Faculty Members

Faculty of Environmental and Information Sciences

Department of Design

Key words
Transparency, multilayered time model, Scandinavian architecture, Scandinavian design, Sweden, E.G.Asplund, regional project design

Ph.D. / Professor

Yoichi Kawashima

Education

Department of Architecture, Faculty of Engineering, Chiba University
Graduate School of Architecture, LTH, Lund University, Sweden (Doctoral Program)
Graduate School of Architecture, Kyoto Institute of Technology (Doctoral Program)

Professional Background

The Swedish Institute Bilateral Scholarship, Research Fellow JSPS, Lecturer / Kyoto University of the Arts, Lecturer / Kyoto Seika University, Established his own studio, Professor / Fukui University of Technology, Design Award / The Japan Society of Design

Consultations, Lectures, and Collaborative Research Themes

Lectures and design commissions to living environmental design for the new lifestyle of 21st century, Lectures and writings on Scandinavian Modern architects and designers

Main research themes and their characteristics

「Transparency as Design Method of Architecture for the New Lifestyle of 21st Century」

 It was a shocking affair when the first model of iMac released in 1998 as a transpicuous shape, however, there is no point showing the inside of the computer. The fact that the bag of young girls who originally wanted to hide the contents became transparent, and the transparent expressions in product design and package design tends to increase, not because it was a co-incidence but because of the sense that people in information age wants. This research is an attempt to apply “transparency”appearing in the field of architecture and design as kind of contemporary decorative expression, analyze the expression method, and apply it to actual design practice. In contemporary architecture, a combination of multiple techniques of “Literal Transparency”and “Phenomenal Transparency”, which Colin Rowe pointed out in his 1963 paper, provides a multilayered visual expression as a design technique. Multiple phases are provided from the outside to the inside, suggesting a gradual superposition of depths.
 This means the existence of multilayered time as well as multilayered space. The pursuit of such multilayered transparent representation methods goes beyond mere modeling techniques, from visual modeling representations of objects to be designed to expressions that lead to the value of the contents of the object. By focusing on this "transparency", by discussing "decorativeness" that 20th-century Modern Architecture (and/or Modern Design) has negated or "ignored as if nothing", and consciously researching it as a design method , Kawashima and his studio have been practicing actual design work.[Fig.1][Fig.2]
 The essence of this research was presented as the invited lecture at the conference of ”Japanese Association for Arts Studies“ at Design Creative Center Kobe in June 2017.

「History of Scandinavian Modern Architecture and Design」

 On Scandinavian Modern Architecture and Design, Kawashima has published books, papers and articles, such as “Carl Larsson’s House in Sundbone: Its Social Meaning as an Ideal Swedish Home”, Journal of The Japan Society of Design, No.35 (1996), and “On Asplund’s Early Activities”, Journal of Architecture and Planning, Architectural Institute of Japan, No.499 (1997).
 Kawashima has also supervised the exhibition “E.G.Asplund: The Healing Landscape” at Panasonic Shiodome Museum Tokyo (2006), and its travelling exhibition in Kyoto, Asahikawa, and Sapporo. Kawashima also supervised TV program “The Woodland Cemetery“ in ”The World Heritage” by TBS Television Japan (2007).


Major academic publications

Y. Kawashima (text), Y. Yoshimura (photo), E.G.Asplund, TOTO Shuppan (2005), worldwide released by En/Jp bilingual text

Encyclopedia on Scandinavian Culture, Maruzen Publishing (2017)

Pictorial Record of the Exhibition “E.G.Asplund: The Healing Landscape”, Panasonic Shiodome Museum Tokyo (2006)

Pictorial Record of the Exhibition “Light / Space / Architecture”, at Stockholm City Museum Sweden (2001)

Supervisor for the TV Program “The Woodland Cemetery “ in “ The World Heritage “, TBS Television Japan (2006)