⌻◘ DREAM DIMENSION Undergraduate Thesis
2020 - 2021
“有無相生，難易相成，長短相形，高下相傾，音聲相和，前後相隨。” —老子
“Being and non-being create each other.
Difficult and easy support each other.
Long and short define each other.
High and low depend on each other.
Before and after follow each other.”
—Lao Tzu
Tokyo, Japan-
Japanese culture is a balance of opposites and a mixture of many contradictions- Japan is one of the top nations that severely suffers from mental illness, yet, the topic of mental health is a taboo in the society. With regards to the social, cultural, mental, and spiritual complexity of Japan, this proposed architectural experience is designed to be a gentle approach to tackle this subject and to provide visitors a place to feel, recollect, and revive.
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Minato City, Tokyo-
Located on the edge of Minato City bordering Shibuya City, the site is in a mentally, emotionally, and intellectually awakening urban setting, and the layers of complexity of the site provides the opportunity for such a program to be developed- the site is the yellow lot on the map below. To its Northeast, sit a temple and graveyard; farther away, a large public cemetery is seen. On the other corner of the site are commercial and residential buildings. The site is interjacent to the world of being and non-being, and the entire architecture is designed to be an “in-between”.
note. Finding graveyards in the center of city is very common in Japan because in Japanese culture, people become gods after they pass away, and the closer they are to where the gods are buried, the more blessed they are.
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Japanese culture is a balance of opposites and a mixture of many contradictions- Japan is one of the top nations that severely suffers from mental illness, yet, the topic of mental health is a taboo in the society. With regards to the social, cultural, mental, and spiritual complexity of Japan, this proposed architectural experience is designed to be a gentle approach to tackle this subject and to provide visitors a place to feel, recollect, and revive.
Minato City, Tokyo-
Located on the edge of Minato City bordering Shibuya City, the site is in a mentally, emotionally, and intellectually awakening urban setting, and the layers of complexity of the site provides the opportunity for such a program to be developed- the site is the yellow lot on the map below. To its Northeast, sit a temple and graveyard; farther away, a large public cemetery is seen. On the other corner of the site are commercial and residential buildings. The site is interjacent to the world of being and non-being, and the entire architecture is designed to be an “in-between”.
note. Finding graveyards in the center of city is very common in Japan because in Japanese culture, people become gods after they pass away, and the closer they are to where the gods are buried, the more blessed they are.
