増田研究

水曜日、学会の研究協議会で増田友也研究の司会をする。増田とは縁もゆかりもない私がにわか勉強をしている。もうすぐ刊行される増田モノグラフの膨大なゲラも読ませていただいた。彼の生前の唯一の著書『建築的空間の原始的構造』はその昔早稲田の古本屋で見つけ斜め読みしていた。建築は視覚的対象ではなく、実存的存在であると言う増田の主張に共感したし、触覚時代を先取りしていたと言わざるをえない。しかし今回の学びで分かったことは思想はもとより、設計者としての確かな力量である。今まであまり正確に日本近代建築史に位置付けられて来なかったのは彼の宣伝不足によるところもあるが、彼の哲学的な思索と建築実体を架橋するわかりやすい言葉が、見つけにくいからだったのではと私には思われる。明後日そんな言葉が見つかるとうれしい。On Wednesday, I will be moderating a study on Tomoya Masuda at the AIJ research council. I, who have no connection or relationship with Masuda, am suddenly studying. I also read the huge manuscripts of Masuda’s soon-to-be-published monograph. His only book before his death, “The Primitive Structure of Architectural Space,” was found in a used bookstore in Waseda University and I read it sideways. I sympathized with the idea that architecture is not just a visual object, but an existential entity, and I must say that he was ahead of the tactile era. However, what I learned through this study was not only his philosophy but also his solid ability as a designer. The reason why he has not been placed very accurately in the history of modern Japanese architecture is partly due to a lack of publicity by him, but it is also because it is difficult to find easy-to-understand words that bridge his philosophical speculations and architectural substance. So it seems to me. I would be happy if I could find such words the day after tomorrow.