The Connected within the Disconnected | Nagoya Discovered through Design
A city is a mixed mass of diverse things.
Like living creatures, cities metamorphose from moment to moment depending on climate, seasons, time and their relationship with people.
Although these living creatures have their own names, it´s hard for us to grasp their individual wholes as single entities. In order to perceive that we all inhabitants are sharing a city, let´s look at those that do naturally exist and will continue to exist in the future, though they aren´t considered to exist on the urban planning map.
Like a synapse, they must have a connection with--or should be related to-- something. We want to find that which makes us smile and be happy and pleasant, and have it participate in the urban community.
For this project, in which people will converge from within and outside Nagoya, we set the goal of enhancing the recognition power of our team, which is in effect a multifaceted eye, drawing on our team members’ individual point of views.
+WATER
For this project, titled “+WATER”, the process itself counted as part of the product. Focusing on the individuality of our members, we summoned our recent concerns, and then strove to find a way to extract, and then deliver, their essence. We came up with three key phrases: “accessing water (= information)”, “unexpected coincidence” and “keeping/sharing memories”. These were derived from keywords that were vaguely delineated in the initial stage of the process. We then developed our project with this theme: “Look at that which, though invisible, exists. ”
There are two kinds of information: public, visible, information—like guidebooks and markers; and private information that is not recorded in any guidebook. We focused on private information—namely, experience—with the notion that through the occasional dispatch of this kind of third-person information, we could create a new experience for the recipient.
People gather wherever there is water.
On the flip side of the +WATER label is information about Nagoya that is based on someone else’s experience. Thus, “accessing water (= information)”. The plastic water bottles we prepared for this project are smaller and more portable than conventional ones. Because of their size, by the time the participant visits the place introduced under the label, where a fresh experience awaits, he or she probably won’t have much water left in the bottle. He’ll bring the bottle cap home as the memory/souvenir from the new experience, though, and recycle the bottle: “keeping/sharing memories”. Buying new +WATER bottles allows people to continue to enjoy incidental experiences, encountering “unexpected coincidence”.
The +WATER project provides opportunities for participants to discover within themselves a wide variety of senses barely perceptible in daily life, simply by visiting different places (guided by +WATER bottles) and to share their new perceptions with others.
MILE : Kozo Shimoyama
Designer
MILE
MILE is the design project of sound engineer Bandai Matsuo, software engineer Kentarō Kai and interior designer Kozo Shimoyama. As in the proverb, “three heads produce a wisdom equal to Manjusri bodhisattva,” having three participants can produce tremendous insights. MILE expands the field of design activity by utilizing the expertise of each member. The project uses humorous stories to design so that it weaves people, things and spaces together in comfort. At the 2009 Milano Salone, MILE was chosen by the editors of Elle Décor’s 25 international magazines as one of 24 young groups to watch.
Shimoyama Kozo
Born in 1977 in Okayama Prefecture. Graduate of University of Tsukuba, both College of Engineering Sciences and Architectural Design. A part –time lecturer of Kyoto University of Art & Design.
Maria Constanza Nuñez (GRUBA)
Architect / Product Designer
Maria Constanza Nuñez is an architect. She earned her degree at the School of Architecture, Design and Urbanism (Facultad de Arquitectura, Diseño y Urbanismo, FADU) of Universidad de Buenos Aires (UBA) in 2001. She was a member of the school faculty and taught Architecture for four years. In 1997 she won the first prize in the “Talleres FADU 1997”(FADU Workshop 1997) contest. In 2005 she traveled to Holland to pursue post graduate studies on Informal Population Settlements, as part of a program sponsored by the Academy of Amsterdam, Universidad de Buenos Aires and the Avellaneda Town Hall. In 2006 she enrolled in the postgraduate program “Architecture and Technology” at Universidad Toprcuato Di Tella. She has worked as a free-lance professional since 1999, providing services to private clients. In2006 Maria Constanza Nuñez created GRUBA, a cross-disciplinary group which is currently taking part of the lncuBA program at the Buenos Aires Design Center (Centro Metropolitano de Diseño).
In 2007 GRUBA started providing sustainable architecture services to remarkable companies and institutions such as the Environmental Protection Agency of the City of Buenos Aires and the Sustainable Development Province Authority (Organismo Provincial de Desarrollo Sostenible, OPDS) of the Province of Buenos Aires.
Some of GRUBA’s projects were exhibited at national and international trade and featured in specialize publications, where they were widely praised.
In 2008 GRUBA won the prize“rational use of energy” in Casa Foa.
In2010 GRUBA was selected to exhibit their products at DMY in Berlin International Festival.
Won first prize in the book “Influencias” competition for their seat “S.O.S de Barrio”
The line “cartonera” was selected as one of the top 25 sustainable design projects of the year and published in the book “Sustainable Design from Argentine”.
She was a speaker at very important seminars such as the International Seminar of Environmental Protection (Seminario Internacional de Medioambiente),organized by the Central Association of Argentine Architects (Sociedad Central de Arqutitectos), the Design Seminar sponsored by Dara and Universidad de Palermo and Pecha Kucha Nights.
Yoshiyuki Wada
Professor, Nagoya University of Arts School of Design
Born in Nagoya City. Graduated from Nagoya University of Arts, in what is now the Industrial Design Course, Product and Space Block, Department of Design. After serving as a tutor there, Wada studied at the Industrial Design Department of the Royal College of Art. Upon returning to Japan, he was given the post of assistant teacher, and is now a professor in the Design Department of Nagoya University of Arts, as well as a professor in the University’s graduate school, postgraduate course. Wada holds design lectures and workshops internationally, in countries such as Germany, Singapore, South Korea and China.
Yu-chi Chang
National Cheng Kung University
Ting Ting Kao
Tainan University of Technology
Yoko Kimura
Nagoya University of Arts
Nei Li
Nagoya Zokei Graduate School of Arts and Design
Issei Takahashi
Nagoya City University Graduate School
Shinya Yoshida
Designer
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