Innovative Construction in Japan
GSD 6311, Lecture, Spring 2009

Modern Japanese architecture has been much admired in the West for its attention to materials, its refined construction details, and its ability to integrate traditional design principles into works that simultaneously push the forefront of technology. This lecture course looks in depth at significant works by contemporary Japanese architects, analyzing both their detailed construction and the larger cultural and theoretical contexts in which they are produced. Individual buildings will thus serve as vehicles for exploring the relationship between design theories and construction technique.

Building Technologies
GSD 6204, Fall

As the final component in the required sequence of technology courses, this professionally oriented course develops an integral understanding of the design and construction of buildings and their related technologies: structural, constructional, and environmental. Building on fundamentals covered in GSD 6203, Building Construction, the course looks in detail at examples of innovative construction techniques in wood, steel, and concrete structures. It also demonstrates the context in which technological innovation takes place by exploring the relationship of the design and construction participants.

Class meetings concentrate on case studies of recent buildings, which students are expected to study prior to class meetings. Detail drawings as well as issues of project and construction management are introduced for discussion. A term project is due at the completion of the course. Computer applications on structures, construction, environmental control systems, and project management are an integral part of the course.

Innovative Constructions: Cases in Modern Japan
GSD 6311, Lecture, Spring

Modern Japanese architecture has been much admired in the West for its attention to materials, its refined construction details, and its ability to integrate traditional design principles into works that simultaneously push the forefront of technology. This seminar looks in depth at significant works by contemporary Japanese architects, analyzing both their detailed construction and the larger cultural and theoretical contexts in which they are produced. Individual buildings will thus serve as vehicles for exploring the relationship between design theories and construction technique.

Modern Japanese Architecture
GSD 9206A02, Seminar, Spring 2003

This seminar focuses on the diverse origins and currents of modern Japanese architecture and is offered as a complement to the options studio taught by Professor Andrea Leers in spring 2003. The seminar involves independent research on contemporary Japanese architecture to be carried out in the weeks leading up to, during, and following the Leers studio trip to Japan over spring break. Enrollment is limited to twelve. Participants in the Leers studio are given priority placement in the seminar; others interested in enrolling should submit a brief statement of interest to the instructor by Wednesday, January 29 (inquiries and statements may be sent electronically to mulligan@gsd.harvard.edu). Applicants are notified of a priority list once the number of available slots is known, no later than the first class meeting on January 31.

Modern Japanese architecture has been much admired in the West for its attention to materials, its refined construction details, and its ability to integrate traditional design principles into works that simultaneously push the forefront of technology. This seminar looks in-depth at significant works by contemporary Japanese architects, analyzing both their detailed construction and the larger cultural and theoretical contexts in which they are produced. Individual buildings thus serve as vehicles for exploring the relationship between design theories and construction technique.

The panorama of personalities and exuberant design strategies that make up the Japanese architectural scene today is one of the most diverse internationally. Yet the common context of Japanese architects working within an intimately connected profession and highly organized construction industry brings remarkable uniformity to the issues relevant to this study. In surveying significant works from the past century, several broad themes will recur to guide class discussion and research, related to Japan's unique points of geography, climate and culture; its symbolic and spatial traditions; problems of urban context and the value of basho-sei ("place-character"); the education of architects; and issues of globalization. Finally, of the many factors that have brought modern Japanese architecture international esteem, perhaps none is as important as Japan's commitment to cutting-edge technology; to better understand the mechanisms of technological innovation in Japanese architecture, we will study the unique organization of Japan's building industry.

The core experience of class sessions will be the study of individual works of modern Japanese architecture, particularly those of the last quarter-century, focusing on issues of structure and constructive detail. Analyzing buildings by designers as diverse as Tange, Murano, Maki, Isozaki, Ando, Ito, Taniguchi, and Ban may reveal, among other things, a consistent evolution of technical and expressive trends. One of the most enduring legacies of Modernism in Japan, for example, has been to give primacy of expression to structural elements; post-and-beam construction in steel and concrete, resonant with traditional wood building techniques, has long been a favorite architectural paradigm. Yet recent Japanese architecture has explored other modes of expression, de-emphasizing the structural frame and instead calling attention to construction as the assembly of ever more specialized parts. Simultaneously, the reassuring solidity of older massive concrete structures is giving way to ever-lighter structures that permit a greater amount of light transmission to the interior. Could such an evolution be merely a response to current fashion? Or have trends in manufacturing and construction also played a part in changing the "rules" of Japanese architecture?

The course is structured in four parts:

1. A series of lectures and readings aimed at understanding the historical, cultural, and technological context of modern architecture and urbanism in Japan;
    
2. A series of in-depth case studies of significant buildings from the last twenty-five years, focusing on construction technique and the thought process of the designer;
    
3. An 11-day field trip to Japan, focusing on the architecture and urbanism of Tokyo and Kyoto; and
    
4. Student presentations on research topics, developed together with the instructor and based on works to be visited during our travels.

Coursework consists of weekly readings in preparation for class discussion, an analysis project to be presented by students on a rotating basis during the semester, and a term project developed around one or more works to be visited in person. Proposals for the term paper topics are due in the fourth week of classes; they should be based on one or more works by a contemporary Japanese architect and explore in-depth thematic issues raised in readings, lectures, and discussions. A revised proposal is due three weeks later in the form of a thesis statement; the new proposal should also indicate the student's intended research method (interview, original document review, etc. . .). Sessions at the end of the semester will be devoted to student presentations on paper topics, with revised papers due during exam period.