MICHAEL R. GRIFFITH
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CASE STUDY PART 6
APRIL 25, 2019
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FIGURE 1: street-scape highlighting the significance and dominance of The Shizuoka Press and Broadcasting Center.
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Kenzo Tange, Shizuoka Press and Broadcasting Center. 1967. Tokyo, Japan. In Architecture Daily. https://www.archdaily.com/422486/ad-classics-shizuoka-press-and-broadcasting-center-kenzo-tange.
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Finished in Tokyo, Japan in the year of 1967, The Shizuoka Press and Broadcasting Center was built amidst a period of time in which architect Kenzo Tange began reimagining what the human experience through the spatial volumes of the city could be like. He was not alone in this new approach to design and architecture, especially in terms of urban planning; he and other architects began to consider how to reshape and reframe Japan itself. One key component to this major idea of metropolitan transformation was the fact that architecture would allow for better conditions of life in post-World War Japan. At this time when old buildings were being demolished without much historical consideration, there was also great effort in San Francisco, California to restore, preserve, and reimagine the old banking hall of the Great Bank of California. This landmark—in the midst of San Francisco's financial district—had been regarded as the oldest building in the town for a long time and had a significant impact on the spirit of the city itself. Not only had it been preserved for the future, but it had been incorporated into a new complex—a new building type—which planned to upgrade and enrich the area entirely. Growth in population and expansion of cities as well as mass media was occurring on a global scale; especially in America, provocative responses to these changes of modern culture and society were happening in the realm of the arts just as they were in architecture. Jasper Johns’ 1964 assemblage, According to What is another excellent and relevant piece of this moment in art and architectural history. During such a period of disorder, uncertainty and reformation following the end of World War II, artists and architects around the world began heavily considering the shifting global sociological, economic and cultural foundations, and as a result, their individual work speaks to the betterment of society through themes of gentrification and transformation as well.
The aftermath of the second World War left much destruction and devastation across the globe. Not only Tokyo, but many industrial cities around the world were experiencing an expansion and growth in unlike anything seen before.[1] Of course, these instances together had a direct impact on building and architecture; the damage of the war to industrial cities such as Tokyo left countries like Japan in a state of identity crisis, while leaving behind the perfect opportunity to redesign and re-conceptualize architecture in these affected areas.[2] Tange’s rethinking of Japan accepted such a fragile state and allowed the city to recapture its lost spirit in a modern light, and at its own pace. The broken essence of Japan called for a change in values, which can be observed in this redesign of architecture; Tange was taking a look back at ancient Japanese values and tradition, against the militaristic architecture of the past—aiming to now elevate the conditions of modern life. Tange’s very ideas alone for this new plan of Tokyo were potentially responsible for beginning the structural movement of the modern city, which occurred throughout the nineteen-sixties. [3] The Shizuoka Press and Broadcasting Center is distinct from its urban environment, whose neighboring buildings are simple, rectilinear, extruded boxes; the building poses its uniqueness and dominance over its environment. The irregular nature of the spatial volumes alludes to the dynamics of human evolution in urban planning; one may observe this philosophical expression in the modular, undulating forms which were constructed to allow for adaptability, expansion and addition of modules to the core structure.[4]
-Professor Yehuda Emmanuel Safran at Colombia University
FIGURE 2: street-scape highlighting the significance and dominance of The Shizuoka Press and Broadcasting Center.
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Kenzo Tange, Shizuoka Press and Broadcasting Center. 1967. Tokyo, Japan. In Architecture Daily. https://www.archdaily.com/422486/ad-classics-shizuoka-press-and-broadcasting-center-kenzo-tange.
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Constructed on a narrow, triangular urban site in Tokyo, Japan, The Shizuoka Press and Broadcasting Center is a tall, narrow, abstracted-triangular extrusion, consisting of a main infrastructural core. The dominating infrastructural core is a 7.7-meter (about 25-foot) diameter cylinder, reaching a height of 57 meters (about 187 feet). The core itself contains stairs, two elevators, as well as kitchen and sanitary facilities on each level. The core serves as an access shaft to the modular office units of the building: cantilevered glass and steel boxes which punctuate the main core on alternating sides. In total, thirteen individual offices were arranged in five groups of two to three modules, connected asymmetrically to the central core. There is clear evidence of asymmetry in the plan arrangement of this building, while also maintaining a central focal point in its design, which reserves an individual sense of radial symmetry, seen in Figure 3 below. One may note the balance this creates, having asymmetrical forms on opposing sides of the central core element—in this case, the cylindrical tower of the building—which is used to balance the asymmetry of the modular office segments on the building, noted in Figure 4.
This arrangement projects a sense of hierarchy as well, delineating one space in its uniqueness from another. For instance, referring to Figure 5 below, one will notice the sequence of importance within the design: first, the central core element which grounds the building, then the individual office modules arranged along opposing sides as one’s eyes move up the tower. This hierarchy can be seen through variety of shape and size, as well. Repetition: section highlights the harmonious rhythm of the stacked cylindrical forms which make up the building’s core; one can perceive the individual, repeating modules which establish the dominating assembly, pictured in Figure 6 below. While it bears great respect to its own ground site, as this is the basis and foundation for its schematic and overall design, there is quite a contrast between the Shizuoka Press and Broadcasting Center and its neighboring buildings. As seen in Figure 7, one may note a contrast of shape as well as contrast of size. Note the vast cylindrical nature of the building’s core versus the very rectilinear, modular forms of the surrounding buildings, in addition to the undulating, triangular segments of the building itself versus the linear line-directions of neighboring buildings in this urban site.
FIGURE 3: radial symmetry vs asymmetry
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FIGURE 4: balance
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FIGURE 5: focal point/hierarchy
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FIGURE 6: repetition
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FIGURE 7: contrast shape/size
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After World War II had ended, there was a vast increase in business volume, thus increasing the need of greatly expanded space; the center of the financial district of San Francisco—in conjunction with such a historically significant landmark—seemed most ideal. [6] In this case, there was a direct link between the past, present, and future. Not just metaphorically, this link between old and new needed to provide a sense of visual congruity between the buildings. This led to the re-imagining of the pedestrian experience of the city, which was always limited to about 6 feet above ground; this new design called for a solution to this problem, offering a new take on the human experience of the city, with a piazza in the sky.[7] The expansion of the banking headquarters provided an opportunity with its tower located directly adjacent to the old banking hall, to offer public access to the rooftop of this old building. What was once a visual nightmare from other tall buildings, the mechanical, asphalt rooftop of the old hall became an inviting, landscaped terrace for people to enjoy. Not only creating a visual pleasure, but this new design offered sunlight and fresh air to the people in the city—helping these people to reconnect with nature in this unnatural environment.[8]
FIGURE 8: view of rooftop area; expansion of the human nature-experience of the city
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"A Bank with a Past in its Future." Architectural Forum, January-June 1969, 68-74.
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In connection with the Shizuoka Press and Broadcasting center, this period in time posed a common theme in major cities around the world: expansion. While Japan was facing trouble with destruction after the war had ended, the city was still left to deal with growth and development while struggling to deal with a broken spirit; the re-imagining of the Great Bank of California also dealt with the infusion of the spirit of the city, although it was not necessarily broken, but the conscious effort was made to preserve such spirit. The importance of spirit was addressed and present in both projects. Additionally, while both set in urban environments, these projects aimed to better the lives of people within these settings. These unlikely projects shared similar ideas of playing with space, mass and volume within the verticality of the sky, too; although their overall styles are vastly different, both projects spoke to the re-imagining of the human experience within the cityscape and used the vertical nature of tall building construction to offer new and innovative perspectives and building design ideas.
Jasper Johns formed his expansive and dramatic, seven-foot by sixteen-foot art piece titled "According to What," 1964 by assembling several canvases in conjunction with various found objects which were all arranged, manipulated and painted in very specific ways.[9] With the idea of turning the meaning of art upside down, the traditional symmetry of a rectangular grid—the rectangular canvas—was exploded and defied by a single hinged canvas door hanging below the piece. Above this is a cross-section of a kitchen chair, suspended upside down with the illusion of a human form sitting upon the seat—represented by the hollow cast of a leg. On the other side, a single spoon hanging from an undulating metal hanger continues to challenge the concepts of the individual meanings of these objects. Within the middle of the artwork, Johns plays with color while using more bent, suspended metalwork: signage of color-words painted in opposing colors, while the reflections of the text on the canvas represents the actual colors of the spellings. Johns continued these major ideas throughout the entire configuration. There is an asymmetrical balance found within this work, through the arrangement of the heaving versus planar surfaces as well as the juxtaposition of light and color versus shadow.
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In creating these irregular and erratic forms, Johns has expressed a transformation through re-imagination and deformation—breaking tradition and being unapologetically strange and different.[10] The visual deception and the destruction of visual elements not only causes viewers to question the meaning of the objects, but it more importantly allows for change to occur. Change is the central notion of Johns’ work at this time in history—operating on both physical and psychological levels.[11] Through his work, Johns aimed to create a situation which tolerates as well as honors change; in a literal sense, the shadows within the assemblage change according to whatever actions happen around the work itself.[12]
FIGURE 9: view of Johns' assemblage "According to What" at the Philadelphia Museum of Art February 23, 2019
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Jasper Johns, According to What, 1964, assemblage, 16 ft., Philadelphia, Philadelphia Museum of Art.
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Both According to What by Jasper Johns and the Shizuoka Press and Broadcasting Center by Kenzo Tange are direct responses to the changing culture and society of the postwar period. Mass media and the continuously expanding population during this time caused undeniable, global effects on humanity, which then naturally called for action to take place within the world of art and architecture. The rejection of mass production, similar to the rejection of archaic architecture in Japan, called for a reformation of society. Artists of the Pop Art movement such as Jasper Johns began reintroducing devices and techniques in traditional art used to convey artistic meaning, including signage, symbols, metaphors, allusions, illusions, and figural imagery to name a few.[13] This kind of art, against pure formalism, was then more readily accepted and understood by the ever-changing consumer culture of the postwar world.[14]
Although there was much disturbance forced upon many parts of the world post-World War II, this dark and heavy time gave way to some of the most pivotal and influential movements and works of modern society. Through studying these projects individually as well as comparatively, one may note the vast differences among them while connecting similar, common themes such as transformation and adaptation for the betterment of the human condition. Throughout history, humans have been able to rise against much of the unpredictable destruction brought upon society, and this will always be highly evident through art, architecture and design alike.
[1]. Zhonjie Lin, “Urban Structure for the Expanding Metropolis,“ Journal of Architectural and Planning Research 24, no. 2 (2007): 109.
[2]. Yehuda Emmanuel Safran, “Brutalism Revisited,” Academia (2017): 1
[3]. Lin, “Urban Structure,“ 109.
[4]. Safran, “Brutalism,” 2.
[5]. Safran, “Brutalism,” 1.
[6]. James Marston Fitch, “A Bank with a Past in Its Future,” Architectural Forum 130, no. 1 (May1969): 70.
[7]. Fitch, “Bank with a Past,” 72.
[8]. Fitch, “Bank with a Past,” 72.
[9]. “According to What, 1964,” Masterpieces of Jasper Johns, last modified 2019, http://www.jasper-johns.org/according-to-what.jsp
[10]. Patricia Kaplan, “On Jasper Johns' According to What,” Art Journal 35, no. 2 (Spring 1976): 249, https://www.jstor.org/stable/775943?
seq=1#metadata_info_tab_contents.
[11]. Kaplan, “According to What,” 249.
[12]. Kaplan, “According to What,” 249.
[13]. Fred S. Kleiner, Gardner's Art Through the Ages: A Global History (Boston: Cengage Learning, 2015), 966.
[14]. Kleiner, Art Through the Ages, 966.
According to What, 1964. 2019. Accessed March 18, 2019. http://www.jasper-johns.org/according-to-what.jsp.
Fitch, James Marston. “A Bank with a Past in Its Future.” Architectural Forum 130, no. 1 (January-June1969): 68-74.
Johns, Jasper. According to What, 1964. Assemblage, 16 ft. Philadelphia, Philadelphia Museum of Art. Accessed February 22, 2019.
Kaplan, Patricia. 1976. "On Jasper Johns' According to What." Art Journal (College Art Association) 35 (3): 247-250. Accessed March 18, 2019.
https://www.jstor.org/stable/775943?seq=1#metadata_info_tab_contents.
Kleiner, Fred S. 2015. Gardner's Art Through the Ages: A Global History. 15th. Vol. II. Boston: Cengage Learning.
Lin, Zhongjie. 2008. "Metabolism: Restructuring the Modern City." Fresh Air 871-878. Accessed February 20, 2019.
Lin, Zhongjie. 2007. "Urban Structure for the Expanding Metropolis: Kenzo Tange's 1960 Plan for Tokyo." Journal of Architectural and Planning Research (Locke Science Publishing) 24 (02): 109-124. Accessed February 20, 2019. https://www.jstor.org/stable/43030795?read-now=1&seq=2#page_scan_tab_contents.
Safran, Yehuda Emmanuel. 2017. "Brutalism Revisited." Academia. January 1, 2017. Accessed February 20, 2019.