Passers-by stop and stare curiously at this strange, dilapidated concrete tower, which looks like it came straight out of a Japanese cartoon and was mistakenly deposited on a Tokyo street.
With its wobbly lines and strange ornaments, Keisuke Oka's building has been compared to that of the Studio Ghibli animated film “Howl's Howling Castle.”
This emblematic “Arimaston” building, four floors high, took almost two decades to emerge from the hands of an architect convinced that his slow approach to construction can and must serve as an example to the world, where everything must today 'today be built quickly.
In 2005, Mr. Oka wanted to build his project alone, born from an impression: the constructions of Japanese cities and villages were “very sad and devoid of life”, as if they were “all designed on a computer”.
Inspired by butoh, this slow, minimalist and surreal Japanese dance, Mr. Oka then began to construct a slightly crazy work.
Aside from the help of a few friends, he built the entire building himself and even claims that the concrete – which he mixed himself – is of such quality that it will last over 200 years.
– “Design and build at the same time” –
Another challenge that Mr. Oka, nicknamed the “Gaudi of Mita”, the district of Tokyo where the “Arimaston Building” is located: he designed his building as the work progressed.
“The person who builds a building and the person who designs it are very far apart,” he laments. “In order to bring the building to life, I tried to design and build it at the same time.”
Mr. Oka tells AFP that the structure is almost complete and that he plans to live in the top three floors and use the ground floor and basement as a studio and exhibition space.
“It's very easy to tell the difference with the high-rise buildings just behind them,” he says, referring to the skyscrapers in the background of the Arimaston Building.
Another pitfall for his project: the neighborhood is the subject of large-scale redevelopment and the neighboring apartments have been demolished. As part of this work, Keisuke Oka's building must be moved back 10 m, which involves transporting the entire structure on rails.
Once this is completed, he intends to move in and continue working on the finishes, in addition to his work teaching at universities.
When embarking on this project at the beginning of the century, however, he did not imagine that it would take him nearly 20 years.
“I thought that with my abilities, I could get there in three years,” he smiles today.
– “Stop mass producing” –
Mr. Oka grew up in rural Japan and when he was still an architecture student, his teachers saw enormous potential in him.
But depression in his thirties caused him to give up architecture for a while, before his wife persuaded him to buy a small plot of land and build a house on it.
Today, he recognizes that this Arimaston Building project has given him confidence and he is amused by the surprised reaction of passers-by.
Mr Oka hopes people can appreciate the value of handicrafts, even in a city like Tokyo.
“Before, there was a lack of many things in the world, but now there are too many,” Keisuke Oka explains to AFP, inside the gray, curved walls of the building.
“We have to stop mass producing and find another solution, otherwise we are heading straight for problems.”
He also says he was inspired by his upbringing, when his mother made clothes for the family because they couldn't afford them.
“More than half of the clothes we currently make are thrown away,” he notes, describing a world “overflowing with objects”. “We need to start manufacturing at a slower pace,” he advocates after having proven himself in the art of slowness.
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