NYC, the city of verticality on the horizon, to the horizon

when i first arrived in NYC from JFK, what surprised me the most was its density of skyscrapers and proximity of them to each other. they were just standing like salary-men in tokyo on tubes in the morning as if there were nowhere to spread out (in fact there werent). as a tokyo urbanite, ive seen a lot of skyscrapers and the life surrounded by them is nothing new. but such a density and proximity of skyscrapers was something totally different from what ive known. the city was grabbing the sky. 

although NYC is no doubt a vertical city, it does not mean to make u deny to consider the horizon. when i was on the boat to the super touristy statue of liberty, this vertical city was on the horizon. it was kinda funny.

and when i climbed up to the super touristy empire state building, i found out that this vertical city actually spread to the horizon without much of verticality . this was rather different from what i optimistically imagined. 

technically it has become much easier to pile floors to the sky than ever before (although socially it has become much more difficult to build skyscrapers in modern society). yet the lights on the horizon made me understand that our lives cannot be piled up to the sky like concretes.

the High Line, New York City

2weeks have passed since the second decade of this century opens. Happy New Year!! my new year resolution for 2011 is to see more, feel more and think more. so here comes what i saw, felt and thought on the very first day of 2011.

on the very first moment of this decade (and the end of the last decade), i was in NYC with my family for holidays. this city was insanely gorgeous and full of wonder and surprise! i could only spend 4 days and 4 days were far from enough to get to know the city, but this busy 4 days provided me a great amount of inspiration. and one of the biggest inspiration was, of course, the High Line.

the High Line was originally constructed in the 1930s in order to lift dangerous railroads from the street level. it was used until the 1980s but it became obsolete already in the 1950s and during the 1960s some parts were demolished. some activists lobbied for demolition after the last train ran on the truck. yet some other wanted to preserve it as an urban outdoor public space and they founded "Friends of the High Line" in 1999. in 2002, this idea became NYC's policy. in 2003, the design competition was held and the design was decided. the High Line's construction started in 2006, after the design was published to public at MoMA in 2005. and the section 1 opened to the public in 2009 and the section 2 is estimated to open this year. (http://www.thehighline.org/)  

after i went to see the sight and what i felt about this project was, envy and jealousy. as me being interested in how to utilize unused public spaces, and having started thinking what i can do for them, it totally blew my mind. it already realized what i thought it would be fun to do on that sort of sights. it provided all three types of activities that Jan Gehl introduced (necessary activities, optional activities, and resultant/social activities) as many people felt pleasant to stay there. and indeed i really loved what it offered me.

it made me again understand how important to utilize already existing built environment to upgrade the living condition of one area. according to some articles i read, it seemed this area of Manhattan was not that nice area not so long ago. but when creatives found its built environment attractive for their creative activities, Chelsea became the hub of avant-garde art scene around the world. and now the High Line follows... superb. although i also learned that not many avant-garde can afford to live there any more as the tide of gentrification hit, but still its undeniable that the existing built environment has lead to todays prosperity. 

what i am currently interested in is elevated bridges and old housing complex in the middle of Tokyo. these are everywhere in the city, but both of them are now getting demolished rather than preserved to be utilized. i understand the motivation of demolition, yet somehow id like to challenge the trend by proposing their potentials to public. i strongly believe its quite important for tokyo to maintain its seat in the global context.  

in order to do that, i need to think more...:) 

masterpiece of furniture in shibuya

when i think about masterpiece of furniture, alver aalto always comes up to my mind first. this is due to my one year experience in finland and his architecture were always my destination back then. yet many other people might come up with others, such as Panton, Jacobsen, Lloyd Write, Eames, and more. their productions are probably equally super unique, influential, and valuable, and therefore are still loved by many. yet regardless of their uniqueness, they all always have the same character, which is, expectedly, freaking-me-out price. 

ive been always dreaming of having Alver Aalto's "armchair 400" at home yet apparently theres no way i can afford with my tiny salary. or probably i need to have a bigger room first that has a room for the beautiful armchair... this is also what i cant afford to. so i have plenty of hazards to go through to accomplish my ambition. 

instead of complaining about my small income and room, what i have to do is to head up to a cafe "seat mania" in shibuya to have a seat on fancy chairs that i cant afford to have at home.  

the cbd of Miyoshi, Tokushima

Miyoshi is a small city in tokushima, located in the central and super-mountainous part of shikoku, formed in 2006 by the community integration. it has varieties of outdoor activities as it has tremendous amounts of mountains, big river, waterfall, fields, and whatever except ocean. although it sounds as if it has no urban amenities, as it is a city and it has a (kind of) cbd, daily needs for residents and visitors were accessible. during a business trip to this city, while my boss was working at his hotel room, i decided to explore the city to discover it and tried to obtain my own insights into it. the business trip allowed me to stay in miyoshi for two days. so for the first day, i walked around the cbd, and for the second day, i explored its nature. 

what i actually surprised was to discover this city had a really good infrastructure and built environment. as it was flourished by tabaco business, many former-business people's houses were nicely designed with udatsu, a sort of japanese traditional fire prevention wall which was used to show off owners' prosperity. 

the main station had good enough access for main cities of shikoku. and the central shopping street had a nice ceilings so that pedestrians could walk easily without worrying for sudden rainfall.  

yet as the pictures illustrate, there were almost no pedestrians walking on the street. there were rather many shops closing theirs shutters even during the daytime.

while i was walking, i discovered an expectable reason of city's emptiness; motorization and gigantic super market.

as the city is located in a super mountainous area, private automobile is a necessity for transportation. it is reasonable. and as everyone has his/her car, everyone has a easy access to this massive market, which provides relative convenience and probably cool urban images that locals are longing for (although it is a typical character of suburb for urbanites). 

but this is also a really problematic as well. miyoshi is a shrinking city and rapidly aging. the population decline rate is like 10% in 5years. there would be many residents who wouldnt be able to drive in the very near future. what could be an outcome of these? its clearer than light, who can go to this super market? and is this market still open in XX years later?? 

obviously small local merchandises shut down their doors and people said there were no successors. where old people can go shopping without hesitation?? nowhere.

it would be super fun to be able to provide a wicked solution as a researcher/consultant/whatever, my whatever-ness doesnt allow me to be involved with this project regularly unfortunately, although i might be having a crazy idea that my boss or coworkers wouldnt have. for now, what i have to do from a distance is to study harder, think more by myself, work harder, and achieve something more interesting. saying and doing is two different things. lets hope i can activate my resolution somehow!

nihonbashi, the ugly symbol of japan

nihonbashi is the fundamental point of japan. old travel routes from tokyo start from here and still its the standard point for many roads. 

the other day i cycled there to attend an interesting conference about floating garbages. attendants were actively involved with the discussion, and i could get to know some interesting things about the issue. i didnt know that japanese law only concerns only those garbages that are drifted ashore and those still drifting are not paid attention to. so the attendants, mainly environmentalist or whatsoever, were arguing that that sorts of garbages should be also taken care of. it was surely a fruitful day for my interest...

yet, after the conference finished, strolling along nihonbashi area, i couldnt stop thinking, "is it actually possible for japanese government to think about what they cannot see by their eyes?" as i was strolling around nihonbashi, the symbol of japan, the standard of japan, although it was sooooooooo visible, i couldnt think it was well paid attention to. how could the symbol be that ugly? 

ok after the ww2, while japan was flourishing with the rapid economic growth, building a highway must have been something people were really proud of. and ive watched a program about the relation between highway and the canal, that constructing highway over the canal made it possible to organize highway network in tokyo cheaply and it was the only option. but now, after the rapid economic growth is long gone, i strongly believe that the city should pay more big attention to its people and their lives. i wouldnt say i hate this coverage of canal as it is the characteristics of chaotic tokyo, but i cant stop thinking "arent there any other things to do there?" when i see that sort of sight. i dont think its the best idea to demolish the highway, yet at least it could look rather differently, or simply put, nicely. 

this conference in nihonbashi reminded me of the importance to pay attention to something u cant see directly, but the area discouraged me to believe its possibility. unless people notice how weird or ugly what they take for granted is, i dont think they can concern more about what they cant see.

yokohama, development and gentrification

yokohama is one of the biggest cities after tokyo in japan. it has functioned both as a bed town for white color labor forces of tokyo and as a work place for many. from the end of the 19th century to the begging of the 20th century, many foreign mansions were built and some of them are preserved as cultural heritage and open for public. the city also attracts many chinese business and forms the biggest china town in japan. in recent years, the development of Minatomirai attracts many tourists to come and this area is said to have one of the most beautiful urban sceneries in japan, according to wiki. 

yet when i think about the new development (in big cities) rather objectively, theres no way that any of them can avoid gentrification. it was kind of surprising that i could not notice it until the last time i went to yokohama for a business purpose. 

as i was walking from the yokohama station, i was astonished by relatively nicely designed residential buildings constructed along a street. it has rather nice open space for locals to hang around peacefully. although i didnt like this sort of "new town" kind of concept with no mixed use environment, it must be a nice area to live here (although i cant afford to).

yet the most exciting part came soon after these "nicely designed" areas ended. all of a sudden, prefabs that might be a residences and factories showed up just next to concrete and glass skyscrapers.  i really enjoyed the drastic change of atmosphere. 

apparently there were still some people living and working there, and that somehow created thrilling atmosphere. it might be quite problematic for those who are involved in the area, but as a random visitor, i really appreciated the diversity of lives here. this kind of area always reminds me of interesting asia-ness;) thats what i was thinking while i was waiting for my co-league, looking at the "beautiful urban scenery" of yokohama.

digital art on tokyo metropolitan government building, shinjuku

as tokyo hosted some sort of asian metropolitan cities meeting or whatsoever, it collaborates with a digital artist Akira Hasegawa to illuminate tokyo metropolitan government building, aka tochou, for 3 days (7-9th November). it was surely a great experiment for that boring area. 

it must be super dope to realize/visualize what hes been doing on this huge canvas. great inspiration. i hope someday in the near future i can realize what ive been doing on the canvas of mine.