At Andrew Bromberg‘s magnificent crimson Star Theatre, Fujimoto-san (he was referred to almost exclusively with the Japanese suffix denoting respect) was decidedly self-assured. Even the lecture title “Futures of the Future” portrayed Fujimoto’s confidence in his previously ‘primitive’ vision for an architectural future.
Fujimoto-san mentioned that this was his second visit to Singapore, and that he was again impressed by the city’s energy (and brazenly stated time after time,how he would like to make his mark on the city skyline, if any prospective client might be in the audience). Fujimoto explained plainly how his architectural approach is informed by the contrast between his upbringing in rural Hokkaido among nature, and the dense urban experiences of his university days & subsequent architectural practice in metropolitan Tokyo. “Impressed [during his childhood] by the huge diversity of nature, [he] wanted to bring this into architecture”. Contrary to the overtly green architecture currently rampant, Fujimoto uses the complexity of natural forms to blur boundaries and challenge preconceived notions of built form in his architecture.
He spoke on 10 projects, touching first on his (now completed) residential houses. In a decidedly more focused monologue, Fujimoto left behind some of his earlier metaphors of cave and nest in favour of a discussion of architecture as a landscape that can bridge scale between furniture, architecture, and landscape.
He reiterated that this simple concept is applicable at many scales and can be tailored to relate to site-specific climates & cultures. Fujimoto stated that “when usual, fundamental things are being transformed into something unusual, that is where something really interesting can be created”. He then used his design for the 2013 Serpentine Pavilion to bridge into his latest large-scale speculative projects, where his architectural concepts could reach the scale of actual landscape or even mountains. His Souk Mirage project (pictured below) illustrates the way that architecture broken down into small components can construct a whole greater than the sum of its parts.
It’s inspiring to see the development of a very talented young architect as he turns his innovative concepts into reality. It will be extremely compelling in the future to see his ideas manifested on the larger scale he has been imagining.
Thanks to Toto Asia Oceania for inviting urbanARCHnow to this event and for bringing Sou Fujimoto to Singapore for this inspiring lecture.
