(English follows after Japanese)
再び建築の話題です。夏頃買ってそのままになっていた坂茂という建築家の『Voluntary Architects' Network 建築を作る。人を作る。ールワンダからハイチへー』という本を読みました。坂氏の作品の中でも、紛争・自然災害への解決策として作られたものがまとめられた本です。
初めて坂氏の建築を知り、そしてとても心に強くの刻まれたのは、阪神・淡路大震災で焼失した鷹取教会のために作られた紙の教会でした。連日ニュースで流れる避難所や仮設住宅が、雨風をしのげるだけでもありがたいと思うべき、と言わんばかりものばかりだった中、紙管で囲まれたシンプルな紙の教会は、人々の精神のよりどころである教会という場所であることからも大変シンボリックで、いかなる時にも美しく機能的なものの必要性について考えさせられるものでした。
この教会は、10年経って同じように震災に見舞われた台湾に移築されました。この、よきものに敏感でいる精神が受け継がれていく様子からも、坂氏のプロジェクトはいつも私の関心事の一つでした。その後も、坂氏と彼が教えていた大学の研究室は、津波に襲われたスリランカ、地震の被害を受けたハイチや中国でも同じような復興支援の建築に携わっています。この本には、その実例と現地で使われた素材、そしてもちろん復興支援以外の建造物についてのデザイン面についての分析が記されています。
はじめに、本の中では彼が「建築家が、弁護士や医者のように弱者のために働けないことを知って後悔した。」という言ったエピソードが書かれています。ここが、彼の出発点であり、彼を今日まで引っ張ってきた力なのだということが、後のインタビューなどを読んでも分かります。また、ドイツのGestalten TVというpodcastでも彼のインタビューを見たのですが、「デザインは社会の問題を解決すること、それが目的だ。」と全く迷いのない口調で言っていたことも同時に思い出しました。
先日の塚本由晴氏の「ふるまい学」の考え方と同様、建築の専門外である私がこのような「世界との対峙の仕方」に強く心惹かれるのは、建築の持つ力に不思議な共通点があるからのような気もします。機能的、美的であることの重要さはもちろんのこと、私たちが世界のありようを感知し、理解する知性のヒントが建築にはたくさん隠されているような気がします。
The works of Shigeru Ban
The story about architecture again. I have just read the book called "Voluntary Architects' Network" by one of the Japanese architects, Shigeru Ban, which I had bought this summer and had left for a long time. This is about focusing on his projects making shelters for the people where attacked and suffered by natural disasters or wars.
The shelter I first seen was the "Paper Church". It is unforgettable. It was a church made by paper poles for Takatori Church, which burned down in the earthquake, in 1995, in Hanshin (Western) area, in Japan. I remember I have been so upset to see the news on TV that the shelters and prefabs accommodations for the refugees. They looked so ugly, just like saying "You should appreciate that it could avoid rain and wind, right?". Furthermore, they never seemed to be thought of comfort and peace of mind for those who lost their houses, friends and family. So this church reminded me of importance of being surrounded by beautiful and functional things in such difficult situations. It could have the symbolic power that made people heal and comfort would have been so enormous as it is a church. After ten years, this "Paper church" moved and rebuilt in Taiwan where also big earthquake attacked. From those stories that he has been trying to be acutely sensitive for helping people 's life from architectural wisdom, I have been interested in his projects. After the Earthquake in Hanshin-Awaji in 1995, in Japan, he and his lab students has been energetically tackling with creating the shelters in Suri Lanka, where massive tsunami attacked, or China and Haiti where they experienced severe damage by earthquakes. In this book, it tells mainly about those case studies and the materials they used, and also the analysis of other architectures by Mr. Ban.
In the first of this book, Mr. Ban said, "I realized that most lawyers and doctors, excluding limited number of them who worked only to make money, were constantly working for the marginalized". Soon I started to feel tremendous respect for those professionals and a slight regret in choosing to become an architect" in the interview. I found that this would be his starting point to engage with these projects and also the driving force to keep overcoming the difficulties. I also have seen that he remarked the similar philosophy in his work in the interview of him, in the German podcast called Gestalten TV as "Design is for me problem solving method."
I'm not an expert and even I have never been taught architecture in my life. However, the notions of architectures inspired me because they tell a lot about how to encounter the world around us. I felt the same when I listened to the idea of "Behaviology" by Yoshiharu Tsukamoto, the another Japanese architect. That means, architecture tells us not only the importance of function, aesthetics but also the intellects how to be aware of how our surroundings (both nature and manmade) exist, and understand them more deeply.
