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Profile of architect Toyo Ito, who tries, in his work, to capture qualities that (it seems to me) relate to embodiment (“I sometimes feel that we are losing an intuitive sense of our own bodies" - Ito). Ouroussoff describes the following aspects, really resonant:
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His career can be read as a lifelong quest to find the precise balance between seemingly opposing values — individual and community, machine and nature, male and female, utopian fantasies and hard realities.

His ability to find such balances consistently has made him one of our great urban poets, someone who has been able to crystallize, through architecture, the tensions that lie buried in the heart of contemporary society. It makes his work especially resonant today, when much of the world is drawn to one form of extremism or another.
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toyo_ito architecture japan tokyo embodiment nicolai_ouroussoff nyt

Ourossoff raises some important question regarding heritage and preservation - who gets to decide (and why) that something should be preserved, and why is 20th century modernism still neglected?
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How old does a building have to be before we appreciate its value? And when does its cultural importance trump practical considerations?
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tokyo architecture modernism kisho_kurokawa nicolai_ouroussoff metabolism capsule_tower

Written by Ryoko (translated by Kevin McGue): An absolutely fascinating article in PingMag on how Shibuya (a hip, youth-oriented area) and Marunouchi (a more upscale and dignified area) are designed differently. While those sorts of differences are things we think we expect to recognize and anticipate, it's very effective to have them laid out and itemized so clearly.

Ryoko's analysis starts with how the train stations for each district are designed differently, and how they therefore signal different trends and intentions. From there, the piece moves to "towns," that is the districts themselves, paying particular attention to outdoor/ public advertising and streetscapes, and architecture; then, a comparison of how greenery and public seating arrangements are used (or are absent); next, it's the streets themselves, this time with a focus on layout and grade (interestingly, Shibuya slopes and has many changes in grade, as well as narrower streets, while more sedate Marunouchi is level and has wider streets); finally, the author looks at products: what's for sale, particularly in terms of publications/ magazines.

pingmag shibuya marunouchi urban_design cities tokyo districts conscientious_design

Great piece with examples of construction fences that got the artistic treatment. Fabulous stuff, as always, from PingMag & Tokyo.

pingmag tokyo grafitti construction_fences art

Eye-candy for night-owls... Bling for boulevard babies... Classy neon. Trust the Japanese -- can we have a bit of Japan here?

design pingmag tokyo typography neon cities

Part 2 of a fascinating trek down Omotesando Street in Tokyo, which seems studded front to back with "starchitect" buildings.

architecture omotesando ping_mag tokyo

This I love. It reminds me of a really cool and timely update of Frank Lloyd Wright's ideas about texture, and how the appropriate emphasis on surface texture will relate to your bodily experiences, will make you experience time differently (perhaps more slowly -- note the knobby quality of the highly polished "bon-bons" vs the smooth glass of the entry, not to mention the strict geometry of the stairs (see esp'y the 3rd picture).

courtyard embodiment frank_lloyd_wright materiality tadao_ando tokyo

- this is terrific: Mafuyu Murakami knits, passionately. She knits all kinds of beautiful things, including houses you can wear. Really. Reminded me of a line in The Avengers' episode, "Something Nasty in the Nursery": Steed & Mrs.Peel have to burst in on The Arkwright Knitting Circle, run by an ex-CEO who directs a dozen grandmothers in knitting projects. "What are they knitting?" Steed asks casually as he & Emma chase the bad guy. "A bungalow," answers the shaken Mr. Arkwright. Mafuyu, needless to say, is way past the starter bungalow stage already!

knitting mafuyu ping_mag tokyo