The Journal of Architecture

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The uncanny side of the fairy tale: post-apocalyptic symbolism in Terunobu Fujimori's architecture

Hyon-Sob Kim

To cite this article: Hyon-Sob Kim (2016) The uncanny side of the fairy tale: post-apocalyptic symbolism in Terunobu Fujimori's architecture, The Journal of Architecture, 21:1, 90-117, DOI: 10.1080/13602365.2016.1142464 To link to this article: https://doi.org/10.1080/13602365.2016.1142464

Published online: 18 Feb 2016.

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The Journal of Architecture Volume 21 Number 1 The uncanny side of the fairy tale: post-apocalyptic symbolism in Terunobu Fujimori’s architecture

Hyon-Sob Kim Department of Architecture, Korea University, Seoul, Republic of Korea (Author’s e-mail address: [email protected])

Having first established himself as an architectural historian, Terunobu Fujimori (b. 1946) is now more famous for his design work than for his academic publications. He has even been praised as ‘the most influential architect in ’ by the critic Kenjiro Okazaki (2006). Fujimori’s popularity is attributable in particular to the fairy tale-like image of his architecture, which tends to appear playful as well as natural and nostalgic. However, this research focuses on the other side of the ‘fairy tale’—specifically, the strangely unfamiliar, even unsettling, feeling that his architecture evokes. Using Freud’s and Vidler’s notions of ‘the uncanny’ for analysis, this study identifies the contradictory sentiment residing in the hidden clashes between the natural and artificial qualities of his design. Arguably, the uncanny aspect of Fujimori’s architecture stems from a post-apocalyptic sensibility imprinted in the Japanese unconscious, which is haunted by the trauma of ruin, whether caused by natural or man-made disaster. This research focus can lead to a broader cultural discourse beyond the scope of a single architect’s work, relevant to all ‘modern unhomely’ societies.

Introduction Biennale for the Japanese Pavilion (Fig. 2) can be Terunobu Fujimori (b. 1946), who began his career considered as a watershed moment in his career as an architectural historian,1 is now more popular since it greatly increased his recognition on the inter- for his design work than for his academic publi- national stage. His invited exhibitions in Melbourne cations, and has even been praised as ‘the most (2009), London (2010) and Munich (2012),4 as influential architect in Japan’ by the critic Kenjiro well as several projects in Taiwan,5 highlight his Okazaki (2006).2 Whilst his achievements as a expanding worldwide fame. Peter Cook (2008), history professor at the University of Tokyo contin- the leading member of the legendary British group ued to grow, he suddenly made his debut, in his Archigram, stated that Fujimori was the person he mid-forties, as an architect with the completion of most wanted to meet.6 Fujimori’s work and ideas the Jinchokan Moriya Historical Museum (1989– occupy a central role in Dana Buntrock’s Materials 91; Fig. 1). Since then, he has completed more and Meaning in Contemporary Japanese Architec- than twenty buildings, though the number is much ture (Abingdon, Routledge, 2010).7 Finally, the higher if we include his small teahouses and urban ‘communicative and expressive’ form of his design design proposals for exhibitions, which have been was given as an example of ‘Radical Post-Modern- widely reported in many publications.3 Fujimori’s ism’ in Architectural Design (2011) under the aegis participation in the 2006 Venice Architecture of Charles Jencks.8

# 2016 RIBA Enterprises 1360-2365 http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/13602365.2016.1142464 91

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Figure 1. Jinchokan Moriya Historical Museum, Chino, Nagano, 1989–91 (photograph by the Author).

The basic theme of Fujimori’s design concept, and are, arguably, even unsettling at times. This con- developed over the past two decades, primarily con- tradictory sentiment has been hinted at in the com- cerns naturalising the finish of buildings. As mani- mentary of other architects, albeit vaguely and from fested in the Venice Biennale catalogue, he different perspectives without any gloomy connota- emphasises the use of natural materials and roof tions. According to (1992), Fujimori’s planting, adopting a methodology generally based architecture conveys ‘nostalgia like nothing you’ve on simple workmanship, with some playful ever seen’,9 and Toyo Ito (2010) remarked that nuances. As a result, his designs appear natural ‘not only does it look vernacular but it also appears and nostalgic, and it is these characteristics, often to have flown from an alien world and landed on combined with a fairy tale-like cuteness, that its site’.10 This paper insists that the rather strange attract the public’s attention. However, his designs emotion evoked by Fujimori’s work deserves more also assume a quality of unintended unfamiliarity attention and should be discussed in terms of the 92

The uncanny side of the fairy tale: post-apocalyptic symbolism in Terunobu Fujimori’s architecture Hyon-Sob Kim

Figure 2. Japanese Pavilion at the 2006 Venice Architecture Biennale (photograph courtesy of Peter Blundell Jones).

notion of the ‘uncanny’. Sigmund Freud undertook strange, but something that was long familiar to an aesthetic investigation into the concept of the the psyche and was estranged from it only through uncanny from a psychoanalytical viewpoint in his being repressed’.12 What is notable about this essay ‘Das Unheimliche’ or ‘The Uncanny’ (1919),11 observation is the original familiarity of the eerie thus offering a powerful insight for later cultural feeling,13 which is ultimately related to our longing critics and practitioners. Despite his acknowledge- for our first home—that is, the womb. This charac- ment that this category of ‘the frightening’ is not teristic is recognisable in Fujimori’s nostalgic but easily definable, it was clear to Freud that ‘the somewhat alien design. It was Anthony Vidler who uncanny element is actually nothing new or tackled the notion of the uncanny in architectural 93

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hermeneutics. In The Architectural Uncanny aspect of the uncanny in the context of the recent (1992),14 he briefly historicises various ideas about architectural climate. the uncanny, from pre-Freudian concepts (eg, the Although his strange primitivism developed eighteenth-century aesthetic concept of ‘the slightly late to be noticed by Vidler, it can be said sublime’) to post-Freudian ones (eg, the latest that it perhaps belongs to the stage that might post-structuralist, post-colonial and feminist pos- come after what Vidler calls ‘a techno-uncanny’20 itions), pivoting on the Freudian uncanny itself. (although the chronology is often blurred), consider- Vidler then projects the quality of uncomfortable- ing the development of post-war Japanese architec- ness onto late twentieth-century architecture and ture. Fujimori’s architecture should be read within urbanism, from deconstructivist dismembered build- the Japanese context, which formed the uniqueness ings to ‘homes for cyborgs’, and from ‘post-urban- of his uncanniness. The word ‘unheimlich’,or ism’ to the ‘psycho-metropolis’, all of which evoke ‘uncanny’, is usually translated as bukimi [不気味] the different depths and structures of ‘the modern in Japanese to indicate an ominous sensation (lit- unhomely’. For Vidler, the ‘social and individual erally, bu signifies ‘negative’ while kimi means estrangement, alienation, exile, and homelessness’ ‘feeling’) and is paraphrased as kimyo-na shin- reflected in contemporary architectural and urban mitsu-sa [奇妙な親密さ; ‘strange intimacy’] (the spaces are a critical representation of ‘a fundamen- very Freudian idea).21 Meanwhile, expressions such tally unlivable modern condition’.15 as kikai [奇怪; ‘grotesque’ or ‘weird’] and fushigi Yet, Vidler’s frame of the uncanny does not [不思議; ‘mysterious’ or ‘strange’] are also some- always appear to fit with Fujimori’s design, and, times used to convey the meaning. Bukimi has at worst, its application risks resorting to the kind been associated with diverse Japanese cultural of formalism that Vidler warns against.16 (Contrary genres, from pre-modern folktales and fictions to to Vidler’semphasisonspace,Fujimoriseemsto religious practices and post-war pop culture.22 This have more interest in form, and he has never paper will argue that such cultural manifestations used the notion of the uncanny to explain his are condensed and reflected in Fujimori’s designs, designs.17) Nevertheless, this paper maintains that explicitly or implicitly. the odd sensibility tangible in Fujimori’sarchitec- The present study of the Fujimorian uncanny is ture is worthy of study, partly relying on and expected to provide a balanced and critical under- partly bypassing Vidler, let alone Freud, whose standing of this increasingly popular architect’s essay ‘The Uncanny’ is itself uncanny.18 This is designs. Moreover, the discussion can lead to a because Vidler’sandFreud’s notions of uncanni- broader cultural discourse, based on Japanese ness are not necessarily fixed;19 rather, they are culture but relevant to all ‘modern unhomely’ flexible and therefore still provide a theoretical societies. Before beginning the investigation, common ground for interpreting Fujimori. More however, we should first cover the more widely importantly, Fujimori’s fairy tale suggests a fresh recognised side of his story. 94

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Figure 3. Onbashira,or Natural, nostalgic and playful: fabricating the a freestanding wooden Fujimori fairy tale pillar at a Suwa The fairy tale of Terunobu Fujimori starts with his shrine (photograph by the Author). debut, the Jinchokan Moriya Historical Museum. Built in his home village of Chino—part of the Suwa district in —this museum was intended to store and display the Moriya family’s historic materials related to local Shintoism, with which Fujimori had been well acquainted since childhood. When consulted on the project, he was supposed to recommend a suitable architect, poss- ibly the famous Toyo Ito who had also grown up in the Suwa area. He decided, however, to take on the project himself, concluding that the building could not be properly designed without an adequate knowledge of the unique vernacular faith.23 Thus, consideration of the regional context was a precon- dition for the project from the beginning. More accurately, it was a good excuse for Fujimori to break into the world of design. (His interest in designing a building, which had lain dormant for twenty years since his graduation from Tohoku Uni- versity, was revived around that time.24) As a consequence, the Jinchokan needed to reflect vernacular tradition, a trait that is effectively expressed in its naturalistic appearance. The two (Fig. 3), or the freestanding wooden pillars that masses comprising the building are all finished demarcate the boundaries of Suwa Shinto with natural or natural-looking materials: split- shrines.25 Not at all a traditional building, the Jincho- wood panels for the exhibition hall exterior and kan is well matched with the local context and mud-coloured mortar with cut straw for the arouses a profound sense of nostalgia. The building storage mass; this latter material also covers the thus established the direction of Fujimori’s design whole interior of the building. In addition, the tra- methodology and the way his creations would be ditional slate tiles on the sloped roof enhance its perceived in the future. regional identity, and the four tree-like columns pier- Realising that subsequent projects would not be cing the eave at the entrance recall the onbashira given so easily, Fujimori initiated the design for his 95

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Figure 4. Tanpopo House (‘Dandelion House’), near Tokyo, 1994–95 (courtesy of Terunobu Fujimori).

own house near Tokyo. This was Tanpopo House course, these buildings also required the use of (1994–95), in which roof planting—the other natural materials; in fact, roof planting can be con- theme of his architecture, along with the use of sidered a subcategory of this bigger issue. Mean- natural materials—was first introduced (Fig. 4). He while, common people began to perform simple attempted the idea of a ‘Grass House’—a pun on manual construction work on Fujimori-designed ‘Glass House’26—by planting tanpopo, or dande- buildings voluntarily, including tasks such as roof lions, on its roof and parts of the walls. Although planting, mud application and copper-sheet the experiment proved unsuccessful when they all bending. The first such instance involved the plant- dried up, he continued to apply this idea in diversi- ing of nira, or leeks, on the roof of Nira House. fied ways in his next designs: for example, Nira Since the builders refused to do this unexpected House (1996–97; Fig. 5), Ipponmatsu House work, it had to be carried out by the client’s (1997–98) and Tsubaki Castle (2000; Fig. 6).27 Of friends. This resulted in the formation of the 96

The uncanny side of the fairy tale: post-apocalyptic symbolism in Terunobu Fujimori’s architecture Hyon-Sob Kim

Figure 5. Nira House (‘Leek House’), near Tokyo, 1996–97 (courtesy of Terunobu Fujimori).

‘Jomon Kenchiku-dan’, or Jomon Architecture mori’s playfulness has evolved with the completion Group.28 As implied by the word Jomon, which of subsequent buildings. The physiognomic refers to the Japanese Neolithic period, this group impression of Lamune Onsen House (2005), for —whose core members are Fujimori’s friends from instance, with pine trees on top of its towers, is the ROJO (Roadway Observation) Society29— playful, humorous and also very ‘cute’ (Fig. 7). created a myth that laymen enjoy making buildings Nonetheless, the architectural type that best illus- by hand using only Stone Age skills. For Fujimori, trates the playfulness of Fujimori’s design is the tea- the act of building is obviously enjoyable and house. This stems from the fact that the Japanese playful, and this pleasure in building should be teahouse signifies something beyond its practical evident in the final appearance as well. While the function and is small in size, or can be reduced to piercing columns of the Jinchokan and the dande- a very small size, if required.30 His own Takasugi- lions of Tanpopo House are no doubt playful, Fuji- an, or Too-High Teahouse (2003–04), is distinctive 97

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Figure 6. Tsubaki Castle (‘Camellia Castle’), Oshima, Tokyo, 2000 (courtesy of Terunobu Fujimori).

for being elevated high off the ground on two long teahouse stimulates various amusing associations, legs (Fig. 8). In addition, several teahouses made for whether nostalgic or futuristic.32 Local people were the recent exhibitions—such as Black Teahouse invited to participate in the manufacturing process (Melbourne, 2009) and Beetle’s House (London, for this work as well; in particular, the mud-coated 2010)—are so tiny and ‘cute’ that they look more lower shell was well-thumbed by their children. like miniature toys than real buildings (Fig. 9). The mud boat’s most conspicuous feature, Perhaps the finest design that dramatises Fujimori’s however, is its desire to fly, denying the principal playful vision is Soradobu Dorobune, or Flying Mud architectural condition of being rooted in the Boat (2010; Fig. 10). Also fabricated for an exhibi- earth. Although it cannot truly fly, but is simply sus- tion, this time at the Chino City Museum of Art, pended by metal wires, the Dorobune is an exemp- which aimed to celebrate the native Chino man’s lary case representing the Fujimorian fairy tale in a distinguished achievements,31 this shell-shaped humorous way. 98

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Figure 7. Lamune Onsen House, Takeda, Oita, 2005 (photograph by the Author).

The clash between the natural and the for nature: architecture can be understood by com- artificial, and the uncanny parison with the human destiny to be repressed. Even so, there is always a dark side in fairy tales. As Since humankind was banished from Paradise, archi- noted earlier, Fujimori’s natural and nostalgic design tecture—as a projected human paradise—has been also evokes a strangely uncanny feeling, and the unable to recover the perfect nature; instead, it has uncanny is not incompatible with the nostalgic. only dreamed of it through artificial nature. Architec- Vidler confirmed that the uncanny has been ture’s desire to return to nature, though never fully regarded as a prime ingredient of ‘modern nostalgia’ abandoned, is probably an unattainable goal.34 in relation to the Freudian ‘impossible desire to The recognition of this reality cannot help but lead return to the womb’.33 It would be interesting to to impotence in architecture. After all, architecture observe a plausible parallel between the human has two choices: give up on becoming nature or desire for the womb and the architecture’s desire pretend to become nature. 99

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Figure 8. Takasugi-an, Chino, Nagano, 2003– 04 (photograph by the Author).

Figure 9. Beetle’s House, as exhibited at the Victoria and Albert Museum, London, 2010 (courtesy of Terunobu Fujimori).

unnaturalness is inevitably revealed from time to time. Arguably, it is this intentional artificiality, intro- Fujimori chose the latter (though he still appears duced to compensate for the architecture’s imposs- to pursue the ‘ideal relationship between architec- ible desire to return to nature, that generates the ture and nature’ without accepting the reality),35 uncanny. In this context, the idea of bukimi-no tani as implied by his statement, ‘I dressed science and [不気味の谷]or‘the uncanny valley’ proposed by technology in nature.’36 He makes architecture the robotics scholar Masahiro Mori (1970) is worth either look like nature or look natural,37 even noting. According to this theory, the more a robot through the use of ‘unnatural’ make-up. In other looks like an actual human, the more our affinity words, he does not hesitate to counterfeit his build- for it increases, but only until we experience a ings to attain naturalness. However, the underlying sudden sense of revulsion. (Here, the ‘valley’ indi- 100

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Figure 10. Soradobu cates a dip in the graph of ‘the human likeness of an Dorobune, as exhibited entity’ versus ‘the perceiver’s affinity for it’.)38 Just as at the Chino City a human replica that looks ‘almost human’ but is not Museum of Art, 2010; now reinstalled near exactly the same produces an uncanny feeling, Fuji- Jinchokan and mori’s buildings that look ‘almost natural’ but are Takasugi-an (courtesy critically artificial evoke a similar emotion. of Terunobu Fujimori). The intentional artificiality of Fujimori’s designs also began with the Jinchokan, while its spatial qual- ities, too, assume an uncanny sense. (Fujimori describes the interior space of this building as ‘a cave of mud’, where darkness and primitiveness, along with the display of stuffed animals, evoke a certain feeling of the grotesque. Despite his general indifference to space itself in design, he showed a keen interest in employing a cave-like space in his design—whose undifferentiated plan Ito characterised as ‘a plan before planning’39— and developed his own theory of cave spaces.40 This cave space can be understood as representing the womb, our first home, which is familiar but estranged, and therefore uncanny.)41 The mud- wall appearance of the building would probably be mentioned first as the element reflecting such artifi- ciality. This is because the image was created by despite their non-structural character. In truth, the applying the above-mentioned fake mud to the con- wooden columns, or posts, just stand independently crete surface,42 risking discordance between the without any real connection to the building’s load- internal structure and the outer skin; moreover, Fuji- bearing parts. The columns pass through holes in mori openly explained why and how he created the the roof without actually touching it, and the way artificial image.43 they intersect with the beams is largely for visual Yet, the simulation is even more drastic with the effect. Close observation reveals that the pseudo- piercing columns in the front. (For the wall, at beams from the column side do not reach the wall least, he had experimented with real mud and but suddenly stop at the exterior cladding plane found that mimicking a mud wall was unavoidable.) (Fig. 11). Certainly, one would be unsettled rather This is not simply because the columns look like than excited by this camouflage.44 Furthermore, trees; it is because they were made to look structural the columns have another nostalgic but artificial 101

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Figure 11. Details of the Jinchokan column, revealing its non- structural quality (photograph by the Author).

element that arouses an uncanny feeling. It is the was believed to mediate between this life and eter- metal bird called nagigama, originating from the nity.46 Although the Jinchokan’s metal bird may blade of a scythe,45 several of which are mounted well be considered a ‘natural’ and successful appli- on the upper part of the modern onbashira (Fig. 12). cation of vernacular tradition to contemporary archi- In the Suwa region, it is a Shintoist practice to tecture, this strong religious nuance can induce a replace the onbashira every six years through a sudden fright, especially for outsiders who are unfa- ritual that involves hammering nagigama into a miliar with the indigenous faith. As Freud put it, tree trunk that is to be used as a new onbashira.In ‘everything we now find “uncanny” [ … ] is linked ancient Japan, the bird was a spiritual symbol that with these remnants of animistic mental activity.’47 102

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Figure 12. Metal birds As Fujimori designs more buildings, the clash called nagigama on the between naturalness and artificiality becomes more Jinchokan column bold and clever. Let us set aside for now a discussion (photograph by the Author). of typical roof planting, in which artificiality is detected rather easily.48 What matters here is the kind of artificial naturalness that looks almost natural, elaborately concealing its artificiality. For example, the rafter-like sticks of the Ku-an tearoom (2002–03) are just attachments screwed into the wall with no real structural function aside from, at best, partially supporting a gutter (Fig. 13). The wooden columns of Yakisugi House (2006–07) create the illusion that trees grew and pierced through the roof (Fig. 14); in reality, the upper branches above the roof are separate from the columns under the roof. As indicated by the title of the 1998 exhibition ‘Y’avant-garde’ (an interesting combination of avant-garde and the Japanese word yaban [野蛮], which means ‘barbarism’),49 Fujimori’s design signifies a barbaric avant-gardism that wildly violates common-sense architectural prin- ciples. Even though the drastically fabricated natur- alness of his architecture produces a nostalgic and playful image, the hidden unnaturalness beneath ‘spiritual crime’ since it would betray the Moriya the surface generates flashes of discomfort. family’s naturalistic faith. However, hiding the struc- If this is the case, how was the natural-artificial ture beneath heterogeneous materials would mean conflict possible for Fujimori? Or, how could it be jus- committing an ‘architectural crime’,50 alluding to tified? A hint is found, again, in the Jinchokan Adolf Loos’s ‘Ornament and Crime’ (1908). His project. According to Fujimori, he encountered a decision to commit an architectural crime for the ver- dilemma in the design wherein he could not avoid nacular clothing was actually predetermined, as committing a ‘crime’, either spiritual or architectural. already described. Once the decision was made, he Because of building regulations, the museum had to dreamed of a ‘perfect crime’; and afterwards, his have a reinforced concrete structure, but its outer Y’avant-garde venture developed playfully but expression was another matter. He thought that uncannily. In fact, Fujimori’s design uniqueness can exposing the modern materials would constitute a be seen as resulting from the pressure of his own 103

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Figure 13. Ku-an, Kyoto, 2002–03 (photograph by the Author).

rule that ‘the building should not resemble anyone necessary to retreat into history.’52 Although he else’s building, past or present’;51 this eventually never mentions his own architecture in the book, became a strategic choice for him to differentiate this sentence is easily read as a justification for his his architecture from that of others. This strategy is radical design approach. disclosed at the end of History of Humankind and Architecture (2005), which he wrote for the Ruin and rebirth: The post-apocalyptic general public: ‘A small minority of architects [in sensibility the twenty-first century] wants to see a fundamen- The clash between natural and artificial in Fujimori’s tally fresh form, even counterfeiting history, and if architecture would appear to be intentional, except 104

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Figure 14. Eastern part of Yakisugi House, Nagano, 2006–07 (photograph by the Author). 105

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that he probably does not want the conflict (which resilience will endure the tragedy. In the last does not seem to be a conflict at all to him) to be decade of the twentieth century, the American uncovered, and he absolutely does not intend the architect Lebbeus Woods (1940–2012) represented generation of uncanny feelings. This leads us to the crisis of modern society in a more straightfor- ask some critical questions: What does the ward way. One sketch for the ‘War and Architecture’ uncanny effect symptomise, and how can it be expli- project (1992) pictures a seriously bombed skyscra- cated in terms of cultural symbolism? This paper per,56 as if predicting the attacks of 9/11, one of argues that the answer can be sought through the most symbolic catastrophes in recent history. Vidler’s suggestion of ‘a fundamentally unlivable Although his architectural prescription for recovery modern condition’, especially by relating it to the from ruin was rather metaphorical,57 his recognition poor state of modern technological civilisation, of crisis was based on reality: that is, various types of which might have reached an impasse. Science ongoing ‘wars’ occurring around the world. These and technology is obviously the protagonist that are earthquakes and commercial battles, as well as has spurred progress, but it also poses a potentially physical wars in the conventional sense. To him, dreadful threat to human beings. Now, the total the problem of the present crisis is that ‘it pretends destruction of civilisation and a new start can be there is no crisis.’58 imagined, as described in many apocalyptic and The Japanese people’s experience of ruin may very post-apocalyptic fictions.53 ‘The imagination of dis- well be traumatic, as seen in their fear of both aster’, which Susan Sontag (1966) identified in natural and man-made disasters; the 3/11 calamity post-war science fiction films, is generally anchored in the Tohoku area was a mixture of the two. Suffer- in an ‘irresponsible use of science’, typically, ‘the ing from earthquakes and tsunamis is chronic in possibility of nuclear holocaust and its aftermath’. Japan,59 and the nightmare of atomic bombs and It is further stimulated by ‘ecological catastrophes’ consequent defeat in the Second World War owing to pollution, global warming and so forth.54 haunts the Japanese psyche. This is why many Japa- In architectural history, it can be said that Archi- nese films concern memories and imaginations of gram in Britain marked the climax of technological ruin, as interpreted by numerous commentators.60 utopianism in 1960s, whilst the Japanese Metabolist The animations by the director Hayao Miyazaki (b. architects developed their own version of techno- 1941) are no exception. His directorial debut Mirai centrism on the other side of the globe.55 Shonen Conan,or‘Conan, The Boy in the Future’ However, Ettore Sottsass (1917–2007) warned (1978), depicts a half-primitive, half-industrial about the possible collapse of this gleaming vision society springing from an earth that has been in his dystopian lithograph ‘Another Utopia’ heavily devastated by ultra-magnetic weapons (1973), in which Archigram’s ‘Walking City’ falls to (which are considered much more powerful than ruin through a certain disaster (Fig. 15). The only nuclear bombs) and subsequent environmental hope hinted at here is that mother nature’s patient changes.61 This post-apocalyptic scenario has con- 106

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Figure 15. Ettore Sottsass, ‘Another Utopia’, 1973, depicting a disaster that ruined Archigram’s ‘Walking City’ (Ron Herron, 1964; courtesy of Archivio Ettore Sottsass). 107

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tinued to underlie his later works, notably Nausicaä in Japan, signify ‘lovable loser’ and ‘self-deprecating of the Valley of the Wind (1984) where the recovery humour’.67 of a polluted ecosystem is a key issue.62 Interestingly, It is likely that the excessive -ness in Fuji- the nostalgic buildings and scenery—amid a some- mori’s designs68 is not isolated from this Japanese what distorted setting—seen in Miyazaki’s anima- cultural context, regardless of its direct link to the tions recall Fujimori’s architecture.63 This allusion otaku tendency. In this way, his architecture is read- suggests a possible connection between the latter able with reference to the traumatised psyche of and ‘the imagination of disaster’, another clue to post-war Japan, which might be called ‘the Japanese the uncanny aspect of his design. collective unconscious’, as in Murakami’s exhibi- Regarding the connection of Japanese culture tion.69 According to Carl Jung, the ‘collective uncon- with the experience of ruin, the contemporary scious’, different from the ‘personal unconscious’ artist Takashi Murakami (b. 1962) should also be that develops from individual experience, is inherited mentioned since he made a psychoanalytic argu- by the whole of humankind, or a specific group of ment about it in the 2005 New York exhibition people, and occupies a deeper universal layer of ‘Little Boy: The Arts of Japan’s Exploding Subcul- the unconscious.70 Assuming that the Japanese ture’.64 Two points that are relevant to this research people’s trauma from disasters is not only possibly can be extracted from his insights. First, post-nuclear inherited but also actually caused by real experi- trauma (the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima in ences,71 Jung’s notion is not seamlessly applicable. August, 1945, was nicknamed ‘Little Boy’) has pro- Nevertheless, the idea is still pertinent because we duced complex national emotions of humiliation, may consider that the hypersensitivity to potential powerlessness and anxiety 65 which pervade Japa- catastrophes has formed collectively beyond a per- nese (sub)cultural forms, from and animation sonal plane, originating from not only the conscious to children’s toys. Furthermore, all of these outlets of mind but also the unconscious one. In addition, the Japan’s so-called otaku,or‘geek’, tendency assume Jungian ‘archetypes’, or contents of the collective bukimi: that is, an ‘air of the grotesque’ or the unconscious that are often expressed through uncanny.66 This pop cultural phenomenon naturally myths and fairy tales,72 are likely to share many parallels the architectural uncanny, although Mura- ‘mythemes’73 with Japanese science fiction stories, kami rarely crossed into the architectural area. especially those with the typical narrative of salvation Second, geek fantasy is reflected in the obsession from apocalyptic disaster. with not only drastically violent and sexually dis- A similar narrative seems inherent in Fujimori’s torted forms but also extremely kawaii or ‘cute’ qual- design, most noticeably in his diploma project at ities, as epitomised by the ‘Hello Kitty’ character. This Tohoku University entitled ‘Bridge: The Method of kawaii sense has further evolved into a sympathetic Ledoux for Giving Reality to Images through Illusion’ feeling of yurui, which means ‘loose’ and ‘lethargic’, (1971; Fig. 16). Whilst the machine-like streamlined such that Yuru Chara (‘Yurui Characters’), local icons structure of the bridge influenced by the ‘Walking 108

The uncanny side of the fairy tale: post-apocalyptic symbolism in Terunobu Fujimori’s architecture Hyon-Sob Kim

Figure 16. Part of City’ is fascinating (remarkably so when compared Fujimori’s diploma with the vernacular look of his buildings since the drawings (first four Jinchokan), no less intriguing is the underlying plot pages from a total of ’ eight), entitled ‘Bridge: of ruin and rebirth. A closer look at the project s The Method of Ledoux background shows that he proposed, before con- for Giving Reality to structing the new bridge, to ruin completely the con- Images through taminated Hirose River area in Sendai and wait until Illusion’, Tohoku nature covered the ruins in lush green vegetation University, 1971 74 (courtesy of Terunobu (see page 02 of Fig. 16). This reminds us of Miya- Fujimori). zaki’s Nausicaä, which was inspired by the mercury pollution of Minamata Bay,75 and of Sottsass’s dys- topian scenario mentioned above. It is clear that the ruin of modern technological society was a foun- dation for the young Fujimori’s design. However, his imagery of ruin and rebirth needed a methodologi- cal medium to be virtualised. That was Claude- Nicolas Ledoux’s method of ‘illusion’, as mentioned in the project’s subtitle. Accordingly, Fujimori copied Ledoux’s eye—‘Coup d’oeil du Theatre de Besançon’ (c. 1780)—on the cover page of the project drawings but blanked out its pupil. Whilst the blank pupil is itself uncanny,76 it can be inter- preted as an illusory screen onto which surreal images and narratives are projected to gain reality, just as the inside-outside inversion of an actor’s eye in the original Ledoux creates a fantasy that actualises a fiction on stage.77 Fujimori’s conception of ruin, mediated by Ledoux’s surrealistic filter,78 is not particularly special considering the overall atmosphere of post- war Japan. Above all, the influential Arata Isozaki (b. 1931), whom Fujimori greatly admired in his student days,79 is noteworthy. Aside from Isozaki’s own references to the French revolutionary architect, he clarified through many designs—eg, the collage 109

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Figure 17. ‘Tokyo Plan 2107’, 2002/2007 (courtesy of Terunobu Fujimori).

‘Re-ruined Hiroshima’ (1968) and the executed with a potential catastrophe, and also because its Tsukuba Centre Building (1979–83)—and writings scenery could be considered a perfect stage set for that his architecture ‘start[ed] from the ruins—the his fairy tale.82 In other words, his weirdly naturalistic degree zero where nothing remained’.80 Such a and peaceful buildings look, in retrospect, as if they ruin-rebirth idea with certain surrealistic nuances were devised for the post-catastrophic landscape of must be the unconscious base of Fujimori’s own ‘Tokyo Plan 2107’. They are also comparable to work. Let us consider ‘Tokyo Plan 2107’ (2002/ those of the ecotopic society rebuilt after a cata- 2007) as another example (Fig. 17). As a direct clysm, often illustrated in science fiction, as seen in response to global warming and the rise in sea Miyazaki’s animations. levels that can cause the submersion and destruction of modern cities, this project recommends growing Conclusion: a Fujimorian version of forests and building wooden high-rises with stucco posthistoire architecture? 81 finishes to absorb CO2 in the air. Even though The arguments raised in this paper can be encapsu- there is a gap between fantasy and reality, the pro- lated in two points. First, Fujimori’s architecture— posal is meaningful because it reveals his concern which is generally viewed as natural, nostalgic and 110

The uncanny side of the fairy tale: post-apocalyptic symbolism in Terunobu Fujimori’s architecture Hyon-Sob Kim

playful—has an uncanny aspect, and this unex- vanishing point’. On the Cartesian coordinates, the pected quality is detected when the hidden clash materiality of architecture can never meet the axis, between natural and artificial is uncovered. even though modernist avant-gardes have cease- Second, whilst the camouflaged unnaturalness is lessly pursued ‘lighter and more transparent space’ the immediate source of the Fujimorian uncanny, towards ‘the ultimate abstraction of the zero this eerie anxiety fundamentally originates from point’.85 His breakthrough for this deadlock, as the post-apocalyptic sensibility deeply imprinted in quoted earlier, is ‘to retreat into history’ to create the Japanese unconscious, which is haunted by the ‘a fundamentally fresh form’, using natural materials trauma of ruin. As suggested in the introduction in particular and adopting Stone Age techniques in above, these two points give us a more balanced part. view of the architect and help us to interpret archi- However, the idea is not to restore history to what tecture as a whole within a wider cultural horizon. it was but to appropriate it—even by ‘counterfeiting’ In particular, this paper reconfirmed the Japanese- it—in his fairy tale-like way. The uncannily nostalgic ness of Fujimori’s designs in terms of their uncanny form is the outcome of this approach. Considering characteristics and their implications of ruin and that ‘architectural forms’ are the places where the rebirth, their naturalistic features often related to opposite poles of ‘the absolute negation of the vernacular faith, frustrated technological utopian- past and full “restoration” of the past’ inevitably ism, surrealistic nuances, excessive kawaii-ness, meet (even in the posthistoire),86 the Fujimorian humour and so on. form is perhaps located not on the straight line The post-apocalyptic symbolism that the uncanny between the poles but rather somewhere else on a side of Fujimori’s architecture connotes needs to be strange locus between them. This position can be, examined—in anticipation of future research— but only partly, explained by his design rule of along with his hypothesis of history. Although he ‘adopting anonymous principles of prehistoric build- does not imply any drastic ruin by physical cata- ings not to resemble any architecture in history’. Yet, strophe, he supposes that history might come to there is another critical reason why his design cannot an end in the late-twentieth century, when no help but be distinguished even from real prehistoric ‘essential change and progress’ in human civilisation buildings (despite his aspirations towards the first could be envisioned.83 It is not coincidental that this international architecture of the Stone Age). Specifi- historical view seems to have much in common with cally, numerous layers and indelible memories of the ‘the “voids” described by posthistoire philosophy’ rise and fall of human history have been compressed that Vidler implicitly suggests as a problematic back- into and engraved upon the primitive form of his drop to the architectural uncanny in his fin-de-siècle design in the milieu of ‘the end of history’. Although context.84 Intriguingly, Fujimori identifies his histori- there are diversified attempts to fill the void of the cal conception with the state of ‘an asymptotic presumable (but controversial) posthistoire, this curve’ that comes ever closer to ‘an architectural would be the Fujimorian version of posthistoire 111

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architecture. How fruitful will this mode of architec- lion (Tokyo, Japan Foundation, 2006a); Fujimori ture prove to be? Perhaps we need a little more time Terunobu Architecture (Tokyo, TOTO, 2007); M. to find out. Buhrs, H. Rössler, eds, Terunobu Fujimori Architect (Munich, Villa Stuck, 2012). 4. These are the group exhibitions ‘Shelter: On Kindness’ Acknowledgements at RMIT, Melbourne in 2009 and ‘1:1 Architects Build This work was supported by the Basic Science Small Spaces’ at the Victoria & Albert Museum, Research Program through the National Research London, in 2010, and the solo exhibition ‘Terunobu Foundation of Korea [NRF 2011-0009942] and by Fujimori Architect’ at the Museum Villa Stuck, the 2014-2015 Visiting Scholars Program of the Munich, in 2012. Harvard-Yenching Institute. 5. See the Fujimori special issue of TOTO Tsuishin [‘TOTO Communications’], 54, no. 3 (2010). Notes and references 6. P. Cook, ‘The person I most want to meet’, The Archi- 1. After finishing his undergraduate work at Tohoku Uni- tectural Review, 1339 (2008), p. 40. versity, Sendai, in 1971, Fujimori entered the University 7. This book is basically structured around Fujimori’s of Tokyo to study history and completed a PhD in 1980 grouping of Japanese architects —‘Red’ (regional or with a focus on the urban planning of -period concrete) and ‘White’ (international or abstract)—and Tokyo. This work was published as Meiji-no Tokyo illustrates a spectrum of the Red group, in which Fuji- Keikaku (1982). Afterwards, he published numerous mori is a central figure. For more about the grouping, books, notably Showa Jutaku Monogatari [‘Story of see D. Buntrock, ‘Terunobu Fujimori’s Fairy Tales’, in, Houses in the Showa Period’] (1990), Nihon-no M. Buhrs, H. Rössler, eds, Terunobu Fujimori Architect, Kindai Shisou Taikei 19: Toshi Kenchiku [‘Outline of op. cit., pp. 50–59. Modern Japanese Thought 19: Urbanism Architecture’] 8. C. Jencks and FAT, eds, Radical Post-Modernism (1990), Nihon-no Kindai Kenchiku [‘Modern Japanese [derived from Architectural Design Profile, 213] (Chi- Architecture’] (1993), Kenzo Tange (2002) and Jinrui- chester, Wiley, 2011), p. 54. to Kenchiku-no Rekishi [‘History of Humankind and 9. K. Kuma, ‘Nostalgia like nothing you’ve ever seen’, in, Architecture’] (2005). M. Fujitsuka, ed., Kenchiku Riffle 001: Jinchokan 2. K. Okazaki, T. Fujimori, ‘Saigo-ni Nokoru Kenchiku- Moriya Shiryokan (Tokyo, TOTO, 1992). wa?’ [‘What kind of architecture survives to the 10. T. Ito, T. Fujimori, ‘Akogare-to Kenkyu, Genten-to last?’] in, S. Sawai, ed., The Fujimori Terunobu Sekkei’, in, Y. Futagawa, ed., Fujimori Terunobu (Tokyo, X-Knowledge, 2006), pp. 119–131. Tokuhon, op. cit., pp. 280–291 (Author’s translation). 3. Recent examples include Y. Futagawa, ed., Fujimori 11. Etymologically, the English equivalent of ‘das unheim- Terunobu Tokuhon [‘Terunobu Fujimori Reader’] lich’ is ‘the unhomely’ but it was translated into ‘the (Tokyo, GA, 2010) and NA Architect, ed., Fujimori Ter- uncanny’ owing to its semantic proximity to the unobu (Tokyo, Nikkei, 2011). Regarding publications Germanmeaning:S.Freud,The Uncanny (London, for international readers, see T. Fujimori, Architecture Penguin Books, 2003; first published in German in of Terunobu Fujimori—Venice Biennale: 10th Inter- 1919), pp. 121–162. national Architecture Exhibition 2006 Japanese Pavi- 12. Ibid., p. 148. 112

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13. Ibid., pp. 124–125. What distinguishes Freud from 21. The title of Freud’s essay, The Uncanny, op. cit., was earlier writers such as E. Jentsch, whose reading of translated as ‘Bukimi-na Mono’, while Vidler’s book, ‘The Sand-Man’ by E. T. A. Hoffmann he re-con- The Architectural Uncanny, op. cit., was translated as sidered, is his emphasis on the original familiarity of Bukimi-na Kenchiku [‘uncanny architecture’]. the unfamiliar. Thus, he overcomes Jentsch’s idea 22. Above all, the word bukimi can be linked not only to that something is frightening ‘because it is unknown many mystery stories but also to some vernacular reli- and unfamiliar’. gion-related practices. One example of the latter is 14. A. Vidler, The Architectural Uncanny: Essays in the the sekkyobushi [説経節], an act of reciting narrative Modern Unhomely (Cambridge, Mass., The MIT that originated in mediaeval Japan in relation to local Press, 1992). faiths and Buddhism. See M. Kuzuwata, ‘Sekkyo- 15. Ibid., p. x. His thesis implies a reassertion of a strong bushi-no Kojo: bukimi-na mono-o megudde’ [‘The political connotation in the late-twentieth century’s Structure of Sekkyobushi: concerning the uncanny’], other fin-de-siècle climate, along with the necessity Okinawa International University Journal, 3, no. 2 to rethink modernity itself, when the discussion of (1999), pp. 71–93. In the modern context, however, the posthistoire resurfaced. For Vidler’s view of the the term is used more often in relation to the trauma issue, see ibid., pp. 13–14, 96–99; see also A. Vidler, of the post-nuclear disaster and the characteristics ‘Postmodern or Posthistoire?’, Histories of the Immedi- of ‘cuteness’, which are discussed in the latter part of ate Present: Inventing Architectural Modernism (Cam- this paper. See P. K. Saint-Amour, ‘Bombing and the bridge, Mass., The MIT Press, 2008), pp. 191–200. Symptom: Traumatic Earliness and the Nuclear 16. A. Vidler, The Architectural Uncanny, op. cit., pp. 12–13. Uncanny’, Diacritics, 30, no. 4 (2000), pp. 59–82 and 17. Whilst he utilises many theories to explain other build- M. Ivy, ‘The Art of Cute Little Things: Nara Yoshimoto’s ings as an historian, he has said he tries not to say too Parapolitics’, Mechademia, 5 (2010), pp. 3–29. much about his own design concepts as an architect 23. Although Ito had grown up in the same rural area, Fuji- (although he has in fact established some important mori thought his urbane aesthetics did not conform to principles regarding his architecture), because it can the characteristics of the region. Several publications prevent the seed of an idea from fermenting and devel- give his account of taking on the project and the oping: T. Fujimori, ‘Kenchiku-to Shijen-no Kankei-o client’s originally different intention. See the publi- Dousuruka?’ [‘How to deal with the relation between cations listed in notes 2 and 3 above, as well as architecture and nature?’], a lecture delivered at the T. Fujimori, Tanpopo House-no Dekiru-made [‘Until Symposium ‘Architectural World of Terunobu Fuji- Tanpopo House was Completed’] (Tokyo, Asahibunko, mori’, Korea University, Seoul (29th March, 2013). 2001), pp. 42–45. 18. Hélène Cixous’s comment (1972), cited in H. Haughton, 24. Y. Futagawa, ed., Fujimori Terunobu Tokuhon, op. cit., Introduction, in, S. Freud, The Uncanny, op. cit., p. 54. pp. vii–lx. 25. Concerning the Suwa Shinto shrines and the onba- 19. For more recent discussions of the uncanny, see shira, see T. Fujimori, Jinrui-to Kenchiku-no Rekishi N. Royle, The Uncanny (New York, Routledge, 2003). (Tokyo, Chikuma-shobo, 2005), pp. 115–132. 20. A. Vidler, The Architectural Uncanny, op. cit., pp. xii, 26. By contrasting the idea of a ‘Grass House’ with that of 147–164. the modernist ‘Glass House’, he distances himself from 113

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the contemporary mainstream architects who are as viewed from Dorobune’, SPACE, 536 (2012a), obsessed with the modernist idiom of lightness and pp. 16–21. transparency. In Japanese, there is no difference 33. A. Vidler, The Architectural Uncanny, op. cit., p. x. between the pronunciations of ‘grass’ and ‘glass’. 34. The subject of architecture was the ‘imitation of 27. Fujimori traces the origin of roof planting to the Japa- nature’ in the Classical and Renaissance worlds, as nese shibamune [‘planted roof ridge’] tradition and manifested in Alberti’s treatise (Book 9). Also, the also provides some French precedents. See T. Fujimori, modern movement and the subsequent architecture Architecture of Terunobu Fujimori—Venice Biennale, of the twentieth century connoted a reliance on 2006, op. cit., p. 4. However, his methods of roof natural analogy. For the relationship between nature planting are diverse: they include planting vegetation and architecture, as well as the usefulness and perni- in a line (Tanpopo House) or one by one (Nira ciousness of the analogy in architecture, see House), as well as planting a tree on the peak of the P. Steadman, The Evolution of Designs: Biological roof (Ipponmatsu House) or turfing the whole roof analogy in architecture and the applied arts (London, (Tsubaki Castle). Routledge, 2008; 2nd ed.). Recently, owing to the sus- 28. Y. Futagawa, ed., Fujimori Terunobu Tokuhon, op. cit., tainability issue, (the question of) nature has resurfaced pp. 106–111. in architectural discourse, but not without accompany- 29. The ROJO Society, founded in 1986, has observed the ing ‘complex social, political, cultural dimensions’. For streets and recorded interesting objects with a camera. the ongoing diversified approaches to this theme, see It was a co-participant in the 2006 Venice Biennale P. S. Cohen, E. Naginski, eds, The Return of Nature: Japanese Pavilion and the 2012 Munich Exhibition. Sustaining Architecture in the Face of Sustainability The Nira House’s client, the novelist and artist Genpei (London, Routledge, 2014). On the other hand, Akasegawa, with Fujimori, are the key members of closer to Fujimori’s context, the Japanese researcher the society. T. Fujimori, Objects collected by the ROJO Taro Igarashi investigated the relationship between Society 1970–2006 —Venice Biennale, 2006, op. cit. architecture and plants in his book, Kenchiku-to Sho- 30. Sen no Rikyu, the sixteenth-century Japanese tea kubutsu (one chapter of which comprises an interview master, experimented with creating a smallest possible with Fujimori). In the introductory essay, he stresses tea room, down to an area of 1.75 tatami mats (2.9 m2): that seemingly naturalised architectures and their T. Fujimori, ‘Introduction: The development of the tea environments, such as tree houses and gardens, are room and its meaning in architecture’, in, A. Isozaki, inescapably artificialised. T. Igarashi, ed., Kenchiku-to T. Ando, T. Fujimori, The Contemporary Tea House Shokubutsu [‘Architecture and Plants’] (Kyoto, INAX, (Tokyo, Kodansha, 2007), pp. 7–25. 2008), pp. 5–18. Originally devised to overcome 31. See T. Maeda, F. Uehata, eds, Fujimori Terunobu-ten: nature, architecture is anti-natural in itself despite its Suwa-no Kioku-to FUJIMORI Kenchiku (Chino, Chino efforts to imitate nature. City Museum of Art, 2010). 35. T. Fujimori, Architecture of Terunobu Fujimori—Venice 32. For discussions of the Dorobune, see Y. Futagawa, ed., Biennale, 2006, op. cit., p. 4. In the recent Korea Uni- Fujimori Terunobu Tokuhon, op. cit., pp. 268–273 and versity lecture (2013) mentioned above (note 17), he H. Kim, ’The Exciting Architectural Adventures of the clarified that his goal is to reconcile man-made build- Future Boy, “Terubo”: Terunobu Fujimori Architecture, ings with God-created nature (eg, plants). 114

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36. T. Fujimori, ‘Toward an Architecture of Humankind’, 46. T. Fujimori, Jinrui-to Kenchiku-no Rekishi , op. cit., Fujimori Terunobu Architecture (Tokyo, TOTO, 2007), pp. 101–102. pp. 16–45. 47. S. Freud, The Uncanny, op. cit., p. 147. 37. In this paper, the former means that his building 48. Although the plants on his buildings—eg, Tanpopo mimics the formal appearance of nature; the latter House, Nira House and Ipponmatsu House—look means it appears as if it were formed reasonably and natural, their artificiality is easily recognisable. logically within its circumstances, regardless of nature 49. T. Fujimori, Terunobu Fujimori Y’avant-garde Architec- per se. Both types of unnaturalness are equally impor- ture (Tokyo, TOTO, 1998). tant in this research. 50. T. Fujimori, ‘Toward an Architecture of Humankind’, 38. M. Mori, ‘The Uncanny Valley’, IEEE Robotics & Auto- op. cit. mation Magazine, 19, no. 2 (2012), K. F. MacDormand, 51. Ibid. N. Kageki, trans., pp. 98–100; original Japanese 52. T. Fujimori, Jinrui-to Kenchiku-no Rekishi, op. cit., version: ‘Bukimi-no Tani’, Energy, 7, no. 4 (1970), p. 168 (Author’s translation). pp. 33–35. The Author became familiar with this 53. For a concise introduction to apocalyptic and post- theory when a participant in discussion at a symposium apocalyptic fiction, see M. K. Booker, A. Thomas, The at Korea University in October, 2012, in which the Science Fiction Handbook (Chichester, Wiley-Black- Korean cultural critic Jung-Kwon Chin delivered a well, 2009), pp. 53–64. lecture on the uncanny valley. 54. Ibid. 39. Y. Futagawa, ed., Fujimori Terunobu Tokuhon, op. cit., 55. Differently from Archigram, with its ‘counter-cultural pp. 87–91. values’, the Metabolists were rather inclined towards 40. T. Fujimori, Tanpopo House-no Dekiru-made, op. cit., realistic issues supporting their governmental policies: pp. 196–206. A. Isozaki, ‘A comment from Arata Isozaki’, in, 41. For an in-depth analysis of Fujimori’s cave theory, see P. Cook, ed., Archigram (New York, Princeton Archi- the Author’s recent article: H. Kim, ‘A Study on the tectural Press, 1999), p. 4. Concept of a Cave in Terunobu Fujimori’s Architecture’ 56. This sketch was published in Lebbeus Woods, War and (text in Korean with English abstract), Journal of Archi- Architecture (New York, Princeton Architectural Press, tectural History, 95 (2014), pp. 7–17. 1993), p. 13 and is still available from his website 42. However, this mud-wall image does not create an http://lebbeuswoods.net [accessed 15/12/15]. uncanny feeling because its appearance does not actu- 57. Although quite ambiguous and metaphorical, his ally differ from that of a real mud wall: see Mori’s graph suggested recovery process for a ruined building of the uncanny valley. follows the order of ‘injection’, ‘scab’, ‘scar’ and ‘new 43. Fujimori Terunobu Architecture, op. cit. tissue’: ibid.,pp.20–37 and Radical Reconstruction 44. For further discussion, see H. Kim, ‘A Study on the Pier- (New York, Princeton Architectural Press, 1997), p. 16. cing Column of Terunobu Fujimori Architecture’ (text 58. L. Woods, Radical Reconstruction, op. cit., p. 13. in Korean with English abstract), Journal of Architec- 59. Because of the disasters, however, Japan could tural History, 85 (2012c), pp. 35–44. develop a discourse of seismicity in culture and 45. T. Fujimori, Tanpopo House-no Dekiru-made, op. cit., modern technology. Gregory Clancey shows how con- pp. 125–127. tinual earthquakes formed modern Japan in terms of 115

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cultural politics as well as architecture: G. Clancey, Exploding Subculture (New York, Japan Society; New Earthquake Nation: The Cultural Politics of Japanese Haven, Yale University Press, 2005). Seismicity, 1868–1930 (Berkeley, Los Angeles, Univer- 65. For him, the trauma basically originates from the cata- sity of California Press, 2006). strophic aftermath of the atomic bombings, but it also 60. For example, see S. J. Napier, ‘Panic Sites: The Japanese stems from the contradictory relationship with the Imagination of Disaster from Godzilla to Akira’, Journal USA, which as both protector and repressor has pre- of Japanese Studies, 19, no. 2 (1993), pp. 327–351 vented the country—the ‘little boy’ state—from and M. Broderick, ed., Hibakusha Cinema: Hiroshima, growing up. Nagasaki and the Nuclear Image in Japanese Film 66. The otaku culture, which is the subject of this Exhibi- (London, Routledge, 2009). S. Sontag’s essay ‘The tion, was initially categorised as a subculture but is Imagination of Disaster’ (1966) was reprinted in the now merging with the mainstream. Regardless of its latter. status, it ‘remain[s] unable to shed’ a sort of ‘bukimi’ 61. This animation series, which first appeared on NHK in or uncanny feeling, according to Murakami. As 1978, was based on the American writer Alexander described in the Introduction, Freud’s ‘unheimlich’ is Key’s science fiction novel The Incredible Tide (1970), usually translated as ‘bukimi’ in Japanese, but Muraka- now available in e-book format (New York, Open mi’s original Japanese ‘bukimi’ was translated as ‘gro- Road, 2014). One of the most noticeable images in tesque’ in the bilingual book. T. Murakami, ed., Little the animation is Conan’s house composed of a Boy, op. cit., pp. 132–134. crash-landed spaceship and a primitive hut, which is 67. Ibid., pp. 82–87, 136-138: the term was coined by the reminiscent of Sottsass’s ‘Another Utopia’. popular illustrator Miura Jun. 62. For an overview of Miyazaki’s works, see Helen 68. Although Okazaki had praised Fujimori’s architecture McCarthy, Hayao Miyazaki: Master of Japanese Ani- highly (see Note 2 above), he later became more mation (Berkeley, CA, Stone Bridge Press, 1999). reserved in his enthusiasm due to Fujimori’s growing 63. See T. Igarashi, ‘Time-Bridging Architecture’,inArchi- inclination towards kawaii-ness. (Author’s recorded tecture of Terunobu Fujimori and ROJO —Venice Bien- conversation with Okazaki at his home in Kokubunji, nale, op. cit., pp. 12–15; S. Sawai, ed., The Fujimori near Tokyo, 6th August, 2012.) However, this paper Terunobu, op. cit., pp. 101, 129; and H. Kim, ‘The maintains that his design deserves more attention Exciting Architectural Adventures of the Future Boy, because of its kawaii-ness, which represents one pole “Terubo”’, op. cit. Fujimori even contributed a series of contemporary Japanese culture. For Japanese of articles on architectural materials to Neppu [‘Hot kawaii culture, see M. Ivy, ‘The Art of Cute Little Wind’], the monthly magazine of Miyazaki’s Studio Things’, op. cit. and M. Okazaki, G. Johnson, Kawaii! Ghibli, between July, 2012 and July, 2013. However, Japan’s Culture of Cute (Munich, Prestel, 2013). Fujimori argues that he only recently got to know Miya- 69. The critic Roberta Smith reports that Murakami’s Exhi- zaki’s animation, denying any possible influence. bition reflects the Japanese collective unconscious: Author’s recorded interview with Fujimori at his Koga- R. Smith, ‘Japan’s Collective Unconscious: From a kuin University office, Shinjuku, 7th December, 2011. Mushroom Cloud, a Burst of Art Reflecting Japan’s 64. The eponymous book accompanied the event: Psyche’, New York Times (8th April, 2005), pp. B27, T. Murakami, ed., Little Boy: The Arts of Japan’s B31. 116

The uncanny side of the fairy tale: post-apocalyptic symbolism in Terunobu Fujimori’s architecture Hyon-Sob Kim

70. C. Jung, The Archetypes and the Collective Uncon- 74. This scenario was mentioned in his conversation with scious: The Collected Works of C. G. Jung, Volume 9, Ito: T. Ito, T. Fujimori, ‘Akogare-to Kenkyu, Genten-to Part I, 2nd ed. (New York, Princeton University Press, Sekkei’, op. cit. 1969), pp. 3–53. Although Jung’s analytical psychol- 75. H. McCarthy, Hayao Miyazaki, op. cit., p. 74. ogy was both praised and harshly criticised, as shown 76. Coincidently, this alludes to Hoffmann’s ‘Sand-Man’, by A. M. Dry’s The Psychology of Jung: A Critical who was thought to have plucked out the eyes of Interpretation (London, Methuen, 1961), the idea of naughty children. In Freud’s reinterpretation of the the ‘collective unconscious’ has influenced our under- story, ‘fear for the eye’ is another form of ‘fear of cas- standing of culture and the human mind. tration’, the primary source of the uncanny. (See Note 71. A typical criticism of Jung’s ‘collective unconscious’ 13 above.) concerns its Lamarckian standpoint regarding the 77. The eye is the point of ‘contact between actors who are inheritance of acquired characteristics. However, his watched and the audience who is watching’, and the idea is not easily dismissed since it can also be explained proscenium arch between the stage and the seats of through the more widely accepted evolutionary theory the Besançon theatre forms a visual frame that corre- of mutation and natural selection. C. S. Hall, sponds to the eyelid and pupil. C. Freigang, ‘Claude- V. J. Nordby, A Primer of Jungian Psychology Nicolas Ledoux’, in, T. Nebois, ed., Architectural (New York, New American Library, 1973), p. 40, and Theory from the Renaissance to the Present (Cologne, A. M. Dry, The Psychology of Jung, op. cit.,p.108. Taschen, 2003), p. 326 and A. Vidler, Claude-Nicholas 72. C. Jung, The Archetypes and the Collective Uncon- Ledoux: Architecture and Utopia in the Era of the scious, op. cit., p. 5. According to Jung, ‘archetypes’ French Revolution (Basel, Birkhäuser, 2006), p. 88. For correspond to ‘motifs’ in mythological research, ‘rep- further discussion, see H. Kim, ‘Illusion of Ruin and résentation collectives’ in the psychology of primitives, Rebirth: A Study on Terunobu Fujimori’s Diploma ‘categories of the imagination’ in comparative religion, Design’ (text in Korean with English abstract), Journal and Adolf Bastian’s ‘primordial thoughts’ (pp. 42–43). of the Architectural Institute of Korea: Planning and There are numerous archetypes, eg, those of birth and Design, 287 (2012b), pp. 203–210. rebirth, death, the mother or Earth Mother, the child, 78. Fujimori’s direct adoption of surrealist motifs is found God, the demon, the wise old man, (objects of) in the Ku-an, where he installed a drooping grass nature, etc. band in the courtyard inspired by Salvador Dalí. For a 73. Let us borrow Lévi-Strauss’s term despite his dismissal surrealist interpretation of Fujimori, see K. Okazaki, of Jung. Their opposing approaches to a myth—say, ‘Surrealist Architect Terunobu Fujimori’, Eureka, 499 ‘syntactic’ (Lévi-Strauss) versus ‘semantic’ (Jung)— (2004), pp. 98–102. make no difference for the purposes of this paper. 79. T. Fujimori, Architecture of Terunobu Fujimori—Venice According to the former, ‘mythemes’ are irreducible Biennale, op. cit.,p.6. units in a myth—like ‘phonemes, morphemes, and 80. This was the only choice in architecture for Isozaki, sememes’ in linguistics—and their relationships are who had experienced the disaster of war in his early diversely bundled to produce diverse years: A. Isozaki, ‘Writing on Architecture’, in, meanings. C. Lévi-Strauss, Structural Anthropology K. T. Oshima, ed., Arata Isozaki (London, Phaidon, (New York, Basic Books, 1963), pp. 206–231. 2009), pp. 6–9. 117

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81. For more about the project, see T. Fujimori, ‘Toward an Francis Fukuyama’s famous book of the same title Architecture of Humankind’, op. cit., pp. 8–15. (1992), although they have little in common aside 82. Also, see the Roof House (2007–09), in which the roof from the phrase. For further discussions of the posthis- itself forms a picturesque scene, as well as ‘New York toire, however, see L. Niethammer, Posthistoire: Has 2109’ (2009) and ‘Vegetable City’ (2010). History Come to an End? (London, Verso, 1992) and 83. T. Fujimori, Jinrui-to Kenchiku-no Rekishi, op. cit., P. Brantlinger, ‘Apocalypse 2001; or, What Happens pp. 164-168. after Posthistory?’, Cultural Critique, 39 (1998), 84. A. Vidler, The Architectural Uncanny, op. cit., pp. 13– pp. 59–83. 14, 96–99 (see note 15 above). Fujimori’s words ‘the 85. T. Fujimori, Jinrui-to Kenchiku-no Rekishi, op. cit. end of history’ [rekishi-no owari] directly allude to 86. A. Vidler, The Architectural Uncanny, op. cit., pp. 13–14.