Known for their “Aqua-scape” and “Artificial Topography,” Ryumei Fujiki and Yukiko Sato created Porous Manifold, a Japanese tearoom. This temporary artwork is a layered construction that has a ten-foot-square hut embedded in a two-tatami area. It was on display at the 2018 Echigo-tsumari Art Triennale in Japan.
Architects were challenged to respond to the issue of how to transcend the 20th-century dominance of homogeneous space for this exhibition. It is a homogeneous environment that has been warped to produce abnormalities by the skeleton’s random pattern. An architecture with several openings that open and close to allow for communication with the outside world, much like living creatures, is suggested.
Thirty groups of architects and artists were chosen through an open call, and some thirty groups—including Hiroshi Hara, Ryue Nishizawa, and Fram Kitagawa—exhibited their “hojo,” or ten-foot square huts, which represented their worldviews. The artists were inspired by the Middle Ages novel Hojoki (“An Account of My Hut”) to survive in these turbulent times. They looked at the creation of “heterogeneous space” from a geometrical perspective.
Geometrical Perspective and Homogeneous Space
“Towards the generation of ‘heterogeneous space,’ we studied from the point of geometrical viewpoint. Homogeneous space is geometrically equivalent to 3D Euclidean space. The biggest problem of homogeneous space is that our imagination is captured by it, but in order to overcome this, it is necessary to extend the concept of homogeneous space rather than deny it. Just as Einstein discovered, it is important to introduce a structure that ‘space is distorted.” said designers.
It is a warped homogenous space where imperfections are created by applying random patterns that can be seen in many natural occurrences and shapes (VORONOI DIVISION). Porous Manifold is constructed from a composite of plastic and CLT panels made of spruce that have been digitally fabricated.
Project Info
Architect: Ryumei Fujiki, Yukiko Sato
Design Firm: F.A.D.S + Fujiki Studio, KOU::ARC
Team: Yu Ohno, Seiya Ueki, Kento Watanabe, Yuta Kimura, Shun Takimoto
Photo: Masahiro Hoshida, Fujiki Studio, KOU::ARC
