Takenaka Carpentry Tools Museum
This is the most impressive piece of Japanese architecture I've visited this year!
Today I had a day off, so I spent the whole day with my family.
I went to the newly opened Takenaka Carpentry Tools Museum in Shin-Kobe.
http://www.dougukan.jp/
Takenaka Corporation is the owner, designer, and builder.
This is a building that represents Takenaka's prestige.
The general public may not be familiar with Takenaka Corporation.
They are one of the top five construction companies in Japan, and all five of them have sales of
With a total investment of around 1 trillion yen, the company is known in the industry as a super general contractor.
The other four companies all have a roughly 4:XNUMX ratio of civil engineering and architecture.
I think Takenaka Corporation was the only one where the ratio was about 1:9.
This means that we are the largest construction company in Japan.
This company is also very different from the other four.
First of all, the company is not listed on the stock exchange. And it calls its buildings "works."
They are the only super general contractor that is so particular about design that they are called "super general contractors."
Other companies tend to focus on ease of construction, ease of maintenance, and cost.
However, Takenaka was the only one who was not impressed when a subordinate in the design department brought a poorly designed drawing to his superiors.
I've heard stories of people getting really angry.
I also have a small connection with Takenaka.
The founder of the first housing manufacturer I worked for was the former head of the design department at Takenaka Corporation.
At that time, there were no companies that built decent houses, and he wanted to start one.
With this in mind, I decided to give up my position as the head of the design department at Takenaka, which is like a heavenly position in the world of architecture.
He was an independent and strong founder.
I heard from my boss that his teaching methods were amazing. He checked the drawings of his subordinates.
When doing so, he would check the original drawing in red pen, rather than just copying it.
This means that if you make even one mistake, you have to rewrite the whole thing from scratch...
It was so extremely inefficient that many employees were moved to tears.
Even so, I think what he meant was that I should approach the drawings with that same sense of tension.
That was a long introduction, but this building
First of all, the design of the building itself is truly amazing.
The plastering inside was also superb, but the moment I saw it, I knew it must have been Kusumi's work.
I thought so. (I later checked the book and found that the plasterer who appeared on Jonetsu Tairiku was
It turned out that way after all.)
Not only are the exhibits themselves wonderful, but the way they are displayed is also wonderful.
I was similarly shocked when I visited the Deutsches Museum, the world's largest museum, in Germany last month.
The area may be about 100 times larger, but the density is even higher here.
It was a level.
There is also an experience corner where you can try out sawing, planes, marking, etc. with your children.
He was extremely happy.
It was featured in the December 2014 issue of "Jutaku Kenchiku" and was on sale locally, so I bought it immediately.
http://www2.ksknet.co.jp/book/search_detail.asp?bc=04011412
The first recommendation was from Hiroshi Naito (an architect who specializes in wooden construction and whom I respect), who also highly recommended it.
This is an indication of the quality of this building.
Even if I tried to explain it in detail, it would be impossible to explain it all, and the local
I won't go into detail here as I feel it would lower the quality.
The site is about a three-minute walk from Shin-Kobe Station on the Shinkansen line, so it's easy to get to even for people from far away.
I think this is a facility that anyone involved in wooden architecture should definitely see.
It's also a great place for families to enjoy.
There is a company-wide meeting tomorrow, and we plan to force all of our employees to attend.
