BDES1020 Continuous City <Xaever, Mand>

Abstract

Originally I had intended building to be a Street Art Gallery. I endeavoured to not only externally reflect young creative energy but also internally to create functions that catered to unaddressed needs of adolescent culture in the city of Tokyo. Hence, I added an art workshop to involve people in the art making process. However I began to question the appeal of the program to the wider youth community of Tokyo. In order to attract more people to the building I realised that the building should facilitate for more of the youth’s interests. Having briefly visited Tokyo in 2004, one of the distinctive memories that I retained was a trip to the famous Harajuku Park where every weekend young people from all around Tokyo gather in fancy dress, to impress, to play act as famous Manga characters or movie stars. I created a purpose built space in the form of an open plaza space and included a costume shop on the same level. Another element of Japanese youth culture with wide appeal is Anime and Manga which is just as popular overseas as it is in Japan. Through further research I discovered that the two could be fused in my program as there are digital anime and Manga libraries, known as “Manga Kissa”. The programme through provision of a dance and music studio dedicated to lessons and rehearsals provides another mode of creative expression popular among the adolescents in Tokyo. Despite adding these various functions to the program I still wanted to have a large focus on the street art aspect of the building. Hence, I decided to make the facade a graffiti canvas. One half of the building is covered in graffiti and its appearance is altered every couple of months. The decoration of the outside is decided upon by either an artist or those who are using the art workshops. The facade for the second half of the building is composed of screen doors inspired by traditional shoji paper screen doors. These doors are removable and therefore the facade can be changed and again the design of these doors is left completely up to an artist or those who use the art workshop. By allowing the occupants of the building control over the appearance of their environment I believe it could foster a greater sense of community and ownership and attachment to the place among the youth which is one of the prime issues in Tokyo.