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Heritage-Based Design HERITAGE, HERITAGE, HISTORY AND DESIGN BETWEEN EAST AND WEST | | WEST AND EAST DESIGN BETWEEN AND HISTORY HERITAGE, HISTORY AND DESIGN A CLOSE-UP ON KYOTO’S URBAN FABRIC | Marie-Thérèse van Thoor & Sara Stroux Stroux Thoor & Sara van | Marie-Thérèse FABRIC URBAN ON KYOTO’S A CLOSE-UP BETWEEN EAST AND A Close-Up on Kyoto’s Urban Fabric [eds] WEST Marie-Thérèse van Thoor & Sara Stroux [eds] Heritage, History and Design Between East and West This publication was made possible thanks to the financial support of the KYOTO Design Lab, Kyoto Institute of Technology. ISBN 978-94-6366-028-0 © 2018 TU Delft No part of these pages, either text or image, may be used for any purpose other than research, academic or non-commercial use. The publisher has done its utmost to trace those who hold the rights to the displayed materials. Heritage, History and Design Between East and West A Close-Up on Kyoto’s Urban Fabric Marie-Thérèse van Thoor & Sara Stroux [eds] Preservation and Adaptive Reuse as a Common Challenge Exchange between Delft University of Technology and Kyoto Institute of Technology Preservation and Adaptive Reuse as a Common Challenge Exchange between Delft University of Technology and Kyoto Institute of Technology This book comprises a collection of essays on traditional machiya This book was conceived as a record of the outcomes of in Kyoto from various viewpoints and at different scales, including exchanges between students and scholars of architectural the urban fabric, the construction, the layout of the space plan, history, preservation and adaptive reuse at Delft University of and building materials and details. By discussing the topic Technology (TU Delft) and Kyoto Institute of Technology (KIT). further from the various perspectives of the Dutch and Japanese The exchange started when Kazuto Kasahara from KIT joined scholars, we aim not only to cultivate a better understanding TU Delft’s RMIT (which later became the Heritage & Architecture of machiya, but also to clarify the difference between the section) as a visiting scholar from 2010 to 2011, and conducted Netherlands and Japan in terms of ideas and approaches to surveys and research on preservation and adaptive reuse of preservation and regeneration of historical buildings. historical buildings. Since then, both universities have been engaged in ongoing research and educational exchanges Concepts and approaches with respect to traditional through KIT’s invitations to scholars from TU Delft. In February architecture differ greatly between the Netherlands and Japan. 2012, KIT hosted the international symposium The Present The differences lie not only in the construction methods, and Future of Preservation of Modern Architecture and invited respectively brick and timber construction, but also in the ways Marie-Thérèse van Thoor and Hielkje Zijlstra to lecture. On of living, as well as miscellaneous systems and regulations the occasion of other symposia on preservation and adaptive regarding architectural materials. Efforts to clarify such reuse of historical buildings, Wessel de Jonge (November differences will promote a better understanding of each other’s 2016) and Paul Meurs (February 2018) were invited to speak. culture, history and context, as well as comparative studies In March 2015, Paul Meurs and Hielkje Zijlstra visited Japan to and a re-evaluation of ideas and approaches to preservation, investigate possibilities for further collaboration in research regeneration and adaptive reuse of historical buildings in and education within the KYOTO Design Lab, an institution both countries. launched by KIT and dedicated to practice-based research and innovation in, amongst others, the field of urban revitalization and architectural design. As a first joint project, KIT and TU Delft organized the design project Heritage & Machiya, involving a group of ten students from each university, from November 2015 to February 2016. Sara Stroux and Alexander de Ridder from the Netherlands and Kazuto Kasahara and Kazue Akamatsu from Japan participated in the project as instructors. The students’ works were exhibited at TU Delft in November 2016. Five TU Delft scholars spent a month in Kyoto conducting research into machiya: Hielkje Zijlstra (Nov.-Dec. 2015), Lidwine Spoormans (Jan.-Feb. 2016), Carola Hein (July-Aug. 2016), Marie-Thérèse van Thoor (Feb.-Mar. 2017), and Barbara Lubelli (July-Aug. 2017). Most of the contributions in this book present the outcomes of these study trips. Thus, TU Delft and KIT have been cultivating research and educational exchanges especially in the field of preservation and adaptive reuse of historical buildings, which are the challenges of the immediate future in the Netherlands and in Japan. The exchanges between both universities will hopefully contribute to finding solutions. Yoshiro Ono Professor and Vice President, Kyoto Institute of Technology / CEO, KYOTO Design Lab Contents Contents Debates on History and Heritage between East and West 9 Sara Stroux & Marie-Thérèse van Thoor Machi 13 Neighbourhood and Small Town—The Foundation for Urban Transformation in Japan Carola Hein Kyoto’s Landscape 29 A close look at the Meirin District Marie-Thérèse van Thoor Machiya Today 45 Concepts and Methods of Renovation Design Kazuto Kasahara Clay-Based Building Materials in Traditional Kyomachiya 55 Barbara Lubelli Culture is in the Details 67 Hielkje Zijlstra Adapting Traditional Machiya to a Contemporary Lifestyle 83 Lidwine Spoormans Re-Programming a Machiya 101 Student Projects as Test Ground References 107 Colophon 113 7 Heritage, History and Design Between East and West – A Close-Up on Kyoto’s Urban Fabric Debates on History and Heritage between East and West Sara Stroux & Marie-Thérèse van Thoor 8 Debates on History and Heritage between East and West Debates on History and Heritage between East and West Sara Stroux & Marie-Thérèse van Thoor The collaboration between KIT and TU Delft started out with renovating traditional machiya is steadily declining. Today, the central theme of machiya, a traditional type of wooden while a lot of new buildings imitate certain features of machiya townhouse, known in Kyoto as kyomachiya. Rather than architecture – mainly the design of the street facade and Kyoto’s pre-eminent monuments like shrines, temples or one the building volume – they employ fundamentally different of the 17 world heritage sites, the vernacular architecture construction methods and materials. In recent years traditional of the kyomachia seemed to be the ideal study subject, machiya have been renovated, extended or transformed for addressing conservation issues and the need for adaptation other functions, such as popular hotels (B&Bs) and restaurants. to both contemporary demands and new uses. With over Unfortunately, a lot of machiya are simply demolished and 40,000 machiya still in existence, this building type is very replaced by modern buildings. characteristic of the cultural landscape of Kyoto. Machiya, built on narrow parcels and recognizable by their closed street In the following chapters, researchers from KIT and TU Delft facades (omoté), originally combined a residential function with present the findings and outcomes of their research, conducted a commercial one. for the most part during their field trips to Japan. Depending on their individual scholarly background and research focus, the However, traditional machiya are increasingly disappearing from authors studied various topics related to machiya architecture the Kyoto streetscape. Complicated ownership and inheritance and the challenge of preserving this specific Japanese heritage structures prevent young people from buying or inheriting for future generations: from the urban organization of machi, traditional machiya. The fact that machiya do not provide any concepts and methods of conservation theory and practice, and parking space and do not satisfy contemporary Japanese living design approaches to adaptation and reuse of machiya, to the standards, are just two of the reasons why wealthier people significance of craftsmanship and detailing and the question prefer to live in new apartment buildings. Occasionally they of which essential features of machiya architecture can (and own a machiya as a second house. But a lot of machiya are still should) be preserved. A selection of design proposals by inhabited by older people, who have great difficulty maintaining students of KIT and TU Delft complement Lidwine Spoormans these wooden structures with earth walls and floors. What study of design strategies for adaptive reuse. is more, the number of craftsmen capable of restoring and 9 Heritage, History and Design Between East and West – A Close-Up on Kyoto’s Urban Fabric Most of the results are based on close reading, site visits and interviews with craftsmen, architects, academics and other heritage professionals conducted during short visits to Japan. Aware that all observations made here are influenced by either an Eastern or a Western background, and given the limited research time and lack of English literature on the topic, this publication does not claim to be exhaustive. It aims—like the entire exchange programme between KIT and TU Delft— to stimulate the debate on history and built heritage between East and West. 10 Debates on History and Heritage between East and West 11 Heritage, History and Design Between East and West – A Close-Up on Kyoto’s Urban Fabric # Machi Neighbourhood and Small Town—The Foundation for Urban Transformation in Japan Carola Hein 12 Machi Machi
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