Transcriber: Son Huynh Reviewer: Elisabeth Buffard
I am an architect.
My work is to design spaces for people to live.
But it is not the only potential of architects.
Today, I am going to speak 3 bridging ideas:
bridging between people and architecture,
bridging between people and professionals,
and bridging between professionals.
Architecture is different from art.
Architecture definitely has all users.
And everybody is related to architecture
You know, everyone needs a space to live,
work, study, and take a rest, right?
But not so many people
talk about the pleasure of architecture.
Why not?
Because it is difficult.
I understand. Sorry.
We architects, often write
difficult comments with difficult words.
Because it is not something that we're familiar with,
I understand.
There are not so many people
who've had an opportunity
to be told how to appreciate architecture.
One day, I happened to see
the demolition of one contemporary building.
I loved that building very much.
It was one of the prides that I had
about my city.
I was very shocked
by this incident.
I realized how important it is
to share the value of architecture
with general public because
even though we professionals
feel sorry about such a loss,
without public sympathy,
the same thing will be repeated
again and again in the future.
By the way, have you experienced this before?
A little comment made you enjoy
a bottle of wine in front you more.
A little information made you appreciate
a piece of pottery in your hands more.
These experiences open your door
to enjoy something you are not familiar with.
So I decided to start towards,
to introduce buildings which Fukuoka citizens
often pass by and see in their daily lives
with easy to understand explanations.
Our tour was held 3 days only,
every August from year 2009 to 2011,
we introduce many buildings
such as office buildings,
bank headquarters, museums,
elementary school, even a subway station.
We introduce many interesting episodes
such as this, how many kinds of vegetation
has grown up on this huge roof?
Do you know?
Do you know where the orange unique coloured stone
covering the huge wall is from?
Do you know?
India.
Many of them said, "Oh, to know
about architecture is so fun"
This boy [name in Japanese ] at the center,
he joined a lot of tourists.
When we first met him,
he was only 12 years old.
Now soon becoming high school student.
He is a great lover of architecture now.
And going to study architecture at the university.
In 2012, we did parent-child tour
during summer vacation.
Children are great!
They immediately memorise names
of architects, follow their concept,
and understand the structure of the city.
Through these tours, I believed,
a bridge between people and architecture
is being built.
So today, after TEDxFukuoka,
you step out from this building,
and soon you will see the buildings
we made a tour about.
So if you join our next tour,
I promise you, you will enjoy Fukuoka much more than before.
Last fall, we founded a non-profit organisation
to continue and develop our activities.
We are going to make various tours,
lectures, and workshops
but not only that.
We are going to develop
a smartphone application
to help people to enjoy architecture.
"Oh! Nice building! Who designed this?"
You know, you may have smartphones, right?
"Oh! Nice lighting design,
who's the lighting designer?"
"What a nice material,
what company produces this?"
We are hoping that our activities
inspire people to share the value
of design and fertilise the soil
for future design to blossom
by spreading good local designers,
contractors, manufacturers.
So you may be able to find
full design of your favourite restaurant.
Could it be a bridge between
people and professionals?
So now, may I show you
some projects I design.
But today, I'm not going to show you
typical architecture such as
housing complexes, commercial facilities.
Actually, I design a lot of those buildings.
Fukuoka citizens must recognise
this bus running around in our city, right?
I work with 5 designers together.
Graphic designers, product designer
and planner.
This bus company carries more than 2000 buses
so we considered buses as
movable furniture in our urban landscape.
After this bus project finished,
we got another bus design project
which was a small community bus
for small towns.
And we completed it.
After that I was asked to design this.
Do you know what this is?
It is a bus stop.
It's becoming a gathering spot for children as well.
This is more like a product design scale,
rather than architecture scale,
because this is only six square metres.
But to make a place for people
is architects' work.
It's not a matter of scale or size.
This bridge taught me how tough it is
to work with civil engineers
But 13 years were long enough for me
to learn their logic and
our collaboration created
a beautiful bridge for people
to enjoy coming, working, exercising.
So you know what this photo is.
Yes, my bus is running on my bridge.
(Applause)
You may think, I'm not a typical architect
You may think I'm too diverse.
But architecture, includes many fields
such as engineering, technology of course,
history, psychology, philosophy,
and many more.
Architecture includes diversity.
On the other hand, our townscape
is not so beautiful like this.
You know, very messy.
Tall buildings right next to small houses.
Many electric poles, a lot of colourful
signage on the building facade.
Architects should collaborate
with other professionals more
to make this messy environment
more beautiful by integrating
fragmentary elements in urban space.
Yes, architects could be binders
between many different designs
Because we hold diversity.
I titled today's presentation "Bridging"
not because I designed the bridge.
Because I am happy
to make a bridge, to raise
the value of design
Because I am happy to believe
architects could be binders, bridges
between professionals and society.
SOo, what kind of value do you want to raise?
What kind of bridge do you want to design?
Thank you.
(Applause)