work by: Motomi Matsubara(M2)Mini Studio :
House of Storage
(To read in Japanese, please click here)
'We all have that feeling in our lives that once we experience the perfect tidy up, our life will be exciting.' *1
Some time ago, the whole world was abuzz with "Konmari". Konmari and Marie Kondo, a purported tidying consultant, have charmed people around the world with their fairy-like charisma, combining rational organizing techniques and self-help words. I believe that we should use space for our future selves, not our past selves," she says. *2 Her approach to tidying up aims to mediate between people, objects and space.
Konmari's tidying up tidying techniques tend to emphasize the spiritual aspect, but in fact, they are also architectural plans. For example :
There are only two main things to do in tidying up: "There are only two main things to do," she says. There are only two main things you need to do in tidying up: you need to know whether or not to throw things away, and you need to decide where to put them.If you can do those two things, anyone can do it perfectly. *3
'Tidy up by place and room' is a fatal mistake in tidying up. [...] This is because in the pre-clearing stage, there are often two or more places to store things in the same category, even if they are in the same category. [...] Then, how should you put things away? *4
Bookshelves and shelves in the living room, storage in the entrance hallway, closets (or closets) in the bedroom, small storage in the kitchen... In general, housing design has provided storage space by place and room, but Konmari poses a question mark in this regard.
I want people to think about whether or not they can truly feel happy in the midst of a life of being overwhelmed by things," She says. *5 Doesn't the architectural world tend to be overly concerned with the relationship between people and space, and neglect "things"? Hasn't the architectural world been overly concerned with the relationship between human beings and space and neglected "things"?
Design a conceptual house with a focus on considerations of storage. In doing so, you need to imagine things concretely. For example, you may want to critically examine your current home or your parents' home for objects and storage. You can use other methods as well. You can choose the site, family structure, etc. You can also choose the area. You can choose the site, family structure, etc. - You can choose the area. It can be new construction or renovation. Feel free to think outside the box.
P.S. You might replace storage here with "archives". Stored things have a history. But it may be a personal history, an imaginary history (that never materialized). It is at once factual and fictional, public and private" *6 --- this is a passage from the art historian Hal Foster's "Archival Impact". Foster uses the word "archival" to describe the art scene of the early twenty-first century, emphasizing its diachrony and materiality. This is critical thinking about the information society in which temporality and immateriality abound. The archive is muddyly material and cumbersomely fragmented, and as such it demands human interpretation rather than machine reprocessing "*7. I feel that this will be an important issue for architects in the future.
*1 - 5 Marie Kondo, Life is a thrilling magic of tidying up, Sunmark Publishing (2010)
*6-*7 Hal Foster and Tsutomu Nakano (translation), "Archival Impulses" Я: Journal of 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art, Kanazawa, No. 6 (2016) (available online).
Assignment&Guest Critique:
Masaaki IWAMOTO (Kyushu U)
Student Work