Isao Shinohara: New "Forms of Relationships" Born in the COVID Era?

2022/08/12

COVID-19 is likely to continue affecting the distance between people, but how will architecture change? In addition to my design practice, I teach design classes at several universities. This year, for a residential design assignment, one student designed a dining table where all family members face the wall. When I asked why they didn't make it face-to-face, they said that there are few opportunities for the whole family to eat together, and that it feels embarrassing to face each other without masks. While I felt a sense of unease, nowadays it is rare for people to gather around a table with a hot pot or large platter in the center, and there are many two-person households.

By the way, when I went on a business trip to Osaka, I extended my trip to Hiroshima and visited Itsukushima. At Itsukushima Shrine, which features a multi-building style called Shinden-zukuri, the roofs and floors of the corridors are separate from each other, yet so close they almost seem to touch. Friends standing just across the water were talking with large gestures.

At Toyokuni Shrine, a couple was leaning against a round pillar thick enough to hide a person, holding hands while facing in different directions. In both cases, I felt there was a "form of relationship" that allowed people to maintain an exquisite distance.

Returning to the class I mentioned earlier, I also get nervous when facing someone directly. Sitting side-by-side and just feeling the atmosphere is just right. Perhaps an era will come when families also feel comfortable not facing each other directly.

In fact, the impact of COVID-19 is starting to appear in our design practice as well. In office spaces, we have created separation between all desks. Independent desks are surrounded by plants and small furniture, making the person next to you visible and then hidden. In the renovation of a wooden house, we separated the foundations for each room. Although it is a studio-type house, light and air pass through to family members on the other side of walls that block the line of sight. In an apartment for single residents, we did away with the tiny kitchen and tiny living room along the wall and instead installed an island kitchen for spending time with friends. These designs prioritize relationships with people over a sense of spaciousness.

In every project, I intended to provide a form of relationship where people can be comfortable. Come to think of it, the crowded trains that the Governor of Tokyo tried to eliminate might be a form that fosters the art of becoming indifferent to the person in front of you. The train cars seem like studio spaces focused on capacity, where "people" are replaced by "numbers." If so, how about a proposal to build many wooden pillars inside the cars to maintain a distance between people, even if only by a few centimeters?