Taku Sakaushi

今月の「建築が生まれる時」は香山壽夫先生が半世紀近く前に設計された東大工学部６号館の屋上増築のあの４分の１ボールトのスケッチである。インタビューでは学生時代からお話を聞き、当時の名教授陣が皆自信喪失に見えたという証言にびっくりした。そしてペンシルバニア大学から東大に戻り東大移転という話に反対して既存のキャンパスの存続をかけてリノベーション案を作り続け、その結果今の本郷キャンパスがあるのだなと確認した。社会は変化するものだが変化のための変化に意味はなく、変化は結果であるという言葉が印象的であった。

This month’s “When Architecture is Born” is a quarter vault sketch of the rooftop addition to the University of Tokyo’s Engineering Building No. 6. It was designed by Hisao Kayama nearly half a century ago. In the interview, I heard his story from his student days and was surprised to listen to his testimony that all the famous professors at the time seemed to have lost confidence in them. After returning to the University of Tokyo from the University of Pennsylvania, he opposed relocating the University of Tokyo. He continued to make renovation plans for the survival of the existing campus. As a result, the Hongo campus is here today. I was impressed by his words that society changes, but change for the sake of change is meaningless, and change is the result.