Rika Hiratsuji, Katrin Pfaeffli, Kazuhiro Sobue, Shuji Kwaguchi, Takaaki Endo, Davide Blasi
Using just a single map, one cannot divide spaces on the Yokohama waterfront into those that are public and those that are private, because many of them change in character depending on the time of day.
Rinko Park and Yamashita Park can both be identified as 24-hour public spaces to which everyone always has access, but late at night, public facilities such as Landmark Tower and Red Brick Warehouses become private spaces, closed to the general public.
We felt that in present-day Yokohama, where different elements coexist depending on the time, creating intermediate domains that are both public and private where people can get together (shakoba) could be a way of generating a new future image for the city.
We took note of convenience stores, 24-hour public spaces that are distributed all over Japan. Such stores are located on a grid of about 200 x 200 m. We tried generating places on the Yokohama waterfront where people can get together by arranging follies, that is, small structures, on a similarly-scaled grid.
These urban follies are public spaces that anyone can use 24 hours a day. The follies have frame structures and can be customized to each place. We arranged follies in three selected areas.
Each area has its own distinctive character. They express the past and the present of Yokohama and are symbolic places that must be taken into account in any consideration of the city's future.
In the Minato Mirai area, we proposed a way of creating a city that is premised on public spaces by selecting a site that is expected to undergo development in the future and arranging follies with various programs there.
Basing our idea on the "National Art" concept espoused by Yokohama City, we proposed turning Yamashita Park and the area around it into an art district by arranging studios, ateliers and galleries for artists on the Osenbashi and Yamashita piers.
In the Shin-Koyasu area, we proposed restoring to the area along the canal the liveliness it once had when the area was still a fishing village by creating public spaces that are mainly education-oriented such as studios usable as the satellite facilities of libraries and universities.
