21 avril 2007
Extension du corps
Zéro
yen house
"Consider a row of homeless peoples’ houses built
on an urban street in Japan. If we look at these houses from an
architectural perspective, we can discover many of the capabilities
and elements in their architecture. These houses are built on a
shoestring budget by diverting and recycling the rubbish thrown away
on the street. In this respect, these houses are built out of the
resourcefulness of human nature, not by purchasing power. I call them
“Zero Yen Houses.”
At the present day, one may say that
self-constructed houses do not exist in the dwelling area of the
city. Almost all houses are commodities to be bought and sold.
Moreover, from an ecological point of view, once a typical house is
constructed its use does not change with time yet its building
materials transform into garbage for the landfill. Under these
condition as such, "Zero Yen House" gives some indication
of the possibilities of future architecture.
"Zero Yen House" is constructed with the
materials mostly collected from the street. In other words, it gives
a different perspective on discarded items thrown away as surplus
materials of urban living. In addition, relative to the fact that
current home-purchases generally cost millions of dollars, "Zero
Yen House" costs just a few hundred dollars at most. The
importance is that they are made by one’s own hand. This does not
mean the dwelling is simply a box to live in. Instead, the dwelling
is built as an extension of one’s own body. Therefore, the house
shapes are each respectively different. No universal prototype exists
for these houses, and this differentiation from typical architecture
is important. In the nature of things, I think that each dwelling is
different spontaneously.
"Solar Zero Yen House" is a dwelling I
found built by an elderly man living along the Sumida River bank. Its
construction inspired me as an architect to think about energy use
for our future. A small solar panel, about the size of one mat, is
installed in the roof of the dwelling, so energy is completely
provided for. This demonstrates the possibilities for new
architecture and new types of construction.
Zero Yen House is a primal (archetype) urban
architecture, which is different from vernacular settlement
construction we see around the world, and is it different from modern
and contemporary architecture designed by architects". kyohei sakaguchi in 'Zero Yen' houses featured in Kyohei Sakaguchi's gallery
© kyohei sakaguchi 2006
Désir et réalité
VILLE HABITÉE, VILLE
FANTASMÉE
Sous la direction de Georges Frédéric
Manche
Ed l'Harmattan, 2007
Actes du colloque "La ville
dans et hors les murs" organisé par le Centre de
recherches et d'études sur l'Italie, Université de
Haute-Alsace, Mulhouse, 28 et 29 novembre 2003. textes réunis
par Georges Frédéric Manche. Les chercheurs abordent
deux types de représentations de la ville, une ville
fantasmée, lieu de mélancolie et de projection de soi
et une ville réelle mais qui n'apparut jamais comme un lieu de
vie à aménager, à penser et à
transformer. Etudes sur les villes d'Italie : chez Juvénal,
Venise dans Volpone, la ville italienne chez Goethe ou Dino Buzzati.
Chaque intervenant a mis en avant une sorte d'archétype de
ville rêvée autour d'un engagement passionnel ou d'un
projet social qui en déformait les contours et en remodelait
les perspectives...