Architecture in Japan

21st Century of Contemporary Art, Kanazawa

2010-05-07T16:25:00.000-07:00

This museum was designed and built five years ago by SANAA. Here are some pictures I took a long time ago.

The study models made during the design process by SANAA.

The facade

The outer walls are all glass.

There are lots of 'patios' and they are usually surrounded by glass walls.

I love this green wall. I don't remember the name of the artist though.

A friend of mine posted some blog with pictuers of the "pool" of this building. I don't remember the name of the artist, but here are the pictures:

Its located in a patio surrounded by glass, of course.

It looks like a pool. There is a very shallow layer of water on the top of a single glass.

Here is the underground entrance

And that is me!

http://www.kanazawa21.jp/en/

Yakushiji 薬師寺

2010-03-22T04:49:00.001-07:00

Its Spring in Yakushiji, Nara.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yakushi-ji

Some people taking pictures with the Nara character, a deer-budha called Sentokun.

http://www.julieinjapan.com/2009/12/naras-sento-kun-mascot-is-truly-hideous.html

The reason the sky is yellowish is the Asian Dust, called kosa in Japan.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asian_Dust

Spring in Hikarigaoka

2010-03-06T19:19:00.000-08:00

It's not spring yet. I'm posting some pictures of last year's spring. Lots of sakura.

Above: View from the balconies

Above: View from the balconies. We can see the waste incinerator pipe.

Above: Some older apartment buildings and a kindergarten.

Snow in Hikarigaoka

2010-02-19T19:01:00.000-08:00

A few days ago, I had a great surprise when I woke up. I decided to take a few pictures before leaving to work. Hikarigaoka is a danchi, government developed apartment complex. The urban planning of Hikarigaoka is modernist and reminds me of my hometown, Brasilia. I'll post the pictures of other seasons soon this month.

Above: The pedestrian traffic is separated from the vehicle traffic.

Above: A garden
Above: I tweaked this picture with GIMP.

Above: In a good weather day, we cans see Mount Fuji in this landscape.

Above, another tweaked picture.

Nezu Museum

2010-02-12T23:13:00.000-08:00

Some pictures from Nezu Museum, from Kengo Kuma.

隈研吾氏により設計された根津美術館の写真。

The museum was built by kaichiro Nezu, a Japanese magnata. It is located near Omotesando and has an amazingly beautiful garden.

http://www.nezu-muse.or.jp/en/index.html

Jean Nouvel's Dentsu Headquarters Building

2009-09-01T21:00:00.000-07:00

Jean Nouvel's Dentsu Headquarters Building photos

ジャン・ヌーヴェルの電通本社ビルの写真

More pictures at: http://picasaweb.google.com/dionisiofranca/Dentsu#

Some information at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dentsu_Building

Kisho Kurokawa's Nakagin Capsule Tower, 黒川紀章中銀カプセルタワー

2009-08-24T21:18:00.000-07:00

Thats the Nakagin Capsule Tower. It was designed in 1970 by Kisho Kurokawa. It faces the danger of demolition.

Here is the web page of Kurokawas office: http://www.kisho.co.jp/page.php/209

For other photos check my website: http://picasaweb.google.com/dionisiofranca/KishoKurokawaSNakaginCapsuleTower#

Check also this video on youtube:

Marunouchi

2009-08-24T06:45:00.000-07:00

Some pictures I took while on a open bus tour around Marunouchi, the area around Tokyo station.

A couple more pictures at http://picasaweb.google.com/dionisiofranca/Marunouchi#

Tokyo Midtown, 東京ミッドタウン

2009-08-16T19:30:00.000-07:00

Tokyo Midtown, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tokyo_Midtown http://www.tokyo-midtown.com/en/ , is a huge builgind complex located at Roppongi, Tokyo. It is also the tallest building in Tokyo (248 meters).

Check also some other pictures I took at: http://picasaweb.google.com/dionisiofranca/TokyoMidtown#

The National Art Center, Kisho Kurokawa　国立新美術館　黒川紀章

2009-07-31T00:06:00.000-07:00

My photos of The National Art Center, project of Kisho Kurokawa:

国立新美術館、黒川紀章：

Thats their web site: http://www.nact.jp/english/index.html

For more photos:

http://picasaweb.google.com/dionisiofranca/TheNationalArtCenterKishoKurokawa#　

With an impressive 21.6 meter of ceiling height at the lobby.

According to Kurokawa the wavy transparent facade design is low-energy.

And the architecture has a symbiotic relation with the forest arount it.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License.

Za Koenji 座高円寺

2009-07-12T18:49:00.000-07:00

Here are some pictures I took from Toyo Ito'sZa Koenji（座高円寺）. The pictures are free to use under CC agreement.

More pictures at: http://picasaweb.google.com/dionisiofranca/ZaKoenji#

Here the theatre web site: http://za-koenji.jp/english/about/index.html

This theatre is supposed to support the Koenji Awa Odori festival. Awa in japanese sounds like bubble. Ito's word game is seen threw all the project.