Another Nature. Studio Report Spring 2014

In spring 2014, the Another Nature studio invited new views on place and the role of architecture, challenging the distinctions create through program, enclosure, and formal organization. The studio considered these three relationships in the context of contemporary Tokyo, a city where rapid and extensive urbanization has increasingly alienated individuals from their natural surroundings. Although the country as a whole is relatively affluent, it faces persistent economic stagnation compounded by an aging population, rising state expenditures, and a diminishing tax base. These larger issues call into question existing approaches toward development and provide an opening for new conceptions of building and public space.