Home-for-all

The Japanese Biennale exhibit, Architecture. Possible here? Home-for-all was very moving. The walls of the exhibition space featured blown up before and after photographs of the tsunami ravaged landscape of Sendai taken by Naoya Hatakeyama who lost his mother in the disaster.

Architect Toyo Ito designed his “Home-for-all,” in reaction to the devastation of the 2011 Tsunami. A sanctuary of sorts, the “Home-for-all,” which was a collaborative effort between Ito and local residents, is intended to be a place where people can come together, share meals, derive support and thus begin rebuilding their community. The first "Home-for-all," a small traditional structure made from timber was erected in Sendai last year.

Arranged about the room were numerous "Home-for-all" models, along with current research being conducted by architects Kumiko Inui, Sou Fujimoto and Akihisa Hirata who are developing the project's second stage in Rikuzentakata, Japan. Resembling fragile Origami, these structures, which appeared to be made from scavenged, or at least readily available indigenous items: plants, wood, debris, looked both ancient and modern, eminently suited to the landscape in which they are intended to reside.

I was not surprised to read that the Japan Pavilion received the Golden Lion Award for Best National Participation. Ito shared the prize with all those affected by the 2011 Tsunami.