(for further information - you can contact the author by clicking her/his name below)
Marco Capitanio+Alice Covatta
Vuk Radović (Keio SFC)+Nadja Beretić (Univ. of Massari)+Ana Medina (UPT Madrid)
co+labo Post-Doctoral Fellow
- PhD in Planning and Environmental Management (University of Manchester, UK),
- Master Degree in Geo-information Sciences and Earth Observation (ITC/University of Twente, The Netherlands),
- Master Degree in Urban Planning and Environmental Management (Saint Augustine National University, Peru),
- Professional degree in Architecture (Peru), and
- training in topics such as: Sustainable Land-use Planning (World Bank Institute, US), Land and Property Markets (Lincoln Institute of Land Policy, US) and Community Planning and Quality of Life Indicators (National University of Colombia, Colombia).
Jessica has
about 12 years of professional experience in urban planning, land-use planning,
participatory planning and strategic planning at the urban level, mostly in
Peruvian Southern cities. Her lecturing experience includes courses at the
undergraduate and postgraduate level in urban planning, spatial policies and
analyses and urban and architecture design in Peru and UK. She has presented
her research findings in several academic conferences in Europe and in
professional seminars in Peru. Her research interests include: the study of
planning policy, practice and methodology in developing countries, the use and
management of spatial data and spatial analyses in local decision-making and
the impacts of infrastructure in the built-up environment and the urban
functionality of cities.
Currently, Jessica is a JSPS Postdoctoral Research Fellow at Keio University and United Nations
University (Tokyo), involved in research related to the socio-environmental
dimension of public space and housing policies in developing countries and hosted by co+labo.
co+labo PhD students
Marco Capitanio
Marco
studied architecture at the Mendrisio Academy of Architecture (CH) and urban design at TU Berlin and at Tongji University Shanghai, where he completed his
Master’s studies in 2012. His professional experiences span from the
architectural scale (construction drawings and detailed design in Switzerland
and Japan) to the urban dimension (large developments and masterplans in
China).
Marco
is currently research assistant within the framework of GESL Program and Ph.D.
candidate at Keio University; he is interested in combining research with
professional practice and in transdisciplinary collaborations. His work focuses
on liveability of the built environment, especially at the neighborhood scale,
a topic that he has investigated in Europe and in China.
Research theme:
Liveability
Factors at the Neighborhood Scale: Tokyo’s Case
The
anticipated aging of Japanese society and 0.00% growth rate in 2020-2025
(UN-Habitat 2013:161) will restructure Tokyo’s spatial organization in the
coming decades. This process will be most dramatic in neighborhoods farther
from central Tokyo, where ca. 87% of Greater Tokyo Area’s population lives.
Several scholars have tackled this issue from a geographical and land-use
planning perspective. From an architect’s viewpoint such researches build a
theoretical foundation upon which a more specific investigation should be done,
since the question about how liveability at the architectural and urban design
scale can be investigated remains an open one. In fact, the complexity of the topic
necessitates an interdisciplinary and intermediate step between large scale,
prescriptive findings and small-scale implementation.
Assuming
as a working hypothesis that a definition of liveability is, to a certain
degree, locational and contextual, it is necessary to introduce the local
peculiarities in which Tokyo’s spaces are produced. Tokyo is characterized by a
number of attractive neighborhoods with a strong cultural identity, usually
centered around a train station. Simultaneously, districts located further from
the city center are rapidly aging, while younger residents choose to live
closer to their workplace. This creates great imbalances in the social
structure of residential and mixed-use areas, which is inevitably reflected in
the built environment. In order to analyze selected case studies, identify
their strengths and shortcomings from an urban design point of view, a
definition of liveability and its constituting factors, tailored to its
context, is fundamental.
Pega Sanoamuang
(February, 1979)An architect and a lecturer at the Faculty of Architecture, Kasetsart University in Bangkok. She got her B.Arch in Architecture from KhonKaen University and M.Arch in Urban Design from Chulalongkorn University in Thailand. Now, she is a Ph.D. candidate of the Graduate School of Science and Technology, Keio University, Japan due to the Japanese government scholarship. Her research is about the phenomenology of radical changed cities specifically affected by the introduction of new transportation technologies in Tokyo and Bangkok. She is interested in the sense of place and community, urban morphology and urban transportation.
Research theme:
Many research projects focus at outstandingly successful Japanese railway systems. While most of those deal with various engineering, technical and environmental aspects, a comparatively small number focuses at their contribution to definition of urban character of the neighbouring areas. This thesis explores the impact of several, carefully chosen railway stations in Tokyo on the immediately adjoining, commercial and mixed-use areas.
The focus is on Tokyu-Toyoko line, which links Tokyo and Yokohama. On the basis of detailed typological study, Jiyugaoka, Musashi-Kosugi and Kikuna Stations were chosen as three representative cases for detailed investigations.
The methodology combines place and mobility theories with theories of urban quality and various livability concepts.
The emerging conclusions point at the ways ways in which well designed and managed railway stations create opportunities for emergence of urban character and specific nuances of quality.
Many research projects focus at outstandingly successful Japanese railway systems. While most of those deal with various engineering, technical and environmental aspects, a comparatively small number focuses at their contribution to definition of urban character of the neighbouring areas. This thesis explores the impact of several, carefully chosen railway stations in Tokyo on the immediately adjoining, commercial and mixed-use areas.
The focus is on Tokyu-Toyoko line, which links Tokyo and Yokohama. On the basis of detailed typological study, Jiyugaoka, Musashi-Kosugi and Kikuna Stations were chosen as three representative cases for detailed investigations.
The methodology combines place and mobility theories with theories of urban quality and various livability concepts.
The emerging conclusions point at the ways ways in which well designed and managed railway stations create opportunities for emergence of urban character and specific nuances of quality.
Paula Jaén Caparrós
2012-Present Ph.D. Candidate at the Departamento de Construcción y Tecnología Arquitectónicas (Department of Construction and Technology in Architecture), Escuela Técnica Superior de Arquitectura. Universidad Politécnica de Madrid
2005 Architect, University Degree in Architecture and Urban Planning, Escuela Técnica Superior de Arquitectura. Universidad Politécnica de Madrid. Final project advisor: Mariano Bayón Álvarez.
1984-1997 High School Graduate with HONORS. Sagrado Corazón de Jesús (Madrid)
Research topic:
Reversible architecture in the past: Recovering strategies for a dissembled future
In the same way as it happens in nature, where everything is
incorporated into a biological cycle, we must reuse and recycle everything we
make and build as humans, and reintegrate
these in the end back into the natural
environment in a harmless and helpful way. In
this sense, reversible and removable solutions are one of the best ways to
address this proposal. In response to the current global environmental and
economic challenges, instead of destroying the
structures and systems to adapt them to new settings, the
current building systems must be disassembled and their components
reused, processed and reassembled in new combinations. This approach could
finally allow existing buildings to serve as a source of raw material for new
construction, replacing the resourcing of the natural environment.
If we consider
“construction” as an assembly of pieces,
joints will become one of the most important element involved in the shape and
structure of the building. Dry and mechanical
connections are the joints that can be disassembled, where intact in form and
dimension pieces are connected, resulting in
an assemblage of parts that is perceived as a whole and defining the building
as a condition of being composed, with each part
needed and nothing superfluous.
As opposed to this, chemical connections are those that can not be
broken without altering the pieces that therein coincide, and
resulting in a whole by continuity of the joined parts.
This research
intends to start from the beginning. It is in ancient classical architecture,
and also in traditional architecture,
where we find in a clear and obvious way
precise balance in the relationship between elements, form and function, and
the proper integration in each environment. Components and connections in these
architectures allow us to understand the global assembly building, and let us
to assess the potential of disassembly of each case. All construction systems applied in the present have their equivalent within the past. Following this
statement, a careful reading of ancient and traditional architecture will allow
to refine the design of the future. Obtaining the relationships between these from the past and from the future, and the
integration of their advantages, will be the
goal of this project.
A significant amount samples intended to take part of this work. Those
related to the use of natural materials and developed in a respectful and
sustainable environment will acquire a leading role. On
these grounds, wooden structures of ancient and recent architecture of Japan
will be the focal task of the following stage
of research.
In December 2014, as part of her research at co+labo, Paula has conducted a fieldwork. Here is her brief report:
Related to my PhD project, I have conducted an amazing research trip, which included some of my key investigation sites in Japan: Shirakawa and Hida region, Ise Jingu, Shizuoka, and significant temples of Nara and Kyoto.
1. Over and under a thick blanket of snow, Shirakawa has shown its impressive traditional architecture. Over the last several decades, twenty six houses were disassembled and relocated to the village.
2. A great place of worship, but also a place of magnificent wooden architecture, Ise Jingu was recently dismantled, and in 2013 renewed and rebuilt in traditional, unpainted cypress wood.
And,
4.to complete the journey, I visited a wood factory in Takayama. I have seen shaping and modelling of wooden pieces which are used for manufacturing some of their key architectural products. Another set of data to be included in the research.
Vedrana Ikalović
2014 - PhD candidate at Keio University. Graduate School of Science and Technology. co+labo Radović
2014 - Master of Engineering at Toyohashi University of Technology, department of Architecture and Civil Engineering. City Planning Laboratory; topic Study on Actual Relation between Visual Fields and Activities in Public Space
2009 - Master of Architecture at Faculty of Architecture and Civil Engineering in Banjaluka, Bosnia and Herzegovina; topic Stratification: Study on Experiencing and Transformation of City Space
Research topic: Physical Emergence of Personal Space in Different Cultural Contexts
Trying to understand/ describe/define time gaps and space gaps, in encounter with self, with personal/individual/natural through lived that is not known;
through ordinary;
through constant questioning of inside and outside world, self and other(s);
by walking and drifting, with and without purpose;
everyday;
in physical and social city, created for many [but not for the one].
AWARDED PhD in 2014
Alice Covatta
Università degli Studi Udine and co+labo
(Alice is seeking research grant to re-join co+labo as a PostDoc fellow)
2013 PhD scholarship,
Keio University, co+labo Radović
2012 PhD scholarship,
Architecture at Udine University
2011 FIxO
scholarship at GreenPrefab (Venice)
2010 Master’s
Degree in Architecture, IUAV
University, Venice, Thesis “Microclimi e Macrostrutture” (supervisors: Barbarewicz,
Fontanari, Palerm)
Score: 110/110 “summa cum Laude”
2009 IUAV
scholarship for European internship at Abalos+Sentkiewicz
arquitectos, Madrid.
2006 -
2007
Erasmus program at Ecole Nationale Supérieure d’Architecture Paris-Belleville,
Paris.
2004 -
2007
Bachelor degree in architecture, achieved at IUAV University, Venice, Italy.
Research topic:
Parallel Implosion - Haptic perception of the media city!
key words: haptic perception, body
extension, sensuality, public intimacy, carnal city
The research explores body extension
into the media environment through haptic perception in order to abandoning
optical supremacy for a non-visual theory. Providing corporeality as framework,
human body exceeds its own border, it shirks and expands (Grosz), it
incorporates prosthesis to augment some senses and to self-amputate others
(McLuhan).
Taking as assumption that the Media City
is getting distant to body perception and experience (Pallasmaa, Eisenmann, Debord) this
event defines new demands to solve.
Steps:
1: explore haptic environment’s
reincarnations and attributes into cyborg world.
2: investigate which interrelations
occurs between separate elements through haptic experience.
3: understand why, even now, body needs
physical intimate connection into public space.
The purpose is to review philosophical
knowledge, architecture theory and as a final point pragmatic case studies to
find alternative strategies to the dominant one, eye-distance-city. This
framework overcomes visual fascisms without dictator created in this era.
Concerning Tokyo as paradigmatic city
more experimental then architecture itself, diverse haptic strata emerge from
the media tissue through which understand societal norms that operate invisibly
in daily relationships as qualities attributes.
The new representation challenges the idea of balance and control that conventionally infer upon city declassifying the usual paradigm (bigness, surgical, hedonistic,…) and eventually
The new representation challenges the idea of balance and control that conventionally infer upon city declassifying the usual paradigm (bigness, surgical, hedonistic,…) and eventually
reconstructing how architecture finds
itself in its current situation and speculate on its future.
The method used is a mixed strategies, both qualitative and quantitative. At first three main
The method used is a mixed strategies, both qualitative and quantitative. At first three main
philosophical knowledge are reviewed
and one media theory.
Jaques Lacan’s Möbius strip evidences inflection of mind into body and vice versa. Maurice
Jaques Lacan’s Möbius strip evidences inflection of mind into body and vice versa. Maurice
Merleau-Ponty evidences body and skin
as the precursor of experience likewise child’s month is the medium for
exploring objects and measuring space. Gilles Deleuze evidences in desire
theory the assemblage as productive process between body (or fragment of it)
linked with heterogenic plans. Last Marshall McLuhan media theory
evidences touch as interplay of senses. It gives sense of measurement of something near and
corporeal moreover interrelate separate units in the some way of numbers.
These knowledges within architectural best practices and utopias create a kaleidoscope for topics of interest.
Finally through this lens concepts are testes to be followed by a qualitative method involving detail pragmatic explorations with few case studies.
The method uses text-image analysis, observation, in-depth interview, measurement. Touch is not skin but the interplay of the senses, and the “keep in touch” and “getting in touch” is a matter of fruitful meeting of senses, of sight translated into sound and sound into movement, and taste and smell. Baudelaire had the true intuition of number as a tactile hand or nervous system for interrelating separate units, when he said that “number is within the individual. Defining number as a measure, it contains the whole world-feeling of a soul passionately devoted to the ‘here’ and ‘now’. Measurement in this sense means the measurement of something near and corporeal.
These knowledges within architectural best practices and utopias create a kaleidoscope for topics of interest.
Finally through this lens concepts are testes to be followed by a qualitative method involving detail pragmatic explorations with few case studies.
The method uses text-image analysis, observation, in-depth interview, measurement. Touch is not skin but the interplay of the senses, and the “keep in touch” and “getting in touch” is a matter of fruitful meeting of senses, of sight translated into sound and sound into movement, and taste and smell. Baudelaire had the true intuition of number as a tactile hand or nervous system for interrelating separate units, when he said that “number is within the individual. Defining number as a measure, it contains the whole world-feeling of a soul passionately devoted to the ‘here’ and ‘now’. Measurement in this sense means the measurement of something near and corporeal.
AWARDED PhD in 2013
Milica Muminović (June, 1984) is an architect and PhD candidate of the Graduate School of Science and Technology, Keio University, Japan, with Mombukagakusho Scholarship. She has graduated at Faculty of Architecture, University of Belgrade, Serbia. For a year and half she has worked at Faculty of Architecture, University of Novi Pazar, Serbia, as teaching assistant. Her research is about identity, places, spaces in between architecture and urban scales, with emphasis on residential architecture in Tokyo. She has interest in places of becoming, places that offer more than what flatten reality of “now” displays.
Milica is now a Lecturer at the University of Canberra, Australia 
Research of Yanesen area (Yanaka, Nezu, Sendagi), Tokyo.
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Aeon: the indefinite time of the event, the floating line that knows only speeds and continually divides that which transpires into an already-there that is at the same time not-yethere, a simultaneous too late and too-early, a something that is both going to happen and has just happened (Deleuze and Guattari, 1987:262).
Research of public/private interfaces in Nezu, Tokyo ... |
