{"id":425945,"date":"2024-11-27T21:40:51","date_gmt":"2024-11-27T21:40:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/?p=425945"},"modified":"-0001-11-30T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"-0001-11-29T14:00:00","slug":"Hand-built-fantasy-tower-brings-value-to-Tokyo-creator-says","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/Hand-built-fantasy-tower-brings-value-to-Tokyo-creator-says\/","title":{"rendered":"Hand-built fantasy tower brings value to Tokyo, creator says"},"content":{"rendered":"

Passers-by stop and stare at the ramshackle, hand-built concrete tower that looks like it has been lifted right out of a Japanese animation and dropped onto a real-life Tokyo street.<\/p>\n

Its creator, who spent almost 20 years making the distinctive four-storey Arimaston Building, thinks his slow approach to construction can be an example to the world.<\/p>\n

“It used to be that there weren’t enough things in the world, but now there are too many,” 59-year-old Keisuke Oka told AFP inside the building’s curved grey walls.<\/p>\n

“We need to stop mass-producing things and find another way, otherwise we’ll be in trouble.”<\/p>\n

With its wobbly lines and weird, wonderful ornamentation, Oka’s building has been compared to the animated Studio Ghibli movie “Howl’s Moving Castle”.<\/p>\n

The architect himself has been dubbed the Gaudi of Mita, referencing the famed Spanish architect and the Tokyo area where Arimaston Building is located.<\/p>\n

Inspired by Japan’s avant-garde butoh dance, Oka made up the design as he went along.<\/p>\n

Growing up, he felt buildings in Japan’s towns and cities looked “very sad and devoid of life”, as if they were “all designed on a computer”.<\/p>\n

“The person who constructs a building and the person who designs a building are very far apart,” he said.<\/p>\n

“In order to give the building some life, I thought I would try to think and build together at the same time.”<\/p>\n

– High-rise contrast –<\/h2>\n<\/p>\n

Oka started construction in 2005. Apart from the help of a few friends, he made the entire building himself by hand.<\/p>\n

He claims the concrete — which he mixed himself — is of such high quality that it will last for over 200 years.<\/p>\n

Oka says the structure is basically finished. He plans to live in the top three storeys and use the ground and basement floors as a studio and exhibition space.<\/p>\n

When he started, he had no idea the project would take almost two decades.<\/p>\n

“I thought with the ability I had, I could do it in three years,” he said, explaining that the improvised nature of his design brought constant challenges.<\/p>\n

Oka grew up in rural Japan and was an exceptional architecture student who was told by his teachers he would go a long way.<\/p>\n

He suffered a physical breakdown in his 30s and gave up architecture for a while, before his wife persuaded him to buy a small plot and build a house.<\/p>\n

He says making Arimaston Building has restored his confidence, and he enjoys the amazed reaction of people walking past.<\/p>\n

“It’s very easy to understand the contrast with the high-rise buildings right behind it,” he said.<\/p>\n

“I think there is some value that the city can take from it.”<\/p>\n

– Throw-away society –<\/h2>\n<\/p>\n

Arimaston Building stands alone on a sloped street, making it all the more striking.<\/p>\n

The area is undergoing large-scale redevelopment, and the apartments that once stood next door have been demolished.<\/p>\n

As part of the changes, Oka’s building is scheduled to be moved 10 metres backwards in a process that involves transporting the entire structure on rails.<\/p>\n

Once that is complete, he intends to move in and continue working on the finishing touches, alongside his university teaching jobs.<\/p>\n

Amid all the upheaval in the area, Oka hopes people will be able to see the value of making something by hand.<\/p>\n

He says he was inspired by his upbringing, when his mother made clothes for the family because they couldn’t afford to buy them.<\/p>\n

“More than half of the clothes we make now, we throw away, he said, describing a world “overflowing with things”.<\/p>\n

“We need to start making things at a slower pace,” Oka said.<\/p>\n

amk\/kaf\/wp\/rsc\/cwl<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Pedestrians walk past the four-storey Arimaston Building created by Japanese architect Keisuke Oka in Tokyo<\/p>\n

-Richard A. Brooks
<\/figcaption><\/figure>

<\/p>\n

Japanese architect Keisuke Oka looks out from the roof of the four-storey Arimaston Building in Tokyo<\/p>\n

-Richard A. Brooks
<\/figcaption><\/figure>

<\/p>\n

Arimaston Building’s designer Keisuke Oka made up the building’s design as he went along over almost 20 years<\/p>\n

-Richard A. Brooks
<\/figcaption><\/figure>

<\/p>\n

The hand-built concrete tower has been compared to the animated Studio Ghibli movie “Howl’s Moving Castle”<\/p>\n

-Richard A. Brooks
<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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