Devicology: Expanding fieldwork possibilities for architectural observations in inhabited interiors: the case of Japanese post-war mass housing
Japanese mass housing from the 1960s has a colloquial nickname - danchi, which can be translated as "common land." Originally celebrated by the public as a highly desirable living environment, danchi are now becoming a source of problems for the government. After briefly introducing the re...
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Published in | Cidades, comunidades e território (Em linha) Vol. sp22; no. Sp22; pp. 1 - 17 |
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Format | Journal Article |
Language | English Portuguese |
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DINÂMIA'CET-IUL, Centro de Estudos sobre a Mudança Socioeconómica e o Território |
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Abstract | Japanese mass housing from the 1960s has a colloquial nickname - danchi, which can be translated as "common land." Originally celebrated by the public as a highly desirable living environment, danchi are now becoming a source of problems for the government. After briefly introducing the reader to the history of danchi, this paper will turn to investigate the interior lives of their current residents who stay hidden from the media attention behind dilapidating concrete walls and layers of social stigma. This work will attempt to propose a practical methodology on how to collect and interpret ethnographic materials from the apartment visits in relation to factual architectural knowledge. The data collected during the visits became the most controversial part of this research: in the spotlight is the abnormal inability of danchi residents to verbally admit their unsatisfactory living conditions that arises from the Japanese cultural characteristic of gaman, roughly translated as "perseverance". Despite dire living conditions, clearly depressed inhabitants keep repeating that they cannot imagine living a better life. Balancing on the edge between ethnography and architecture, an innovative interior analysis method named "Devicology" (in homage to Wajiro Kon's "Modernology") can help us look beyond these modest replies by detecting "devices" -– intricate systems of unconventionally used furniture and smaller, less permanent objects, that are unconsciously assembled by the residents. These visually chaotic yet surprisingly functional structures are the only tool of the current dwellers to negotiate with the restricting standard apartment plans that were originally designed for a very different sector of the Japanese population. Beginning as an examination of behaviour patterns in a single apartment, Devicology has the potential to become a study of the collective unconsciousness of different people stuck in the same conditions with the same set of rules. |
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AbstractList | Abstract Japanese mass housing from the 1960s has a colloquial nickname - danchi, which can be translated as “common land.” Originally celebrated by the public as a highly desirable living environment, danchi are now becoming a source of problems for the government. After briefly introducing the reader to the history of danchi, this paper will turn to investigate the interior lives of their current residents who stay hidden from the media attention behind dilapidating concrete walls and layers of social stigma. This work will attempt to propose a practical methodology on how to collect and interpret ethnographic materials from the apartment visits in relation to factual architectural knowledge. The data collected during the visits became the most controversial part of this research: in the spotlight is the abnormal inability of danchi residents to verbally admit their unsatisfactory living conditions that arises from the Japanese cultural characteristic of gaman, roughly translated as “perseverance”. Despite dire living conditions, clearly depressed inhabitants keep repeating that they cannot imagine living a better life. Balancing on the edge between ethnography and architecture, an innovative interior analysis method named “Devicology” (in homage to Wajiro Kon’s “Modernology”) can help us look beyond these modest replies by detecting “devices” -- intricate systems of unconventionally used furniture and smaller, less permanent objects, that are unconsciously assembled by the residents. These visually chaotic yet surprisingly functional structures are the only tool of the current dwellers to negotiate with the restricting standard apartment plans that were originally designed for a very different sector of the Japanese population. Beginning as an examination of behaviour patterns in a single apartment, Devicology has the potential to become a study of the collective unconsciousness of different people stuck in the same conditions with the same set of rules. Japanese mass housing from the 1960s has a colloquial nickname - danchi, which can be translated as "common land." Originally celebrated by the public as a highly desirable living environment, danchi are now becoming a source of problems for the government. After briefly introducing the reader to the history of danchi, this paper will turn to investigate the interior lives of their current residents who stay hidden from the media attention behind dilapidating concrete walls and layers of social stigma. This work will attempt to propose a practical methodology on how to collect and interpret ethnographic materials from the apartment visits in relation to factual architectural knowledge. The data collected during the visits became the most controversial part of this research: in the spotlight is the abnormal inability of danchi residents to verbally admit their unsatisfactory living conditions that arises from the Japanese cultural characteristic of gaman, roughly translated as "perseverance". Despite dire living conditions, clearly depressed inhabitants keep repeating that they cannot imagine living a better life. Balancing on the edge between ethnography and architecture, an innovative interior analysis method named "Devicology" (in homage to Wajiro Kon's "Modernology") can help us look beyond these modest replies by detecting "devices" -– intricate systems of unconventionally used furniture and smaller, less permanent objects, that are unconsciously assembled by the residents. These visually chaotic yet surprisingly functional structures are the only tool of the current dwellers to negotiate with the restricting standard apartment plans that were originally designed for a very different sector of the Japanese population. Beginning as an examination of behaviour patterns in a single apartment, Devicology has the potential to become a study of the collective unconsciousness of different people stuck in the same conditions with the same set of rules. |
Author | Knoroz, Tatiana |
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Keywords | post-war mass housing interiors social housing Japan |
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References_xml | – volume: 19 start-page: 252 issue: 2 year: 1984 end-page: 266 article-title: Individual, group and Seishin: Japan’s internal cultural debate publication-title: Man contributor: fullname: Moeran, B. – volume: 45 start-page: 209 year: 2019 end-page: 218 article-title: Danchiryoku no katsuyō ni yoru danchi saisei hōhō no jissentekina kenkyū publication-title: Jusoken: Journal of the Housing Research Foundation contributor: fullname: Kinoshita, Y.; Watanabe M., Iseki K.; Liger, J. – year: 2002 publication-title: Kieta modan tōkyō contributor: fullname: Uchida, S. – year: 1969 publication-title: Wakamiya Danchi Masterplan and Building Plans contributor: fullname: authors, Unknown – year: 1986 publication-title: Rojō kansatsugaku nyūmon contributor: fullname: Akasegawa, G.; Fujimori, T.; Minami, S. – start-page: 156 year: 2019 end-page: 161 publication-title: Affordable Housing contributor: fullname: Bricocoli, M.; Postiglione, G.; Sabatinelli, S.; Pedigo, D. Wu S. – year: 2010 publication-title: The Japanese House: Material Culture in the Modern Home contributor: fullname: Daniels, I. – year: 1930 publication-title: Modernologio (Kogengaku) contributor: fullname: Kon, W.; Yoshida, K. – year: 2018 article-title: Danchi Highlight Complexity of Japan’s Interculturalism publication-title: The Japan Times contributor: fullname: Murakami, S. – start-page: 99 year: 2000 end-page: 100 article-title: Kōdan jūtaku kyojūsha no seikatsu sutairu ni kansuru kenkyū publication-title: Summaries of Technical Papers of Annual Meeting of Architectural Institute of Japan - 2000 contributor: fullname: Yasuda, A.; Nobuaki, F. – year: 2018 publication-title: Wakamiya Monthly Community Meeting (group interview) – year: 2018 publication-title: Wakamiya tenant Akane – volume: 19 year: 2020 article-title: The Rise and Fall of Danchi, Japan’s Largest Social Housing Experiment publication-title: ArchDaily, February contributor: fullname: Knoroz, T. – year: 2017 publication-title: Danch izukai chikei zōseirando sukēpu jū-tō madori kara yomitoku sekkei shikō contributor: fullname: Shinozawa, K.; Yoshinaga, K. – year: 2019 publication-title: Wakamiya tenant Endo – start-page: 295 year: 2019 end-page: 313 publication-title: Productive Universals Specific Situations contributor: fullname: Caramellino, G.; De Pieri, F.; Kockelkorn, A.; Zschocke, N. – start-page: 254 year: 2020 end-page: 258 publication-title: Costruire L’Abitare Contemporaneo contributor: fullname: Bricocoli, M.; Sabatinelli, S.; Postiglione, G.; Cafiero, G. – year: 2019 article-title: Immigration and Aging in Japan’s Public Housing Projects publication-title: Nippon contributor: fullname: Yasuda, K. – start-page: 210 year: 2012 end-page: 221 publication-title: Terunobu Fujimori: Architect contributor: fullname: Daniell, T.; Fujimori, T. – year: 2001 publication-title: Maido in tōkyō (Made in Tokyo) contributor: fullname: Kaijima, M.; Kuroda, J.; Tsukamoto, Y. – year: 2018 publication-title: Former Wakamiya tenant Yoshimura – start-page: 15 year: 2007 end-page: 47 publication-title: Housing and Social Transition in Japan contributor: fullname: Hirayama, Y.; Hirayama, Y.; Ronald, R. – year: 1989 publication-title: Sumai Kōkongaku: Gendai Nihon Jūtakushi contributor: fullname: Nishiyama, U. – year: 2002 publication-title: Housing in Post-war Japan - A Social History contributor: fullname: Waswo, A. – year: 2002 publication-title: Pet Architecture Guide Book – year: 1965 publication-title: Mito City Maps of 1965, 1971, 1973, 1975 – year: 2019 publication-title: Wakamiya tenant Kimura – year: 2016 publication-title: The Life We Longed For: Danchi Housing and the Middle Class Dream in Post-war Japan contributor: fullname: Nietzel, L. – year: 2018 article-title: Shibaen danchi ni sundeimasu kisha ga jūmin to shite mita shizukana bundan to kyōsei publication-title: Asahi Shimbun contributor: fullname: Ōshima, T. – year: 2000 publication-title: Change and Housing in Post-War Japanese Society: The Experiences of Older Women contributor: fullname: Izuhara, M. – year: 2012 publication-title: Danchi no kūkan seiji-gaku contributor: fullname: Hara, T. – volume: 26 start-page: 85 year: 2002 end-page: 101 article-title: Kōdan chintai seikatsu publication-title: 10+1 contributor: fullname: Yasuda, A. |
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Snippet | Japanese mass housing from the 1960s has a colloquial nickname - danchi, which can be translated as "common land." Originally celebrated by the public as a... Abstract Japanese mass housing from the 1960s has a colloquial nickname - danchi, which can be translated as “common land.” Originally celebrated by the public... |
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SubjectTerms | Apartments Ethnography Fieldwork Housing Japanese history Living conditions Perseveration Postwar history Stigma Unconsciousness URBAN STUDIES |
Title | Devicology: Expanding fieldwork possibilities for architectural observations in inhabited interiors: the case of Japanese post-war mass housing |
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