Explore architecture—important foundations of our lives—and its design methods
Yamada Kyota
Faculty of Art and Design｜Associate Professor
My research field is the Indian Ocean World, with an emphasis on South Asia. Through the integration of researches based on Area Studies and Architecture and practice of architectural designs, I am challenging to create dwelt environments where individuals can rely on and live their own lives and seeking design theories which will allow such creations.
The Indian Ocean World has long served as an arena for cultural interchange and mixture between the regional societies and the modern society. Such experiences have helped this place to create unique theories and movements which permeate academia and everyday life. Postcolonialism movement and the concept of Capability are some examples of them. Through the clarification of unfolding of the Indian Ocean World’s unique architectural theories and movements, and the history of its cities and the living environments, which are focal points where cultural interactions occur, we envision the future of architecture.
Further, we have been working with dwellers to construct a learning center for local society as a design solution for complicated issues in the dwelt environment of the informal settlement. The informal settlement, which has become a focal point of contradictions that emerged in the process of cultural interchange and mixture, is a place full of vibrancy and liveliness. This Informal settlement has original dynamism and system which is different from that of the modern society. Architecture, which has been established basing on the order of the modern society, faces requirements of radical revisions on its practice and the concept in informal settlements. Through the records and analysis of all the processes of construction with dwellers, we elucidate the agency of architectural design that can support our lives and its working mechanisms.
