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

Abstract

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.

Keywords:

• Dojunkai apartments
• building arrangement and open-space design

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes on contributors

Shilpi Tewari graduated from India as an Architectural Engineer in 1996 and then completed her Master degree in Social Engineering/Urban Planning from Tokyo Institute of Technology. She has worked in architectural practices in Kuala Lumpur and Melbourne working on various tertiary education projects and health projects and as a Town Planner in local government in Melbourne. Currently she is pursuing her PhD degree in Deakin University full-time and working as an associate lecturer in the university. Her research interests are studying the Melbourne’s changing demography and neighbourhood character in residential districts and its influence on Australian Government’s planning policies and regulations.

David Beynon works in Deakin University as a senior lecturer in Architecture and as a practicing architect with ‘alsoCAN’. His research, teaching, and practice broadly involve investigating the social, cultural, and compositional dimensions of architecture and urban environments. His research interests are centred on four areas: diasporic and hybrid architectures, in particular the adaptation of architectural content and meaning, and investigation of notions of place, multiculturalism and identity in Australia and Asia, the early development of Hindu and Buddhist architecture in South and Southeast Asia, in particular how compositional connection can be traced across the region, the multi-directional flows of architectural ideas in contemporary Asian and Australian cities, in particular the influence of subcultures, street tactics and art practices on urban environments and the integration of practice, teaching and research, with explorations into typology, density and cultural responsiveness.

Notes

1. Schencking, Great Kantō Earthquake, 153–187.

2. Uchida, Dojunkai ni Manabe; and Bourdier, Dojunkai Aparto Genkei.

3. Hein, “Machi: Neighbourhood and Small Town,” 75–107.

4. Uchida catalogue, government holdings from the National Archives in Tokyo.

5. Watanabe, Birth of Urban Planning.

6. The Aoyama and Daikanyama apartments were completed in April 1930 and 1927, respectively.

7. Hideo Kurosaki and Hiroshi Nakamura supervised the design of the Edogawa apartments, which were completed in August 1934.

8. Kaoru, “Designers and Engineers,” 2727–2728.

9. Uchida et al., Dojunkai shojutaku, 1–217.

10. Hein, “Transformation of Planning Ideas,” 51–82.

11. Uchida, Dojunkai ni Manabe.

12. Fumitaka et al., “Kieyuku Dōjunkai apātomento.”

13. Such as Town Planning and Housing, l’Architecture D’Aujourd’hui, Architectural Record, Architectural Forum and American City, published between 1920 and 1940.