Before Object, After Image: 1996-2006 Koshirakura Landscape - Softcover

AA Publications

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1902902556 ISBN 13: 9781902902555

Publisher: AA Publications, 2007

Synopsis

Each summer for the past ten years the AA's Shin Egashira has organized a workshop in the remote village of Koshirakura, in a mountainous region north of Tokyo. Each summer, the 81 mainly elderly inhabitants of the village are joined by a youthful horde of outsiders who become part of their lives for three weeks, occupying the empty schoolhouse, visiting their homes, and contributing to annual rituals such as the Grass-Cutting Day and Maple Tree Festival. When they leave at the end of their stay, the young people leave behind a structure designed to improve in some way the lives of the inhabitants. The past ten years have seen a gradual accumulation of extraordinary and strangely beautiful structures. Their singularity is hinted at by their names: Watermelon Platform, Bus Shelter, Roof for 200, Festival Vehicles, Azumaya, Stargazing Platform . . . Some structures were destroyed by the 2004 Mid-Niigata earthquake, but all are preserved here through photographs, drawings and words that document their making. Texts by Shin Egashira are paired with diary extracts—some poetic, some humorous—written by the students and villagers.

About this title

About the Author

Shin Egashira is an architect, artist and Unit Master of the AA School of Architecture's Diploma Unit 11.

Edition details

• Publisher: AA Publications
• Publication date: 2007
• ISBN 10: 1902902556
• ISBN 13: 9781902902555
• Binding: Paperback
• Language: English
• Number of pages: 228