Isao Shinohara: New "Forms of Relationships" Born in the Era of COVID-19?

COVID-19 seems 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 it feels embarrassing to take off their masks and face each other. I felt a sense of unease, but in modern times, it is rare to gather around a dining table with a hot pot or a large platter in the center, and there are many two-person households.

By the way, during a business trip to Osaka, I extended my trip to Hiroshima and visited Itsukushima. Itsukushima Shrine, which is a multi-building style called Shinden-zukuri, has corridor roofs and floors that are separate from each other yet so close they almost seem to touch. Across the water, friends were talking to each other with large gestures.

At Toyokuni Shrine, lovers were leaning against the round pillars supporting the great roof—pillars thick enough for a person to hide behind—while holding hands and facing different directions. In both cases, I felt there were "forms of relationships" that allowed people to maintain an exquisite distance.

Returning to the class I mentioned earlier, I also get nervous when facing someone head-on. Being side-by-side and just feeling the atmosphere is just right. Perhaps an era will come when families also feel comfortable in a state where they do not face 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, so the person next to you is partially visible. In the renovation of a wooden house, we separated the foundations for each room. Although it is a studio-type house, light and wind pass between 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 created an island kitchen for spending time with friends. It is a design that emphasizes relationships with people over a sense of space.

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 have come to seem like capacity-oriented studio spaces that replace "people" with "numbers." If so, how about a proposal to build many wooden pillars inside the cars to maintain the distance between people, even if only by a few centimeters?