Robert Frank "Hotel Lobby -
Miami Beach"
The Americans

Mayumi Miyawaki description for Kazuo Shinohara’s house as 「 the house, where the people in pajamas can’t walk around 」 once made Kazuo Shinohara extremely angry.　Shinohara’s house is a kind of art and his space didn’t permit unexpected, undesigned things, that is to say it is so exclusive. I know some people says that it is not house and others says that it is not the place to live, however actually when I went to there, I saw the people who’ s living there keep their house neat and tidy.　Indeed, once you go into his space, naturally you don’t want to put something redundant, for this space is such a beautiful.

At that time, Toyo Ito and Kazunari Sakamoto were absolutely-fascinated with this beauty, therefore they took various actions to overcome their master、but their early works were highly-influenced by their master. When I saw “House in Nakano-Honmachi by Toyo Ito”, on the magazine “ Toshi-Jyutaku” in my high school days, I was overcome with its beauty and I couldn’t believe that this was a real building. Therefore when I saw the real one, I was deeply-moved and felt this must be the real Architecture.

However the important things for them is not to make such an exclusive and stubborn architecture so to say “Oyaji”( = fatherhood) architecture but rather try to escape such a substantial beauty. I remember clearly that when he completed “Silver hat” Ito lamented that he made uncool thing. It seems that Ito made flexible, gentle and airy architecture to escape well-regulated and stubborn architecture not by his sense but the reason.

Then, is such a motherhood architecture, so to say “Ofukuro“ architecture, uncool? I find this character to be more occult than uncool. It is so odd, actually.

Once, our mothers used to cuddle with their husbands like an air. I feel scared when I see such a motherhood architecture, but anxious to look at it.