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Tokyo’s Dojunkai experiment: courtyard apartment blocks 1926–1932

journal contribution
posted on 2023-05-20, 07:44 authored by Tewari, S, David BeynonDavid Beynon
Dojunkai apartments were constructed by the Japanese Government as a work of relief, after the Great Kanto Earthquake in Tokyo. These apartments were leading examples in concrete construction in Japan and were innovative in their exterior space design ideas and building organizational themes. Dojunkai apartments were designed not only as solutions to particular sites, but as possible models for the further development of well-planned, secure, and communal neighbourhood style residential developments. During 1920–1930, Japanese architects and designers were actively involved in experimenting with foreign concepts of urban remodelling and town planning. However while these town-planning concepts and theories were embraced by Japanese architects and town planners, the resultant apartment complexes suggest that they endeavoured to adapt and transform them to suit Japanese sensibilities and urban requirements. This paper examines the nature of these adaptations and transformations. The principles of exterior space design are deployed to examine and identify patterns in building arrangement and exterior space design for six selected Dojunkai apartments. This paper discusses the pre-existing models of urban planning in Japan to establish a relationship between the adopted foreign town-planning models and the pre-existing ideas of urban settlements in the Japanese society.

History

Publication title

Planning Perspectives

Volume

31

Pagination

469-483

ISSN

1466-4518

Department/School

School of Architecture and Design

Publisher

Routledge

Place of publication

United Kingdom

Rights statement

Copyright 2016 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group

Repository Status

  • Restricted

Socio-economic Objectives

Expanding knowledge in built environment and design

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