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IHYŌ//意表

Ihyō is a contemporary Japanese concept, meaning something surprising or unexpected. Japanese architecture today is heavily influenced by this concept, as architects believe that a building must shift our expectations, to create spaces that broaden the possibilities of experience within the physical environment. Ihyō aims to make a conscious connection in order to impart an indelible memory.

Ihyō is often broken up into three primary stages; impossibility, incongruity, and totality.

Architects look at what is seen to be impossible and work closely with engineers to overcome the issues to produce astonishing minimalist architecture. 

Totalization is typically accomplished with a focus of a single material system. Junyu Ishigami’s Kanagawa Institute of Technology Workshop is successful with the floor to ceiling windows covering the perimeter of the building, with a forest of minimalist thin columns scattered throughout the workshop. The space is treated as a single volume, where the foreground and background become merged. The building blends and relates to its surroundings. Totalization. 

Throughout my tour of Japan, my focus was on Ihyō and how it is successfully implemented into Japanese architecture. Focusing on four renowned Japanese architects and five buildings to discover how each architect effectively added their own interpretation of ihyō into their building. 

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Minamidera (Art House Project) - Naoshima 

Ihyō – Architect Tadao Ando worked closely with artist, James Turrell to create a building that is essentially an artwork on Naoshima Island. The building, a room with no fenestrations or known function. It almost goes against everything architecture strives for. Working with an artist like Turrell, Ando would have known that this building would appeal to senses in a much stronger way than he could ever imagine on his own. 

Diagrams – The diagrams explain the purpose of the dark unexpected space.

Diagram 1: When first entering into the room, it is completely black. There is no hints of light. 

Diagram 2: Between 3-4 minutes of being in the room, one starts to see a dim light appearing.

Diagram 3: 5-8 minutes into the experience, the dim light in the distance becomes more prominent.

Once leaving this space, you reflect on what you just experienced and tried to consider all the possible solutions as to how the light appeared. 

Interior - The interior of this building is very simple, four walls, a floor and a ceiling. Although it is the concept behind the design that makes this space of nothing feel special. 

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Kanagawa Institute of Technology Workshop (Kait Workshop) - Kanagawa 

Ihyō - The Kanagawa Institute of Technology Workshop takes a minimalist approach to design. Through careful design the architect Junya Ishigami considers how stripping back the key elements of the building creates on paper a mess of columns though in reality it creates a harmonious space. The exterior of the building is light with a glass facade, and a thin roof with no evaes. Entering the building, your eyes are confused and don't know where to look as the columns are scattered throughout the entirety of the space. The columns seem to have an unintentional feel as they are pointed in all directions, but the depth of the columns insist that the building was designed with the architect working closely with the engineer. 

Interior - The interior was perceived to have a chaotic feel, although the columns were able to achieve the same job as walls. This is the question that is on everyone’s mind when experiencing this space; ‘do the columns make it difficult for the space to function as a workshop, or does it make it easier as it allows the spaces to be as large or small as they need to be’. From my experience I thought that the columns allowed the freedom to arrange the workshop in whichever way that suited. I found it interesting to discover how power and water are supplied to this building, and also how shading devices for the warm summer sun are installed. 

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Yokohama Ferry Terminal - Yokohama

Ihyō – The terminal consists of three layers. 

Top = urban public space. 

Middle = function, where people are processed for ferries. 

Bottom = vehicles, bays for vehicles to wait to be loaded onto the ferry.

Interior -  Underneath the friendly urban rooftop of Yokohama Terminal, the interior has a large geometric ceiling. The shapes on the ceiling create an interesting interior, where they are placed cover the structure that holds up the rooftop urban space.

Overall FOA (Foreign Office Architects) successfully brought the people of Yokohama, a city with little to no parks, to bring people to the water and reconnect with nature. The rooftop space is large enough for people to bring their pets, go running or even to have lunch.

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Sumida Hokusai Museum - Tokyo 

Ihyō – Sumida Hokusai Museum was an unexpected treat. The silver façade intrigues. It was not until entering into the inner courtyard that the concept became clear. The idea to flip the traditional/normal way of designing a building with the windows on the outside. To put the windows on the inside, though the space still being open at 4 points creates an inviting quality. The concept is well thought out for the program of the building. Being a museum, which generally speaking have gallery spaces without windows, allowed the architects who collaborated for this project Sejima & SANAA, to think outside the square. 

Overall – The site that was chosen for this building is questionable at first, as it appears to be placed right next to a playground and a quieter neighborhood in Tokyo. Although once the building is looked at in detail, the thought that went into each part of this design creates a harmonious neighborhood. The playground was implemented with the building, and the amazing façade of the museum is half way between a mirror and a piece of metal. It offers a subtle reflection of its surroundings, therefore blending into whatever area it is in. 

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Oval Forum - Awaji Island 

Ihyō - Oval Forum is part of Tadao Ando memorial park on Awaji Island. Oval Forum is found down a long corridor of columns and frosted glass. The entrance to the space encloses the user. At the end, an open space. A large concrete open air void, with a echoing cold, deserted feel. 

Concept - The Oval Forum is entered from the second highest floor. A series of ramps and hidden stairs within the walls of the oval allows a seamless quiet movement around this space. Ando creates complex circulation by weaving in and out of the interior, where one can walk out onto a balcony and stand out in the void. The curved walls play with sound, and how the sound reverberates around. It leaves an echo, but not a continuous echo like whistling into a canyon.