The outsider's view: W* catches up with Japanese architect Yo Shimada
![Japanese architect Yo Shimada set up his office](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/C9PBVYG2s8C55PgjfuZtTY-415-80.jpg)
Yo Shimada is an outlier in Japanese architecture. The 43-year-old didn't have formal architecture training, or a mentor, nor was he ever articled to a practice. Instead, he began his own studio in 1997 on a mountainside overlooking Kobe. Wallpaper* sat down with him to discuss his rare position as an outsider, who enjoys looking in.
W*: Shimada-san, could you explain your studio's name, Tato?
YS: If you were to write the name Tato in katakana [a Japanese alphabet] it is spelled タ (ta) and ト (to). Which simply sounds nice. But put the symbols together and you create the kanji character 外 (pronounced 'soto') which means outside or outsider, referencing my status as an architect who is not from a mainstream university and who creates work that stands outside of the norm in Japan.
As an outsider did you seek out your own mentors? Which people have influenced you?
Since my student days, I've wanted to create work that's a hybrid of many different architects and types. I take something from minimalists [Ryue] Nishiyama and [Kazuyo] Sejima (of SANAA), but also Osamu Ishiyama, who is a maximalist. I also count Noriaki Okabe, formerly with Renzo Piano's studio [for 20 years – he co-designed Kansai Airport], as an influence. So I feel like I float between styles.
You seem to have had a lot of fun playing with the Japanese architectural vernacular.
To ensure Rokko House, for example, is blended in to the surrounding area, I opted for a gable roof. And it was successful. Rather than just taking something from the surrounding environment and only improving the house, I create a well-designed house that improves the environment in which it is sited. Yamasaki House is sited in a newly developed area within a place that is much older and rural. I wanted to find a way to create a building that connects new and old, suburban and rural. So the main part of the house is a large rectangular volume, like a foundation. Then, for light intake, I built, on top of that foundation, something that looks like agricultural sheds [out of polycarbonate]. The foundation space represents the 'new' and the top volume is the 'old'.
You've opted for a pared-down style. Why is this?
I want to create space that acts as a margin for everyday life. It should serve as a background. There's no point in architecture being the centre. If it is, people would get tired of it.
Your tweets (@youshimada) show an interest in very old Japanese buildings. Are they interesting to you as an architect?
Those old buildings serve as examples for me, giving me new ideas about scale or the relationship to the ground. [Work such as Kawanishi House can be traced back to early Japanese buildings perched on stilts.]
You've just completed your first house outside Japan, Hamilton House in Australia. The owner says you create 'ma' (spaces for reflection). Do you?
Hamilton House is an architecture that is accepting of the client's needs. A bit like a floating space, the basic form of the house is never disturbed by his requirements [of daily living]. I think that maybe this will be felt as 'ma'.
The Rokko house design draws from its surrounding landscape and the area's gable roofs
Shimada wanted to create a well designed house that actively enriches the environment it sits in
For the Yamasaki House project, Shimada wanted to amalgamate old and new elements.
The polycarbonate clad volumes represent the complex's 'old' elements, drawing on the shapes of the region's traditional sheds.
Hamilton House, located in Australia, is the architect's first commission outside Japan
INFORMATION
Everyday Design Everyday, by Yo Shimada, is published this week as part of the Contemporary Architect’s Concept Series by LIXIL Publishing. For more information, visit Tato’s website
Wallpaper* Newsletter + Free Download
For a free digital copy of August Wallpaper*, celebrating Creative America, sign up today to receive our daily digest of inspiration, escapism and design stories
-
Phaidon’s new Graphic Classics is a lavish greatest hits of graphic design
Graphic Classics is a compendium of seven centuries of visual culture, from the everyday and ephemeral to visionary works that reshaped our world
By Jonathan Bell Published
-
Birley Chocolate hits the sweet ’n’ chic spot in London’s Chelsea
The new Birley Chocolate shop, a sibling to Birley Bakery, is a confection of colour as delicious as its finely crafted goods
By Melina Keays Published
-
Feel at home at Auberge, Château La Coste's new inn for culture lovers
Auberge La Coste sits at the heart of the art-filled estate, minutes away from the joyful town of Aix-en-Provence
By Harriet Thorpe Published
-
Pace Tokyo is a flowing Sou Fujimoto experience that ‘guides visitors through the space’
Art gallery Pace Tokyo, designed by Sou Fujimoto in a Studio Heatherwick development, opens in the Japanese capital
By Danielle Demetriou Published
-
How the Arc’teryx Tokyo Creation Centre is all about craft, openness and cross-pollination
Arc’teryx launches its Tokyo Creation Centre, a hub for craftsmanship designed by Torafu Architects, embodying the brand's ethos
By Daniel Scheffler Published
-
Craft store Nakagawa Masashichi Shoten at Narita airport is an ode to travel
The Japanese homewear and craft store Nakagawa Masashichi Shoten wows with bright interior made of moveable ‘trunks’ by Tokyo-based studio 14sd designs
By Joanna Kawecki Published
-
Space Un celebrates contemporary African art, community and connection in Japan
Space Un, a new art venue by Edna Dumas, dedicated to contemporary African art, opens in Tokyo, Japan
By Nana Ama Owusu-Ansah Published
-
Monospinal is a Japanese gaming company’s HQ inspired by its product’s world
A Japanese design studio fulfils its quest to take Monospinal, the Tokyo HQ of a video game developer, to the next level
By Ellie Stathaki Published
-
Modern Japanese houses inspiring minimalism and avant-garde living
We tour the best Japanese architecture and modern Japanese houses designed by international and local architects that open up possibilities for all types of lifestyle, from minimalist to communal in Japanese architecture.
By Ellie Stathaki Published
-
An Aoyama House exemplifies a synergetic architect and client relationship
A client’s faith in his architect pays dividends in Aoyama House; a light-filled, effortlessly elegant Tokyo home
By Jens H Jensen Published
-
Tokyo home Le49Ⅱ brings together drama, domestic luxury and hybrid working habits
Le49Ⅱ by Japanese architects Apollo is a Tokyo home for a young family with hybrid working habits
By Ellie Stathaki Published