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Architectural Design Workshop – Advanced Japan Design Workshop 2008: Research & Design of Prototype Housing and Sustainable Communities (Summer + Fall)
Instructor: Shun Kanda
Room: 10-422M
Phone: 617-252-7365
kanda@mit.edu
Units: 3-0-6
Level: H
Prerequisites:Graduate Students in MArch, DUSP, CDD, SMArchS, MediaLab, Bldg Tech
(enrollment limited to 12)
Requisites: July 2008 Travel to Japan (3 weeks)
Fall Term 2008 Workshop
Note:Fall Workshop to be followed by a Spring 2009 Studio
SUBJECT Synopsis: Investigations of sustainability in housing and community design resulting in research & prototype propositions applicable to Japan in 2030, as well as to similar urbanized contexts in other parts of the world.
SITE: for the 2008-09 academic year, this study will be based on the actual site
context of Tama New Town 20km outside Tokyo.
BACKGROUND: During Japan’s post-war economic miracle, a rapid influx of population into Tokyo led land prices to skyrocket, causing many to settle on the more affordable outskirts of the city, leading to a random, rapid urban sprawl. Tama New Town was planned in 1965 to attempt to ease this pressure by providing hundreds of thousands of housing in a master planned, pleasant sub-urban environment. Ultimately, it became one of the largest housing developments in Japan.
Four decades later today, with significant changes in demographics, transportation, energy consumption, land use & infrastructure, life-styles and housing demand, Tama New Town faces acute challenges of continuity and transformation. Much of Japan’s current housing, environmental and infrastructural problems are amplified and exemplified here and in need of major shifts toward sustainable re-design and longer-range planning. This is the focus of our investigations in this Fall 2008 Workshop which will later lead to be the thematic underpinnings of the Advanced Studio in Spring 2009.
SCHEDULE OUTLINE: The Workshop will begin with a three-week travel to Japan in July starting immediately after the Beijing Studio. This sojourn will include the on-site study of Tama New Town, fact-finding & fieldwork on various precedents, meetings with professionals and academicians, a week-long charrette, and group activities with members of Sekisui House Ltd., the project’s sponsor. Information and knowledge gathered from this visit will be continued and form the basis of further research & planning activity into the Fall term at MIT.
The COST of roundtrip travel to Japan, local transportation and accommodation exclusive of meals are covered by the Advanced Japan Design Workshop.
The Advanced Japan Design Workshop project is funded and conducted in part in collaboration with the staff and resources of Sekisui House Ltd. of Japan.
Interested students should sign up by sending a brief form attached below no later than April 30th to Shun Kanda in the Dept. of Architecture. Final selections will be made on or shortly after May 1.
It is anticipated that a brief information meeting may be held on April 28th Monday at 5PM just prior to that of the Fall Urban Design Studio meeting by Rahul Mehrotra and Alan Berger.
In the meantime, you are welcome to forward inquiries to
Shun Kanda kanda@mit.edu
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