SHIBAURA HOUSE x Hello Sandwich

SHIBAURA HOUSE x Hello Sandwich

Thursday, 14 July 2011

SHIBAURA HOUSE is one of the latest and the most exciting architecture you can find in Tokyo today. Opened earlier this month, SHIBAURA HOUSE was designed by Sejima Kazuyo of SANAA (it's not a work by SANAA, a little confusing I think) for a printing company as their new office / community space to share with the people in the local area of Shibaura (Tamachi). I was only able to be on the ground floor which apparently is going to be a cafe, but you can see what it looks like in this amazing illustration by Jody Wong here.

The more exciting thing is that my lovely friend Hello Sandwich is having a regular craft workshop in this building!!! I went to her second workshop there to make my own notebooks! It was so much fun the 2 hours went by far too quickly. You should definitely go to her workshop if you are ever in Tokyo, do check out Hello Sandwich blog for future workshop information!

Speaking of Hello Sandwich, she's actually been seen everywhere in Tokyo these days, at the nidi gallery for a group exhibition (with more cute artists mogu-chan and gracie), and at the TOKYO ART BOOK FAIR -the biggest zine fair in Asia- coming up this long weekend. Exciting!!

SHIBAURA HOUSE
3-15-4 Shibaura Minato-ku Tokyo (google map)
5 mins from Tamachi Sta on JR Yamanote / Keihin Tohoku Line

Comments: 8

Casa BRUTUS

Casa BRUTUS

Sunday, 16 January 2011

I have been spending a long time flipping the pages of the latest issue of Casa BRUTUS daydreaming I was living in these stunning houses featured in it. Gosh it's hard to come back out of it!

Casa BRUTUS has a special residential architecture issue annually and the current issue is "the" issue! It features the latest and the most powerful Japanese residential architecture in the past year including "villa in Hayama" by Kazuyo Sejima of SANAA.

It also features some masterpiece of Japanese architecture mentioning how not so many of them having been kept to this day and that is not only because in Japan "old" is often considered "bad" while "new" is often preferred especially when it comes to housing, but also there is a huge inheritance tax problem in this country and that is making it very difficult for people to keep the houses after they inherited. Even the famous beautiful historical house which our Empress had been brought up in was sold and got demolished with the same reason. It is sad.

　

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Aoyama in the evening.

Aoyama in the evening.

Friday, 12 February 2010

Aoyama is a nice area to just wonder around taking photos. It gets prettier in the evening. The main purpose of going to Aoyama this time was the Watari-um museum (one of my favourite museums in Tokyo) to get to the last day of the Luis Barragan exhibition. Barragan is a true master, a colour genius and light magician I really I admire him but it was far too crowded. I should never rush in on the last day of anything, I told myself so for the hundredth time. I really have to go to Mexico, then I thought for the thousandth time.


Happy weekend to you all! Friday is about to end in Tokyo.

Comments: 13

Trip to Kanazawa #03: 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art

Trip to Kanazawa #03: 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art

Thursday, 25 June 2009

Ever since this museum opened in 2004 I've been longing to see it. After 5 years finally I got there, it was fantastic! And yes this was the main purpose of my Kanazawa trip.
I kept going back to my favourite James Turrell's "blue planet sky".
Famous "swimming pool" by Leandro Erlich was fun!
I just loved walking around and around taking photos in the round shaped museum building, enjoyed the transition of the scenery as the time passes by, it was so beautiful.

21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art, Kanazawa
Architecture by SANAA
On Fridays and Saturdays they open till 8pm (other days close at 6), i think it's best to visit there in the late afternoon (if in summer around 5pm while the sun is still pretty bright) and stay untill the evening on Friday which I did!

I found a good movie about the "swimming pool" on Youtube:

Comments: 12

Tokyo Osusume Spot : The National Art Center Tokyo

Tokyo Osusume Spot : The National Art Center Tokyo

Thursday, 21 May 2009

"OSUSUME" means recommended. The National Art Center Tokyo in roppongi is one of the OSUSUME spots in Tokyo. I sometimes visit there for lunch (Brasserie Paul Bocuse Le Musée on the 3rd floor is excellent!) and then go downstairs for browsing the museum shop "SOUVENIR FROM TOKYO" (you would love this shop!!), and of course take pictures - it's a great place for it :) It's a museum but often I don't actually see the exhibition there, there is so much more to this place! You can just pick your favourite designer chair which are found throughout the place and sit down for a quiet time if you get tired walking around, my favourite is the Egg Chair found downstairs.
Great architecture, too.

Comments: 6

Barcelona : Gaudi Wonderland

Barcelona : Gaudi Wonderland

Tuesday, 14 April 2009

How he's done it, I don't know. His work has lives, I can almost see them moving. Just stood there looking up with my knees shaking, it is hard to describe how I felt in words. Gaudi, I see him living in his works.

Comments: 3