The reason why the world's best architect, Herzog, says Japanese architects are "cowardly"

The reason why the world's best architect, Herzog, says Japanese architects are "cowardly"
Today I had a meeting with two new customers. The first one was a house that had been built before.
The second group was a guest who had attended a lecture I gave at a high school alumni reunion.
They were my seniors. I am very grateful for both of these stories.
Well, what I'm going to talk about today is something that happened a few months ago.
As I mentioned before, it was the number one design firm in Japan at that time.
I had the opportunity to give a lecture at Nikken Sekkei.
At that time, a young employee came up to me after the lecture.
"I heard Mr. Matsuo's talk today and I didn't understand it until now.
Something suddenly occurred to me. When Herzog & de Meuron came to Japan,
I showed them around famous Japanese architecture.
They would say things like, "Japanese architects are cowardly." I didn't understand what they meant at the time.
I didn't understand it at all, but after listening to your talk today I understand it very well."
is what they said.
The average person has no idea what "Herzog & de Meuron" means.
I don't know, but I think almost everyone knows the work.
The Bird's Nest at the Beijing Olympics
Prada flagship store in Aoyama
He is the architect who designed it.
http://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E3%83%98%E3%83%AB%E3%83%84%E3%82%A9%E3%83%BC%E3%82%AF%26%E3%83%89%E3%83%BB%E3%83%A0%E3%83%BC%E3%83%AD%E3%83%B3
In 2001, he was awarded the Pritzker Prize, known as the Nobel Prize of the architectural world, and in 2007, he was awarded the Praemium Imperiale in the Architecture category.
Award-winning.
Generally, many people receive these kinds of awards long after their "prime years" have ended.
As for Herzog & de Meuron, I feel they are still at the forefront of the world.
Why do they say things like that?
They are from Switzerland, a country with very strict energy-saving building standards, just like Germany.
So, designing means breaking the standards, even if they are world-class architects.
This is not acceptable. The windows are triple glazed and the walls are heavily insulated.
Of course, airtightness must also be ensured.
If they could just have a good structure like in Japan, they would look at Japanese architecture, where standards for insulation and other things are extremely lax.
This leads to the statement that "Japanese architects are cowardly."
The more famous a building by a Japanese architect becomes, the more likely it is that the windows will be single-glazed and the walls will be uninsulated. It is common for them to have no thought whatsoever about airtightness. Herzog & de Meuron
From this perspective, the idea is that if the standards are this loose (or practically nonexistent), then we can be free to create any design we want.
In fact, for architects around the world, Japan is said to be a kind of "paradise" because, although the structural standards are strict, once the standards are met, the construction level is extremely high.
This is a problem, but I think it's fair to say that Japan is the country where people like her, who believe that "all is well as long as the design is good," can thrive the most.
Of course, if such a building were built,
- Huge maintenance costs
- Super hot, super cold
Harmful to health
・Consume huge amounts of energy.
・Emits huge amounts of CO2
This burden is borne by the building owner, or, in the case of a public building, by the public.
Japan's Building Standards Act is extremely detailed when it comes to trivial matters, but when it comes to important matters,
That's it. It's really disappointing.