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On Togo Murano
Thomas
Daniell |
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An eclectic designer to say the least, architect
Togo Murano (1891-1984) may have remained relatively unknown
outside Japan, yet locally he is a revered figure. A multivolume,
hardbound collection of his complete drawings is available
(at a high price), a major annual architecture prize is
named after him, and the Kyoto Institute of Technology
has a climate-controlled archive dedicated to every surviving
drawing from his office -- a collection estimated to comprise
60,000 items, which, two decades after his death, is still
in the process of being cataloged.
As part of this cataloging process, KIT holds an annual
exhibition of Murano's work. Third-year students build
the models and postgraduate students edit the exhibition
catalog, all under the direction of KIT Professors Tsuguo
Takeuchi and Hiroshi Matsukuma, assisted by Kazuto Kasahara.
Past exhibitions have tended to focus on lesser-known
aspects of Murano's work, but this eighth exhibition highlights
his most celebrated designs. With good reason: 2006 was
a landmark year for the legacy of Murano, and for the
legacy of Modernist architecture in Japan as a whole.
Murano's Memorial Cathedral for World Peace (Hiroshima,
1953) was this year given the official status of a Tangible
Cultural Property by the Japanese government, the first
time this has happened for a work of architecture built
after the Second World War (Kenzo Tange's Hiroshima Peace
Center also received the same status this year). Although
Murano's Ube City Public Hall (Yamaguchi, 1937) was designated
a Tangible Cultural Property in 2005, this new acceptance
of postwar architecture is a significant victory for Docomomo
(the International Working Party for the Documentation
and Conservation of Buildings, Sites and Neighborhoods
of the Modern Movement, a non-profit organization established
in 1988).
Matsukuma was the curator of last year's "Docomomo
Japan: 100 Selections" exhibition, which he believes
had a direct influence on the new Tangible Cultural Property
designations. As a result, this year's Murano exhibition
comprises ten projects that have been chosen for the Docomomo
register. Together with the Memorial Cathedral for World
Peace and the Ube City Public Hall, these are the Morigo
Company Tokyo Branch (Tokyo, 1931), the Oosho Village
Office (Amagasaki, 1938), the Kasuien annex of the Miyako
Hotel (Kyoto, 1959), the Waseda University Department
of Literature Building (Tokyo, 1962), the Nippon Life
Hibiya Building and Nissei Theater (Tokyo, 1963), Konan
Women's College (Kobe, 1964), the Chiyoda Life Insurance
Company Building (Tokyo, 1966), and the Nishinomiya Trappistine
Monastery (Hyogo, 1970). Along with original construction
documents from Murano's office, exquisitely hand-drawn
in pencil, the exhibition also includes models, photographs,
historical publications, and elements such as parapet
flashings and roof tiles from the actual buildings. Together,
they convincingly reinforce the conventional view of Murano
as a Modernist in his plans and an expressionist in his
details.
Japan's modern architecture has always been in danger
of casual demolition -- exemplified by the infamous loss
of Frank Lloyd Wright's Tokyo Imperial Hotel in 1976 --
but the pace is speeding up. Many important works have
reached the ends of their intended life spans and are
in need of major renovation, yet there is little to stop
owners from simply replacing them. The planned privatization
of the Japanese postal service, for example, puts older
post office buildings in danger, some of them significant
works of 20th century Modernism. Many university campuses
are now looking to replace equally important structures,
including Togo Murano's Waseda University Department of
Literature Building. Legislation is needed, but the first
step is to raise public awareness of what is at stake.
We can hope that exhibitions like this one might be just
in time.
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