Kogaidanchi of Tomorrow

　Is there a future for Kougaidanchi or suburbs? I would like to talk a little about the near future of at least the next 10 years, not a story about the distant future 100 or 200 years away. And first of all, kurosawa kawara-ten doesn't think that the daily life and life of mankind will change so quickly if it is put forward. Since Apple launched the iPhone, people’s lives seem to have changed dramatically in many aspects, but they still are getting up in the morning, spending time with family and lovers, eating delicious food, and the amount of daily work. After all, the necessary things and the underlying values ​​have not changed. Probably the speed of communication, language hurdles, maps that can be reached without hesitation, have reduced mistakes and assisted productivity. Perhaps even if the world of taking a controlled sleep in a capsule, going out with a single body with an IC chip embedded, and supplying nutrition only with supplement tablets is the default route, even so living in an environment rich in nature like in the past will remain a very luxurious thing.

　One of the case studies for the Kogaidanchi transforming from a residential area to the next figure, We are starting to make changes to Yoshinodai-danchi where we belong first. The number of vacant houses continues to grow and there are plenty of vacant lots, so there is plenty of space to change. We are an architectural design firm, a construction company, and a real estate agency office, and architectural design firms and construction companies especially need a lot of space. Therefore, we are planning to remake this disused land and buildings as various rooms of kurosawa kawara-ten. Currently, in a spacious suburban area rich in nature, a little more than 5 tsubo (8.5 square meters) of space is filled with office desks, bookshelves, models, samples, materials, a meeting desk, a coffee maker, a refrigerator, and a printer-multifunction printer. It is difficult for staff to pass each other, and it is unlikely that further increases or expansions will be possible. What if a whole empty house could be used just for bookshelves? It may be small for two families to live in, but the library space of 30 tsubo in size would be large enough for only a small design firm's collection of books. ​​One room is used for thick books on architecture, one room for magazines, and one room for art, science, history, literature, and other non-architectural fields. Still a few rooms remain. If we could use one house as a model room, we could put a 3D printer and a laser cutter there, and in the future we can actively build larger site models and mock-ups. Though the workbench for building models is now at best a dining table, a larger work table could be kept there. A spray booth for spray glue and spray painting can also be permanently installed. Because of the space, the scraps of materials that are produced a lot can be stocked without throwing them away. If one house could be turned into a woodworking shop, it would be able to make furniture or lumber manufacturing. The materials for this can be stocked in the other house as a warehouse. They can also experiment with drying raw wood cut from the mountains for use as building materials and sell furniture designed for each project.If we could turn one house into a lecture room, it would make it easier to incorporate more workshops into the design process and to design interactively with the client and local residents. In addition to workshops, the office can also hold staff workshops and debriefings and presentations with interested parties. One of the houses could be used as a guest room for guests coming from far away to stay, and guests from abroad could also be invited. If people living in the apartment complex could use it, they would be able to have their relatives and friends stay there when they visit. The suburban detached housing complexes are certainly coming to the end of their life as housing complexes to support the industry of second industry. But can we think that this is just a page in a long history that is about to be closed? There may be no necessity that the group of buildings must remain, which at the same time would not confirm the inevitability of their disappearing without change and without metabolism. At the very least, there is accidentally a profession of architects which can make change in one of marginal suburbs. Is it going to be a reason to create the Kogaidanchi of tomorrow?

The youth and the creative people

　You can imagine that the housing complex being updated into the office function of kurosawa kawara-ten will be an attractive place for designers and artists who are sympathetic to contemporary architecture, and if so, they will move to Yoshinodai-danchi. Thanks to Narita Airport, Chiba is not inconvenient to travel abroad and if there are no rent issues you can just concentrate on your production. The rent is actually a major stress and shackles invisible for young creative people, and those who want to start new things, but if you can buy a house at the current price, it's easy, even for a college student, to own a detached house with a garden, and you don't get caught up in the screening of rent even if you are individual business owners. More than anything else, you can work in a fundamental sense of security that, even if you have lost income going on, you won't be exposed to the threat of being displaced because of your rent.

　What suburban detached housing complexes need today is change and metabolism. And only young people and creative people will be able to make this happen naturally. It will not be realized without spending time and effort on a series of challenges and uncertainties. In a detached housing complex full of empty houses, it would be possible to create an environment in which people can take on challenges that are seemingly incompatible with productivity and rationality, such as continuing to produce works that may or may not sell, trusting only their own senses, or becoming independent as a designer without any guarantees from anyone, without losing their place of residence. If they move in, they will soon start renovating the empty houses. They would prepare the space for production. They will begin to arrange their homes as well as their interiors for their own aesthetics and comfort. At that point, physical metabolism will already begin to occur naturally, and there will also be created possibilities to challenge architectural designs such as ours. If attractively designed galleries and cafes are built, that will attract people by itself. If even where they live is not threatened, they can follow what they believe in without fear of failure and without worrying about sales, even if only in a small way. From among them may emerge talents that will be recognized worldwide. If this happens, there is even a possibility that this metabolism will now extend beyond the boundaries of a single detached housing complex to the surrounding neighborhoods. If information, goods, housing, and even possibilities are available, people will be able to proactively choose the suburbs instead of passively choosing the suburbs because they cannot live in urban areas, as has been the case until now. Like in the old days when people of London aimed at the Garden Cities.

Individuality and diversity

　If it works like the Kougaidanchi of tomorrow we imagine, its key might depend on whether or not it becomes a place where diversity that respects individuality is allowed. This can be considered from the reflection of the current Kougaidanchi. They attracted people of similar occupations of the same age and family structure, aging at the same time, with children leaving the nest also, and with the same industry hit by a boom at the same time. Eventually, similar houses will age as well and, similarly, no one will be looking after them. In order for ecosystems and civilization to sustain, internal and external components must continue to be metabolized by circulation and supply. In order to promote metabolism and be a group that is resistant to major changes, it is necessary to have diverse components, and this is undoubtedly one of the most important strategies as long as humans exist as living organisms.

　If the age group who bought a house in the complex was assorted, this rapid declining birthrate and aging population may have been spared. By the time houses that were no longer needed began to be empty, it might have been possible to become a room for the young generation to remain in the housing complex. If new homes and renovations were constantly taking place, the atmosphere of the estate would always be fresh and might have attracted new residents from outside. And if there was an open relationship where individuality was respected and understood, almost all of the second-generation children might not have gone out in the first place.

　However, if you think carefully, it seems that there are not many places in Japan that can create such an environment. New tower condominiums that are currently being sold and brand new lots that have been made without discipline are surely a few as a result of pursuing ease of sale by calling people of similar ages in similar situations, and surely in the next few decades, a situation similar to the current Kougaidanchi will be waiting. If that is the case, the Kougaidanchi that is currently being crushed may be in a situation where the grounds for various experiments are prepared for its incredible good deal. I hope that architects, designers, artists, entrepreneurs, foreigners, farmers, and people like this will be able to think about remodeling the complex or even a living area with new values that might be created. Fortunately, the Kougaidanchi is already well-equipped and close to the city, and the access to the main terminal station and airport are good every day. Moreover, tourist spots that have been abandoned and obsolete are at a similar distance, and the potential for regeneration remains infinite and untouched.