'Japaneseness' in the UK Built Environment: An Ethnographic Approach

英国建筑环境中的“日本性”：民族志方法

• 批准号: AH/X004961/1
• 负责人: Jennifer Coates
• 金额: $ 5.41万
• 依托单位: University of Sheffield
• 依托单位国家: 英国
• 项目类别: Research Grant
• 财政年份: 2023
• 资助国家: 英国
• 起止时间: 2023 至 无数据
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=AH%2FX004961%2F1
• 关键词: Japaneseness; UK; Built; Environment; Ethnographic

Japanese culture and aesthetics are increasingly woven through our everyday lives in the UK, from Marie Kondo tidying on our TV screens to a kintsugi ('golden joinery') cup in a Glasgow coffee shop. But what does this mean for our built environment? In partnership with Takero Shimazaki Architects (t-sa), secondee Dr Jennifer Coates will explore how Japanese aesthetics, or aesthetics perceived to be 'Japanese,' are shaping the global environment, from the design of private homes in the UK to hotels, public businesses, and exhibitions on architectural practice around the world.Through workplace ethnography at t-sa and interviews with t-sa clients, commissioning bodies, and related curatorial experts, Coates will investigate how ideas are developed within an architectural practice that is often commissioned to work on projects that are imagined as 'Japanese' in some particular aspect. Drawing from her previous research with popular culture audiences, Coates will also conduct surveys and participant observation with members of the general public, in order to understand how ideas about Japanese aesthetics are communicated through television, film, magazines, and Internet sites. These mixed methods will identify any gaps between the development of creative ideas within t-sa, and public understanding of certain t-sa aesthetics or architectural styles as 'Japanese.' Exploring such slippages and abstractions from the development of a project to its reception will shed light on how 'Japanese' aesthetics are imagined and understood outside Japan, giving rise to new ways of understanding the global influences, or perceptions of global influence, within our immediate environment.Part of a larger project undertaken by the secondee (Coates) titled 'Japan' Outside Japan, this secondment will allow Coates to study this ongoing phenomenon from within a leading architectural practice which is regularly commissioned to work on projects perceived to have a 'Japanese' theme, and invited to represent the cutting edge of Japanese architectural principles at international exhibitions. Coates will investigate what is meant by invoking 'Japan' in client discussions and institutional invitations to exhibit or discuss Japanese-inspired architecture, using an ethnographic approach to understand how ideas of 'Japan' are used to communicate a broad range of architectural elements, themes, and moods. This will be the foundation for Chapter 5 of Coates' current book project, 'Japan' Outside Japan, which focuses on "'Japaneseness' in the Built Environment". Drawing from the secondment experience, Coates and t-sa will collaborate on a research paper that which will explore the tensions between associations of Japan and 'Japaneseness' with sustainability while actual Japan-influenced aesthetic elements (e.g. ferro-concrete construction, or preferences for new builds) are often not environmentally sound. In this respect, the paper will address the climate emergency as well as tensions between trends, profit, and sustainability in the architecture sector. Finally, during the secondment, Coates will also build a contact database of designers, landscape architects, and other creative practices in the UK that invoke principles of 'Japaneseness' in their works, for use in t-sa's client-facing work and to inform Coates' larger book project.The resources requested will cover Coates' salary at 0.4 FTE for 12 months; 36 return train journeys from Sheffield to London to join staff meetings, observe client meetings, and interview past clients of t-sa; 12 visits to Japan-related creative practices and site visits in the UK to compile the contact datadatabase; and 1 visit to China to observe the Japan Foundation exhibition on Japanese architecture, in which t-sa features. T-sa will provide in kind support in the form of staff time, office space, and archive access, estimated at 25% of the total cost of the project.

日本文化和美学越来越融入我们在英国的日常生活，从电视屏幕上的近藤麻理惠（Marie Kondo）整理，到格拉斯哥咖啡店里的金继（kintsugi）（“金细木工”）杯子。但这对我们的建筑环境意味着什么？借调人 Jennifer Coates 博士将与岛崎武郎建筑师事务所 (t-sa) 合作，探讨日本美学或被认为是“日本”的美学如何塑造全球环境，从英国私人住宅的设计到酒店、公共企业和世界各地建筑实践展览。通过 t-sa 的工作场所民族志和对 t-sa 客户的采访，委托 科茨将与机构和相关策展专家合作，研究如何在建筑实践中发展想法，而建筑实践通常被委托从事在某些特定方面被想象为“日本”的项目。借鉴之前对流行文化受众的研究，科茨还将对公众进行调查和参与观察，以了解日本美学观念是如何通过电视、电影、杂志和互联网网站传播的。这些混合方法将确定 t-sa 内部创意的发展与公众对某些 t-sa 美学或建筑风格“日本”的理解之间的差距。探索从项目开发到接受的这种滑移和抽象，将揭示日本以外如何想象和理解“日本”美学，从而产生理解我们周围环境中的全球影响或全球影响的新方式。作为借调者（科茨）承担的题为“日本以外的日本”的更大项目的一部分，这次借调将使科茨能够在领先的建筑实践中研究这种持续存在的现象，该项目是 定期受委托参与被认为具有“日本”主题的项目，并受邀在国际展览上代表日本建筑原则的前沿。科茨将研究在客户讨论和展示或讨论日本风格建筑的机构邀请中提及“日本”的含义，使用民族志方法来了解“日本”的想法如何被用来传达广泛的建筑元素、主题和情绪。这将成为科茨当前图书项目《日本之外的日本》第五章的基础，该项目重点关注“建筑环境中的‘日本性’”。借鉴借调经验，科茨和 t-sa 将合作撰写一篇研究论文，该论文将探讨日本与“日本性”与可持续发展之间的紧张关系，而实际受日本影响的美学元素（例如钢筋混凝土建筑或对新建筑的偏好）往往不环保。在这方面，本文将讨论气候紧急情况以及建筑行业的趋势、利润和可持续性之间的紧张关系。最后，在借调期间，Coates 还将建立一个英国设计师、景观设计师和其他创意实践的联系数据库，这些数据库在他们的作品中引用了“日本性”原则，用于 t-sa 面向客户的工作，并为 Coates 的大型图书项目提供信息。所请求的资源将涵盖 Coates 12 个月的 0.4 FTE 工资； 36趟从谢菲尔德到伦敦的往返火车旅程，参加员工会议、旁听客户会议并采访 t-sa 的过去客户； 12次访问日本相关创意实践并在英国进行实地考察，以编制联系数据库； 1次前往中国参观日本国际交流基金会以t-sa为特色的日本建筑展览。 T-sa 将以员工时间、办公空间和档案访问等形式提供实物支持，预计占项目总成本的 25%。