The construction unit price of wooden houses in Tokyo now exceeds 1 million yen per tsubo. It was 700,000 when I became independent 20 years ago, so it is up 50%. The unit price for construction of S-built rental buildings in Tokyo now exceeds 1.5 million yen per tsubo. 35 years ago, the first SRC rental building I designed at Nikken was less than 900,000, so this is also up by more than 50%. The current consumer price index is flat compared to 20 years ago and is up more than 10% compared to 35 years ago, so the rise in construction prices is crazy.
I wanted to write a book about architects as a profession, and I found such a book on sale: “Living as an Architect: The Sociology of Architects as a Profession.” I read it immediately. It is a doctoral thesis in sociology based on interviews and other research, which analyses how architects are made and their ethos (moral climate). Bourdieu’s view of the architect is as follows; An architect is a person who values winning the game to use higher game stakes (artistic architecture, which is called a work of art, and the prizes, educational and professional qualifications that come with it) in the architectural world (the ring of the game). I think they are right. That’s why most of the million architects in Japan don’t try to be architects. Or maybe this ethos will disappear among young architects, and they might become polarised. But it is unlikely that this ethos will disappear altogether.
We have two cutting boards for vegetables and meat, which is my spouse’s preference. It’s okay if the smell doesn’t move, but each one gets smaller, so if you chop the onions or shred the cabbage, they will fall off the cutting board.
In a seminar yesterday, I said that research is about abstracting and visualizing materials. This morning while thinking about the menu tonight, I thought that cooking is to abstract the ingredients (take out the delicious parts) and make them taste. When it comes to architecture, modernism is the abstraction and visualization of materials, but recently there are various methods such as embodying and tactile sensation.
I always buy books at Maruzen at Tokyo Station. It’s got closer and closer after I moved, and it’s 20 minutes by door-to-door. I know what is on which bookshelf like my bookshelf. The new issue jumps into my eyes from the other side. However, when that happens, I get a bad habit of not seeing anything other than the new issue. I went to Kinokuniya in Shinjuku yesterday and was surprised. I came across various interesting books that I couldn’t see inMäusen. For example, “History of the bedroom”. Excited. It is also good to go to an unfamiliar bookstore once in a while.
新宿区役所行ったついでに紀伊國屋に寄る。拙著三冊まとまって置いてあり嬉しいし。できれば翻訳も同じ場所に並べてくださるとありがたい。翻訳書の選定も僕の思想の一部なので。
After going to Shinjuku Ward Office, I stopped by Kinokuniya. I’m glad that my three books are put together. If possible, I would appreciate it if they could arrange the translations in the same place. The selection of translations is also part of my thinking.
The other day, I read a book like the autobiography of fashion designer Morinaga, and I was in awe again as if they created the concept of the collection twice a year. It’s almost like a conditioned reflex. However, there is a person in my house who makes works for the exhibition four times a year. The appearance of making a draft for a new exhibition while the work is being exhibited is as conditioned reflexive as a fashion designer. It is reminiscent of the famous mountaineer’s words, “Climb because there is a mountain there.”
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