Neighbors:The people that live in this project should be able to afford themselves a 3 stories dwelling space, with an open patio at each unit. It is probably not the lowest income population in the city. On the other hand this project is binding a high degree of density inhabiting, and the land it occupies must be allot cheaper than land in the town centre. So the dweller in this new town space gives up his location and tow centre facilities for more space within the house.
It is a unique kind of suburb life, for the extra space is not one of a garden and a fence next to the neighbor, but of an inner patio which stress the privet and the intimacy qualities of the house as its main virtues.
Neighborhoods:
The project is part of a new city space, an expansion of the old town, an exterior to the traditional urban order. This new expanding space faces new questions of urbanity, and provides deferent characters of dwellings.
The question of urban sequence and continuity of the space becomes irrelevant ant not being confronted with the design issues. Instead questions of identity and appearance turning to be the main interests of the designer.
The building in this new city should be seen and known off, and must stretch out its uniqueness.
Neighboring:Each unit is organized towards its own interior space. There are no inner places for public activity within the project.Public activity is possible only where the project meets the city and a special program (a store) is provided for that cause. The dwellers don't get any spaces for meeting spontaneously, but there are cases of seeing and glancing from unit to unit. It is just the amount of exposure that makes the whole building human, but don't allow any inconvenience and suspicious feelings for the privet dweller in each unit.
Concept:
"Confronted with the possibility of building in Japan, a European architect faces a dilemma: should the project be as western as possible? Is it just another export like a Van Gogh, a Mercedes, or a Vuitton bag? Or should it reflect the fact that it exist in Japan?" (Rem Koolhaas)
This project by OMA is a respond to an invitation of the Japanese architect Arata Isozoki who addressed 7 architects to propose a concrete version that will implement the client ambition to "introduce a new urban life stile in Japan".
As one of 7 deferent proposals and as a planted entity in a well organized modern urban fabric, the project struggle between the tow poles of – integrate in, and assemble the urban sequence, or stress out and emphasize it's own uniqueness as "one of a kind" object.
Body:
The project is a in a way a signifier to a global process and interaction in the present architectural stage. The age of global relations enables a client from Japan to invite architects from all over the world, allowing them to read the local life style and house holding traditions and demands, and to provide subjective solutions to the giving situation. As part of such an act this project trays, among other considerations, to combine traditional Japanese lifestyle and space organization, along with global housing standards and fashions.
"Confronted with the possibility of building in Japan, a European architect faces a dilemma: should the project be as western as possible? Is it just another export like a Van Gogh, a Mercedes, or a Vuitton bag? Or should it reflect the fact that it exist in Japan?" (Rem Koolhaas)
This project by OMA is a respond to an invitation of the Japanese architect Arata Isozoki who addressed 7 architects to propose a concrete version that will implement the client ambition to "introduce a new urban life stile in Japan".
As one of 7 deferent proposals and as a planted entity in a well organized modern urban fabric, the project struggle between the tow poles of – integrate in, and assemble the urban sequence, or stress out and emphasize it's own uniqueness as "one of a kind" object.
Body:The project is a in a way a signifier to a global process and interaction in the present architectural stage. The age of global relations enables a client from Japan to invite architects from all over the world, allowing them to read the local life style and house holding traditions and demands, and to provide subjective solutions to the giving situation. As part of such an act this project trays, among other considerations, to combine traditional Japanese lifestyle and space organization, along with global housing standards and fashions.
Building:
24 dwelling assemble tow free standing blocks placed one next to another and form altogether a gate to an inner area of tow 120 meter high dwelling towers designed by Arata Isozoki.
Each dwelling unit contains a 3 stories major vertical development that provides it with light and space in the center of the house.
This vertical arrangement is the core of every unit and gives the dweller deferent levels of isolation and exposure. The division of each unit to 3 stories is well pronounced both inside and outside the building by means of material use and form. As a whole these tow dwelling blocks can be seen as an experiment in packing and condensing the qualities of modern western dwelling spaces along with traditional Japanese void arrangement.
24 dwelling assemble tow free standing blocks placed one next to another and form altogether a gate to an inner area of tow 120 meter high dwelling towers designed by Arata Isozoki.
Each dwelling unit contains a 3 stories major vertical development that provides it with light and space in the center of the house.
This vertical arrangement is the core of every unit and gives the dweller deferent levels of isolation and exposure. The division of each unit to 3 stories is well pronounced both inside and outside the building by means of material use and form. As a whole these tow dwelling blocks can be seen as an experiment in packing and condensing the qualities of modern western dwelling spaces along with traditional Japanese void arrangement.
City:
Located in a new goring urban environment that expands beyond the old typical traditional Japanese city of Fukuoka, the project take part in a truly relevant demographic and up to date urban process. The wide developed space outside of the old city is condensed with modern character of urban strategies that lead to a new kind of city space. A space struggle to find its identity, and to delver a coherent massage to the city habitants. As a part of such a fabric the project takes its role very seriously and tries to provide both extrovert presences along with a curtain degree of consideration in the urban sequence. Because of the experimental layout of the project definitions, it explores the idea of the urban block as part of a modern environment. The result promotes the notion that in the present over growing urban space, the question of continuity becomes less relevant than the question of identity.
Located in a new goring urban environment that expands beyond the old typical traditional Japanese city of Fukuoka, the project take part in a truly relevant demographic and up to date urban process. The wide developed space outside of the old city is condensed with modern character of urban strategies that lead to a new kind of city space. A space struggle to find its identity, and to delver a coherent massage to the city habitants. As a part of such a fabric the project takes its role very seriously and tries to provide both extrovert presences along with a curtain degree of consideration in the urban sequence. Because of the experimental layout of the project definitions, it explores the idea of the urban block as part of a modern environment. The result promotes the notion that in the present over growing urban space, the question of continuity becomes less relevant than the question of identity.
Environment:
Without a truly identified nature qualities near by, this project address environmental issues through out tow major characters. The first operates within the dwelling unit and provide the city dweller an extraordinary free green open space along with a significant amount of light and air. The second has to do with the extrovert appearance of the buildings and the curved roofline that resonate with the mountains that surround the bowl of the city.
Without a truly identified nature qualities near by, this project address environmental issues through out tow major characters. The first operates within the dwelling unit and provide the city dweller an extraordinary free green open space along with a significant amount of light and air. The second has to do with the extrovert appearance of the buildings and the curved roofline that resonate with the mountains that surround the bowl of the city.
Technology:
The distinct and well identified post modern appearance of the city space in which the project is located, along with the fact that it is part of a somewhat experimental act, the architect enjoyed an almost total freedom regarding to the chose of materials and constructive elements. Even so, the technology in the building is well thought of and used to provide curtain qualities both to the city and to the dweller. There is a unique balance that had been achieved and that makes a profound definition between types of spaces and programs. The massive concrete structure that encompass both the foundations of each unit, the vertical movement components and the public ground floor, enables a lighter structure to take place and to provide the houses with open cantilever terraces and an illustration of a Japanese traditional rooms, where "screens and curtains generate different configurations".
Implementation:
The whole concept of Nexus World Housing in Fukuoka is a result of a unique connection between client and architects. It is not the first time that an experiment in architecture is being executed, but this one has curtain characters and definitions that affect allot the design of the blocks. The import of 6 European architects along with they're subjective view points, into a western - developing by global standards – urban fabric, raise questions of identity and prestige, along with a high degree of freedom in the design process. As a result this project does explore widely the realm of new urban life style in Japan and configure eventually an inimitable housing typology, but it also remains at the level a lab experiment, and doesn’t take into consideration cases of affordability and market - supply and demand forces.
