2016 | Modern Japanese Architecture

2016　Modern Japanese Architecture

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Academic unit or major: Breadth courses

Instructor(s): Stewart David-Butler

Class Format: Lecture

Media-enhanced courses

Day/Period(Room No.): Intensive ()

Group: -

Course number: LAW.X323

Credits: 1

Academic year: 2016

Offered quarter: 2Q

Syllabus updated: 2016/4/27

Lecture notes updated: -

Language used: English

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Syllabus

Course description and aims

This seminar in "Modern Japanese Architecture" attempts to present an overview of Japanese building history from the beginning of the modern period (Meiji 1, 1868) to the twenty-first century. It is based on Tokyo Tech's recently launched ed.X MOOC of the same title. The audiovisual materials are divided into six weekly components, culminating in an interview-based presentation of recent buildings on Tokyo Tech's main O-okayama Campus, where students will be attending classes.
Instruction seeks to anchor major developments in design and construction to relevant social and political events of the past century and a half of Japanese history.

Student learning outcomes

Students will learn to identify buildings and stylistic trends by period, insofar as these resemble or diverge from contemporary Western architectural production. We shall try to establish criteria for the evaluation of design and construction methods on the part of the Japanese architectural profession from its first formation up to the present. Japanese architecture of the past fifty years has stimulated worldwide interest, and the course is meant to provide a backgrounded investigation of these high-profile developments.

Keywords

architecture, design, construction, urban planning, Meiji/ Taisho/ Showa

Competencies that will be developed

Specialist skills

✔ Intercultural skills

✔ Communication skills

✔ Critical thinking skills

Practical and/or problem-solving skills

Class flow

Each class meeting will consist of guided discussion of terminology and issues already pre-introduced in unit MOOC installments. Students will be encouraged to interrogate the course material and provide their own additional thoughts and conclusions.

Course schedule/Required learning

	Course schedule	Required learning
Class 1	Introduction - A New Style: Meiji-Style Wood and Red Brick Buildings from 1868	Preparation for discussion and interpretation of corresponding Tokyo Tech X MOOC chapter
Class 2	JAPAN-NESS in Architecture: Its Earliest Origins from the Prehistoric Pit Dwelling to Temples/ Shrines	Idem
Class 3	Early International Style Modernism in Japan in the 1920s and 30s	Idem
Class 4	Post-WWII Modernism: Kenzo Tange, the Influence of Le Corbusier, and the Intervention of Arata Isozaki	Idem
Class 5	Kazuo Shinohara (1925-2006) and Modern NEXT	Idem
Class 6	Tokyo Tech’s C21 Campus: Design and Comprehensive Plan	Idem
Class 7	What all this means: Conclusions and Summary	Individual course papers inc. brief PPT presentation

Textbook(s)

Online link to: ed.X's "Modern Japanese Architecture" (Tokyo Tech, Stewart + Yasuda)

Reference books, course materials, etc.

David B. Stewart, The Making of a Modern Japanese Arcchitecture: From the Founders to Kazuo Shinohara and Aratat Isozaki, Kodansha Int'l., Tokyo and NY, 1987/ 2003.
Prints or online links to relevant monographs or periodical material.

TOKYO INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY