Studio 33


Studio Japan: Shimanami Summer

Nancy Ji & Mitch Eaton

This studio is available to students enrolled in ABPL90142 Studio C, ABPL90143 Studio D, and ABPL90115 Studio E.

Studio Description

Studio Japan: Shimanami Summer continues from previous Studio Japan editions which looks to the countryside as a source of inspiration and potential while responding to pressing contemporary issues. Japan is one of the first countries to enter a post-growth era with an aging and decreasing population that has prompted many revitalization efforts in recent years including those by artists and architects. The effects of social and economic decline are most visible in rural areas including the proposed site which spans several islands in the Seto Inland Sea. As young people move to larger cities these islands have a growing number of vacant houses, abandoned farmland and empty shops. What kind of architecture can happen in such settings? The studio examines the rural landscape between land and sea from a physical and social perspective to interrogate the role of architecture in community revitalization, identity and creative place making.

Studio Outcomes

As the studio is run online and we cannot visit Japan at this time students will conduct virtual fieldwork to understand the site and context through a series of drawing and mapping exercises. This initial research phase including precedent research and site analysis will be conducted in groups. Students then have the freedom to continue working in groups or individually for the final project. Students will be given a choice of programmes to work with which they are encouraged to develop and expand on based on their own ongoing research and inquiry.

Learning outcomes include a deeper understanding of both traditional and contemporary Japanese architecture and the ability to synthesize a complex web of ideas, drawing on site, culture, tradition, function, and climate to create a considered architectural response for the contemporary rural landscape. Another emphasis will be on visual presentation with one of the final deliverables to be an overall detailed drawing. One of the key aims of the studio is to provide innovative and thoughtful ideas for the future of these islands visualized in an exciting and artistic way.

Studio Leaders

Nancy Ji obtained a Master of Architecture from the University of Melbourne and TU Delft. She is a registered architect and has worked for Bates Smart Architects in Melbourne and Kengo Kuma and Associates in Tokyo. Nancy is currently based in Japan and is a doctoral candidate at Keio University where she is researching contemporary Japanese architecture and rural revitalization. Nancy has presented her research at academic conferences including SAHANZ and writes for both academic and popular media platforms including The Architecture Review. Nancy has taught at the Melbourne School of Design since 2015 in Architectural History and Theory, undergraduate and graduate Design Studios, and since 2018 as a teaching assistant at Keio University.

Mitch Eaton obtained a Master of Architecture from the University of Melbourne and has been teaching master level Design Studios at the Melbourne School of Design since 2015. He is a registered architect having worked with award winning practices including McBride Charles Ryan and Buro. Mitch is currently a project architect at Buro where he works on a range of projects across the residential, commercial and educational sectors. He spent 2019 living in Japan where he deepened his understanding of Japanese Architecture and Urbanism.

Readings & References

Schedule Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays 16:30-20:30 Online

Contact Handbook

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