The Importance of Invisible Local Industrial and Social Aspects on The Modern Architectural Project: Evaluating An Example of A Community Centre of The 1950s In Japan

Authors

  • Yasunori Kitao Kyoto Women’s University, 35, Kitahiyoshi-cho, Higashiyama-ku, Kyoto

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.15415/cs.2018.52003

Keywords:

Community Centre, Interior Development Projects-Post-war Period, Local Industries, Industrial Heritage

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to evaluate an example of modern architecture in Shiogama Japan. The evaluation is made in terms of the effect of local industry and local community movements in relation to the transformation of Japanese society in the post-war period. As the ultimate purpose of the Modern Movement in Architecture is to benefit the common people, the current paper is focussed on the Community Centres that were built after Japan’s defeat in the Second World War. At that time, the Japanese society changed rapidly from a military regime to a democratic one. The Community Centre that is dealt with, in this paper was built in the early 1950s, so one can expect to find some aspects of building a democratic society behind the actual building project. Further the invisible and the intangible value of this Community Centre has been discussed in the period when the Japanese government promoted interior resources development projects. The purpose of this research is to understand some hidden historical values of the Community Centre, which represent not only the social phenomenon of that period, the architectural expression and technical aspects of the building but, also, the local industrial heritage. The paper also describes the importance of sustaining support for the local peoples’ activities by conserving this Community Centre and, then, explains how the Municipality of Shiogama decided to renovate this historical piece of modern architecture. Now, the former Community Centre has been re-born as a Community Centre and a Museum of Art for a local painter.

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References

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Seiichiro Watanabe, Former Director of the Community Centre interview in November 2012 by the author.

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Published

2018-01-01

Issue

Vol. 5 No. 2 (2018)

Section

Articles

License

 

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Creative Commons License Journal of Creative Space by Chitkara University Publications is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. Based on a work at https://cs.chitkara.edu.in/