JP

philosophy

Carving Out an Atmosphere

I’ve always been drawn to floats drifting about in the ocean. Inevitably, floating fisherman always seem to be embodied in visualizations of an ocean. An imaginary floating grid can be molded by the subtly changing and fluctuating movements of nature’s ocean waves.
On the other hand, the wind is something that is completely ungraspable. In my home town Nagasaki, a game I often played as a child was called “Hata (flag) -Rising”. This game involved flying a kite, and a flying kite looks like a boat flag in the air― this is how “Hata(flag)” has become a part of this game’s name. These kites are colored blue, red, and white, derived from the Netherland’s flag color, since Nagasaki was deeply associated to Netherland. Hata is capable of revealing not only the wind but also a culture.
Through architecture, I ultimately hope to reveal the intimacy in ordinary lives for this reality usually exists unnoticed. I always begin designing by searching for a sensation of something being out of place or in disharmony, for example I’d like to grapple with the ambiguous truths which arise when a child questions “Why?”. Along the process of listening to the client’s requests, studying the site and its surroundings, and taking into account the town’s history, at some moment I am able to find a source of inspiration.
Recently, I’ve realized that it seems more accurate to think that my designs are a result of an essence or a sensibility, kehai, that I’ve observed with the program and site, as opposed to designing solely in response to the ‘context’. Once I am concerned with this factor, I can feel these factors themselves as a characters and through model making, or once my mind and my hands begin to work, I begin to withdraw an atmosphere. 

Text | YU Momoeda