DESIGNWORKS Vol.04

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Interview with Hiroyuki Suzuki"Regarding educational space harmonizing with diverse societies"Interviewer: In this issue, we are featuring school buildings. Before we begin the interview, I believe you visited two of the schools designed by Takenaka's Osaka office, Poole Gakuin Junior and Senior High School and Kobe Shukugawa Gakuin University, as well as two of the schools designed by the Tokyo office, Adachi Educational Institute and Tokyo Seishin Technical College for Cooking School. Please tell us what you thought of the design of each of these schools.Carefully Thought-Out ProgramSuzuki: In the case of Poole Gakuin, preserving the memory of the previous building designed by William M. Vories*1 was an extremely important theme of the design, and the new design program had to be incorporated into that design. The same architectural approach had to be used and the older sections had to be preserved, while at the same time a new biotope had to be added on the grounds. It's a very unusual combination. I think the end result is quite successful. Conversely, in the case of Kobe Shukugawa Gakuin University, the university had to be built from the ground up on reclaimed land, so clearly an entirely new design program was prepared. Even though it was a new location, though, there were two universities next door, and it was a competitive location in the sense that this would become the third university in the area. For that reason, I think the decision was made to create a distinctive design program rather than attempting to integrate the new building with the existing universities. In this sense, it represents the opposite choice from the one in the case of Poole Gakuin. I was struck by how different designers make completely different decisions. In the case of Adachi Educational Institute, I think it must have been an extremely difficult task to upgrade an educational environment located in the middle of a crowded urban area. With Poole Gakuin, the image of the Seishinkan was at the center of the preservation effort. In the case of Adachi Educational Institute, the existing gymnasium would continue to be used, so it had to be reinforced with the addition of slight design improvements. However, in the sense of placing the greatest importance on the spatially large presence of the building and preserving it without doing anything unnatural, I think the same techniques were adopted in terms of the design programs used. The design for Adachi has an inorganic feel, dynamic and modern. But it's the same concept in the sense that it combines continuity with the creation of a new environment. Poole Gakuin also has an athletic ground next to the building, but I think the designer wanted the inner courtyard to be the center for communication. In the case of Adachi Educational Institute as well, the athletic ground in the inner courtyard plays a central role in activities and serves as the center for getting one's bearings on the campus. I thought that Tokyo Seishin Technical College for Cooking School, which incorporates the occupational health system called Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point or HACCP*2, was extremely interesting in terms of its careful and clear design. Nevertheless, the design also has a certain playfulness, such as the fact that the hall in front of the common elevator is extremely roomy. I was impressed by how skillful the solutions in the design program were. After reviewing all four of these designs, it's clear that the given conditions are completely different in each case. But after restudying all of them, I felt that, with the changes occurring in the nature of the school organization and in the midst of complex conditions, the way in which a designer achieves a building's design is truly a case-by-case affair. All of these buildings have different motifs and a different design policy and so on. But educational facilities these days are created in the midst of a carefully thought-out program that is similar to that used in hospitals, and I think in each case the designer thought about how to resolve problems and still make the design related to our concept of a school. And in each case I think the result was very intriguing.they plan to rebuild that one. And a local architect is helping to add touches to the buildings that will be preserved to make them suitable for modern education. For example, they need a lunchroom and other special buildings, so some rebuilding will be needed here and there. But they're now talking about how to preserve the framework and how to introduce various facilities required by current educational standards. In comparing this with the buildings I visited on this occasion, I was made very aware that schools nowadays are changing - both the standards and the approach are completely different from the way schools used to be.Interviewer: There were times in which not much money was put into schools. But it seems that people are now spending money as the requirements increase.Suzuki: I think that's because up until the Meiji period began in 1868, the school was the pride of the village. But I don't feel that these schools are particularly extravagant. While I was visiting Poole Gakuin, I was told that there are a lot of subsidies for computer education so it's easy to build those facilities, and that there are subsidies for creating biotopes as well. The schools take all of these various factors into consideration. I'm sure they incorporate the programs that suit their particular situation. In the case of the Adachi Educational Institute gymnasium, they made skillful use of a program to promote seismic retrofitting. I've also heard that, slowly but surely, programs are being created for not only new construction but preservation of existing structures as well. For that reason, I feel that the skillful use of subsidies will become a means for achieving a better vision for schools.Interviewer: Adachi Educational Institute wanted to modernize its gymnasium, but the structure was extremely good, so ultimately they decided to preserve it.Suzuki: I though that gymnasium was a good building. The gable sides have excellent proportions. The area around Adachi Educational Institute has nothing but private residences, and the only road leading into the university comes from a shopping arcade. Since large fire trucks can't pass through there, it would be a major project to demolish all of the buildings that have been used up to now and build new ones. Also, a complete construction of the campus might make the urban environment even more overcrowded and dangerous. I think preserving the gymnasium and placing an athletic ground right in the middle was the best option from the standpoint of safety as well.Interviewer: In the case of Adachi Educational Institute, it was a success. The athletic ground in the middle is being used effectively for summer festivals and so on by the local community as well.Suzuki: That's a very good thing for the relationship between the school and the neighboring shopping arcade and so on as well. Speaking of relations with the community, the cooking school has opened up their demonstration or restaurant kitchen to the local community. And the restaurant menu changes every month, too. I think it's being run quite well. At Shukugawa Gakuin University, students can use the restaurants and library on all three campuses, and members of the local community can access them as well. I understand that Poole Gakuin also opens up its chapel to the local community at Christmas time. I've also heard that since they put in the biotope, they've eliminated the wall that used to surround the university, and people in the surrounding area are very happy with the change. It's clear that programs that open up the university to the surrounding community are more significant than ever before. On the other hand, if that's done the campus isn't as safe, so there's the problem of how to ensure security. At Poole Gakuen in particular, since it's a women's junior high and high school, I got the Interviewer: What aspects of the educational program had been embodied in the architecture? Tell us any that you thought were particularly important or interesting.Suzuki: In that sense, I think the power of a building is extraordinary in the case of a school as well. As I understand it, graduates of Poole Gakuin feel a strong love for and attachment to the chapel. In the case of each school, buildings will feature in the memories of their school days that are retained by the students who graduate from that school. These buildings are not simply educational facilities. They have an identity that is imparted to the people who study there. I felt that these designs are filled with that effort, if that's the right word, or that feeling.Interviewer: We may be entering a period in which it will be impossible for a school to survive unless it has a clearly defined identity.Suzuki: I think you may be right. At one time, it was thought to be a bad idea to build universities in the center of the city*3, and that if you wanted to build a new school it was only permitted if it was located in the suburbs. A lot of universities made that mistake and later relocated to the center of the city. After all, people are not machines. You can't just decide to manufacture them in a certain place just because it's more efficient that way. The number of children born in Japan is getting smaller and smaller, so the question of what school they want to study at and what school they want to graduate from will be more compelling than it ever was before.Diversification of Educational EnvironmentsInterviewer: Commercial facilities and hotels are designed by clearly defining the customers that will be targeted. Currently, there is active debate in schools regarding what kind of education should be conducted for what type of students. But it seems that there is still not a fully formed awareness of the role that architecture can play in supporting this.Suzuki: I notice that all of the schools featured in this issue are private schools. Some schools are beginning to clearly take that kind of approach, but public schools should be in a similar situation as well. It may become difficult for a school to survive in a period of decreasing childbirth if it does not distinguish itself from other schools. Even some public junior high schools are adopting educational programs that are integrated with those at the senior high school.Interviewer: Do you think that buildings will also change as a result of the diversification of education?Suzuki: I imagine they will. I was surprised to find a very good cooking classroom at Adachi Educational Institute even though it's a male-only school. And even though Seishin is a vocational school to train chefs, it has outstanding facilities and classrooms. These may be examples of how schools are changing in the midst of diversification. Apparently what is now the Seishin lecture theater was formerly a classroom that was used in the 19th century to teach dissection! Well, I guess they're using it to dress food, so I suppose it's almost the same thing. (laugh) What interests me right now is the fact that in Yawatahama City, Ehime Prefecture, there is an elementary school named Hizuchi Elementary School that is made up of a cluster of wooden buildings. It was designed by Masatsune Matsumura*4 in the 1950s following the end of the Second World War. This elementary school has natural lighting on both sides and the school building extends out over the river. The city intends to preserve the school, but of the three buildings (the eastern building, the central building and the western building), the western building was designed after the time of Matsumura, so Interview