transport, digital technology), as well as sets of informal networks, services and tacit, locally embedded knowledge that provide basic layers of stimuli that are needed for creativity to fully develop. The future development of creativity and general development of a city depends not only on planning strategies of formal authorities but equally important appropriate inclusion of heterogeneity elements that are provided i.e. embedded within the local, informal, hidden context of micro city spaces." That lecture was followed by brief aSAUD discussion, and lead to the second talk (below) and results of Heide's long-standing interest in continuity and resilience of some traditional urban typologies in the metropolis, and in particular on roji. The material presented included references to her earlier book "Tokyo Roji "(2017, Routledge; left), and help open the final round of discussion.

 co+labo radović  TAUD 2O2O guest lecture 8+9: Komatsu+Midori Aoyama & Ryoko Iwase  

The series of TAUG 2O2O guest lectures ends with final two talks. co+labo alumnus Katsuhito Komatsu and Midori Aoyama of Fukei.Inc will talk about Integration of Scene and Architecture. They summarise: "We aim to create architecture from the unique landscape of the land. We believe that every site has its own unique landscape and context, and by launching architecture from it, projects have an inherent uniqueness that can only be found in that location. The context is a complex mixture of several elements, from which we extract elements of greater design strength and incorporate them into the design. Sometimes that element may be a sequence,  material, or a light environment. We believe that our design is unique to the land when we arbitrarily find elements in the context of the land.We learned this method from our mentor, Kengo Kuma. While working at Kuma Architects, we learned to experiment with many materials such as wood, aluminium, and paper, and to work with the engineers we collaborated with to incorporate the culture and technology of the region into our architecture. Oshima also studied Italian villas as part of her study to read the local context. Villas are not designed by themselves, but by keeping in mind the relationship between urban symbols (e.g., the cupola in Florence) and other villas and the sequence of views." In this presentation, Komatsu and Oshima-san will share some of that research with and also explain three architectural projects (above and left) - design based on the materials, views and activities of the land, where each of the projects is completely different in site, size and program." A very special lecture was left for the end of TAUD 2O2O series - Ryoko Iwase, of Studio Iwase who was co+labo associate and technical secretary in one of our most exciting research and research projects - Mn'M Measuring the non-Measurable 2011-14. Ryoko-san will use her riverside walkway project in Osaka (below) to present and discuss her approach to design and sources of inspirations.