Artificial intelligence and contemporary Japanese architecture – any relationship?

ABSTRACT

Tools are culmination of the stages of a civilization; being the immediate expression of progress, assistance, freedom and a manifestation of health – both in terms of moral and morale. Artificial Intelligence (hereinafter AI) – a tool precedenting the fourth industrial revolution – is boasting tremendous transdisciplinary transformations in Japan helping to cater the declining birth rate and rapidly aging society resulting in acute labor shortage in the sectors of transportation – as self-driving cars, ‘CarriRo Delivery’ robots and drones for postal deliveries to mountainous remote islands, safety and resilience – as for the early detection of earthquakes and tsunamis, healthcare – as AI-based medical equipment that uses machine learning to identify signs of disease and locate lesions in medical images, education – as the use of AI-robots to teach English, culture – as the AI-equipped popular robotic dog ‘Aibo’ triggers successful emotional reactions in humans, and in the sector of technology – as self-checkout systems at convenience stores, are just a few of the revolutionizing debuts dubbed as a ladder for economic supremacy in the second largest economy of East Asia – Japan. Is there any possible relationship between AI and contemporary Japanese architecture? What is the influence of emerging AI innovations on the discipline of contemporary architectural design? What kind of architectural spaces we are going to inhabit in the age of AI? This paper attempts to propose answers to these questions by limiting its scope to Japanese contemporary architectural designing.

KEYWORDS:

• Artificial intelligence
• Le Corbusier
• Yoneji Masuda
• information utility
• Toyo Ito
• Sendai Mediatheque

Acknowledgements

The author would like to acknowledge the profound guidance received from Associate Professor Dr. Junichiro Higaya, Department of Architecture and Building Science, Graduate School of Engineering, Tohoku University during the research, organization, finalization and revisions of this paper.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes on contributor

Danyal Ahmed is a doctoral candidate at the Department of Architecture and Building Science, Graduate School of Engineering, Tohoku University. His research focuses on the relationship between contemporary Japanese architecture and the emerging technology of artificial intelligence, with an aim of implementation of research findings in his architectural designs. He is a recipient of Japanese Government Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology’s (Monbukagakusho: MEXT) Scholarship for doctoral studies. He was awarded the bachelor’s and master’s degrees from University of the Punjab, Lahore, with University Gold Medal and received Mehdi Ali Mirza Award by Institute of Architects Pakistan for outstanding academic performance. Having professional affiliations with Architectural Institute of Japan, Pakistan Council of Architects and Town Planners and Institute of Architects Pakistan, his architectural design was recently selected among the emerging young architects design work’s exhibition held at the 12th International Symposium on Architectural Interchanges in Asia, 23–26 October, 2018, Pyeongchang, South Korea. He has presented a number of research papers at international academic conferences and holds research paper publications in international academic journals to his credits.

Additional information

Funding

The author is a recipient of Government of Japan's Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology's (Monbukagakusho: MEXT) Scholarship [Scholar No. 170172] and the present research has been carried out in continuation of his doctoral studies.