Archiv der Kategorie: Architektur

Architektur, Lexikon   

modern architecture in Japan

Preface

I have bought the book „Contemporary Architecture in Japan“. On every second page I saw a building I know. Therefore I decided to write my won book. I used my blog. I didn’t visit Japan in 2011. Enough blogspace.

Mori Tower, Roppongi Hill
Mori Tower, Roppongi Hill

Boundary Conditions

Japan has one problem: Not enough land for construction. There is only one way for city to grow; into the sky. Doing this there is another condition. The lots still have the ancient size. Sometimes this results in 10 story office buildings and parking lots with a ground plot of ony 30m^2. More about this topic you will find under „typical Japanese“. If there is a bigger lot available the built a big building, but not a boring one like in Germany. Japan seems to be a country for architects. Some buildings are real eyecatcher. And sometimes very complex buildings that are a city of there own.

Lotsenstation Yokohama
Lotsenstation Yokohama

Illuminati

The best in Japan is the night. Many buildings are illuminated at night. At day they are grey and uninspired but colorful at night. The best example is located in Mirai 21 in Yokohama. The building on the picture is the harbour pilot station.

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Architektur, Lexikon   

typical japanese – Obsession „Eiffel Tower“ (Part 2)

Not every radio tower looks like the Eiffel Tower. But one rule is sure: Every major city has a radio tower.

Kobe-Port-Tower (神戸ポートタワ)
height 108m, viewing platform at 90.3m; opened in 1963

Kobe Port Tower is not a radio tower, but shall be mentioned here too. He opened in 1963 and is located in the Merikan-Park, an old harbour area of Kobe. The steel construction has a hyperbolic shape and resembles the Canton Tower in China a little bit. The tower is 108m high and has an obervation deck at 90,3m. The red steel is illuminated at nights and gives a nice constrast to the also illuminated roof of the aquarium next to it.

Tsutenkaku Tower
Kobe Port Tower

Tsutenkaku Tower (通天閣)
height 103m, observation deck at 84/87m; architect: Tachū Naitō; opened in 1956

The tower is for sure and forever the landmark of Oosaka, no, of the whole Kansai area. No mange/anime playing in Oosaka without a reference to the Tsūtenkaku Tower. That by the way can be translated as „Heaven reaching tower“. He is located in Naniwa district close to the station Shin-Imamiya.

The current tower, opened in 1956, is the second tower of Oosaka. The first tower was opened in 1912 but burned down in 1943 and was demolished. This first tower really resembled the Eifffel Tower in Paris but was much smaller, and still the second highest building in Japan. You can say that this first tower is original and all other existing tower are only a copy. The second tower has a diffrent design. It has a eight edged ground shape and neon advertisement for Hitachi mounted to it. There are also two lights at the top that serve as a weather forecast. But the Tsutenkaku Tower has also something in common: the architect Tachū Naitō.

On the fifth floor Billiken is enshrined. This is a Goddess of Happiness or „things as they ought to be“ from Amerika(!). It is an import. I still don’t get this thing. But, Billiken seems to be a big number around the tower. Billiken is connected to Tsutenkaku Tower since the opening of the Luna Park in 1910. He got lost in 1923 when the park closed down. A copy was built in 1979 by old pictures.

[Small note on a personal matter: Tsutenkaku Tower is the only tower I ever visited the observation deck. This was on my first journey in 2004 … Added in 2012: I have to add the Sky Tree to this list. But this is a different story and I wouldn’t put the Sky Tree on to the list of the classical radio towers.]

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Architektur, Lexikon, typisch für Japan   

typical japanese – Obsession „Eiffel Tower“

Siegmund would have it’s own explaination for the fact, that there is an Eiffel tower in every major city in Japan. You cannot imagine a big city without it. Radio towers are everywhere in Japan. But you cannot image a big japanese city without at least one special radio tower. This one will have a viewing platform and a shape like the Eiffel tower in Paris. The mother of all towers is Tower Tower, even if it was one of the last towers, that was built. Tokyo Tower is 333m high and it really lookes like the Eiffel Tower. But it is 9m higher and totally orange. It was built in 1958 and became the landmark of the city and still is the 3rd highest tower built of steel.

Tokyo Tower

height 332,6m, observation deck at 150m and 250m; architect: Tachū Naitō, opened 1958

Tokyo Tower
Tokyo Tower bei Nacht
Tokyo Tower Detail
Tokyo Tower Detail

He is one of the highest buildings in Tokyo and was the highest radio tower until 2012. At this year the Sky Tree with an height of 634m was opened. He has the potential to succed in beein the landmark of the whole city. It’s design is unique. He represents the Tokyo of the 21st century and will get it’s own blog entry.

Tokyo Tower is 9m higher than the original but only half the weight (4000 tons). But why built it out of steel and not concrete. In the 50ies they decided for steel because it is more stable in the fact of an earthquake. If you use steel it is obvious to decide for a similar shape like the Eiffel tower, that became the blue print for steel towers.

The family

Tokyo Tower is only one of several towers built in the 50ies. Tokyo Tower is just the biggest one. Here is family (the part of it I already visited). You can see the similarity. They were all designed by the architect Tachū Naitō and have a viewing platform.

Sapporo TV Tower (さっぽろテレビ塔)
height 147,2m, observation deck at 90.4m; architect: Tachū Naitō, opened in 1957

Sapporo Tower
Sapporo Tower bei Nacht

Sapporo Toweri is older than Tokyo Tower. He is like the older brother. The reason was the time to built up Tokyo Tower. It just took so long. He has two observation decks. The lower one at 90,4m is a big souvenir shop with windows. In 1961 they mounted a digital watch. Saporro Tower is located in the Odori-Park, that is the origin of the street coordintes in Saporro (the streets in Saporro are numbered in East, West, South, North). At night the tower is illuminated in orange, like the big brother in Tokyo.

Nagoya TV Tower (名古屋テレビ塔)
height 180m, observation deck at 90m and 100m; architect: Tachū Naitō, opened in 1954

It is the oldest radio tower in Japan that has the shape of the Eiffel Tower and is also designed by Tachu Naito. It’s height is 180m and the observation deck is at 90m. The specialty is a free deck at 100m (roof of the viewing platform), called Sky Balcony. You can take the stairway (310 steps), if you want. There are restaurants and souvenir shops at the 30m level. The tower is located in the city center of Nagoya in the Hisaya Odori Park.

Beppu Tower (別府タワー)
height 100m, observation deck at 55m; opened on May 10, 1957

Beppu also has a tower, a tiny one. It was built at the same time as Tokyo Tower. The foundation of this tower is concrete building. He was built on the roof. It is very close to the tiny beach of Beppu on the east side of the main road that leads from the train station to the water line.

Nagoya Tower
Funkturm von Beppu

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Architektur, Lexikon, typisch für Japan   

typical japanese – Koban (the japanese TARDIS)

Koban, with a long o, is a police box; a tiny police station with usually one or two officers. The boxes are a big benefit for tourists. They are everywhere. Every block has a least one. Because there are no house number (and if there are, there is no logical order), the koban is possibly the only place where you can get help to find the house you are looking for. Sometimes there are street maps that will help you. Finding a koban is easier.

Koban – Ueno
Koban – Yushima
Koban in Ueno

Koban are also helpful if you got yourself lost in Tokyo. The description of the way back to the hotel always is to complex for my knowledge of Japanese. I tried it and gave up. Therefore it was easiert to ask for the next koban on the way. Then I asked the next koban for the next koban, and so on. Usually there is a koban every quarter mile.

Koban – Taito-ku
Koban – Nihonbashi
Koban – Ueno Park
Finding a koban

A koban is easy to find. At night there are two red lights. Ok, at daylight it is a little more difficult. Usually there is a police officer standing in front of the koban. Looking for an American cop? Donut shop. Looking for a German Cop? Döner Shop. Looking for a Japanese Cop? Standing in front of a koban. Typically Japanese. Often you can also see the white bicylces.

Koban – Ginza
The frog

Some koban are really well camouflaged. The one in Taito had a big japanese police stick mounted on the wall. It more looked like a souvenir shop. On Ginza the koban was some kind of an attraction. There was a big plastic frog on the roof. (The frog was gone 2010.) Because police boxes are everywhere, they are also the aim of architects., like this one in Ueno park.

More about this topic, if I have more pictures and informations.

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Architektur, Lexikon, typisch für Japan   

typical japanese – pedestrian deck

Pedestrian decks are everywhere in Tokyo and all over Japan. What the roundabout for England (sometimes nothing more than a white circle in the center of the junction, os the pedestrian deck for Japan. They are simple ones. Just a tiny bridge with stairs on both side of the street. But there are also very complex constructions; melting into train stations and office buildings. They are art work. They cancel the meaning of „ground level“.

There is a practical reason behind it. There are no traffic lights for pedestrians and also crossing a street on traffic light at a junction is sometimes tricky. The green phase is reduced to a minium. Imagine to stop traffic in Tokyo for people to walk across the street. No way. Tokyo is to complex. You have to seperate car traffic and pedestrians.

3D-Tokyo Iidabashi
Pedestrian Deck – Iidabashi
Shimbashi Pedestrian Deck
Iidabashi und Shimbashi

The pedestrian deck in Iidabashi for example is a complete ring, connection all corners of the junction. Additionally there is an express way above the pedestrian deck. It is next to the JR station and like an starter drug. The next level the one between Ginza is Shimbashi. It is a good example for a pedestrian deck that was built after the streets were built. Shimbashi was on of my first impressions of 3D-Tokyo in 2004. My second walk thru the city passed here while I was heading for Nihonbashi.

3D-Tokyo Shiodome
Shiodome Pedestrian Deck
Pedestrian Deck – Shiodome
Shiodome

One of the most complex pedestrian decks is the one in Shiodome. This one is also mentioned in the book „21st century Tokyo – A guide to Contemporary Architecture“. The architecture in Shiodome will get it’s in blog entry. If you visit this area you can arrive by subway or you walk from Hamarikyu Teien. Do the second one. The garden is really amazing. If you leave the north gate you are mostly in front of the pedestrian deck. It is the entrance to a maze of pathways between the buildings of Shiodome. After visiting the garden the stairs are like stairs into a different world.

Pedestrian Deck – Oosaka
Pedestrian Deck – Gifu geplant
Pedestrian Deck – Shinjuku
Pedestrian Deck – Sapporo
Osaka, Saporro, …

The pedestrian decks become more than a passage way to the other side of the street. Japan tries to separate pedestrians from the traffic. It even is part of city development. Sooner or later I will return to Gifu and check how the plan was realized. The trains already stop in the upper level. Why not move the pedestrian up too.

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