Nine examples of "misunderstood architecture" featured in Brutalist Japan

Photographer Paul Tulett has toured Japan to publish a book documenting the country's vast collection of concrete edifices. Here, he spotlights nine unusual examples featured in it.

The book, fully titled Brutalist Japan: A Photographic Tour of Post-War Japanese Architecture, has been published with Prestel to showcase the diversity of the country's brutalist buildings.

It was the result of Tulett's growing interest in the style of architecture, which he said has a "unique tactility" in Japan thanks to its links to the country's traditional carpentry and craftsmanship.

Paul Tulett has documented brutalist architecture across Japan

"Upon arriving in Japan, I was struck by the abundance of brutalist buildings, their refinement and the fact that no one was really covering the style here," he told Dezeen.

"I quickly became interested in brutalism's links to traditional Japanese architecture," Tulett continued. "The refinement in Japanese brutalist construction is due to the amazing timber formwork seen here. It results from incredible expertise in carpentry within the nation."

All the buildings featured in the book were photographed by Tulett over the last five years and selected to showcase the range of styles that fall within Japanese brutalism.

One of Tulett's favourite examples is the brutalism in Okinawa, where he is based, which he said incorporates traditional breezeblocks to mimic chinibu – a traditional perforated wall used to provide both ventilation and protection from harsh sunlight.

"I wanted to present the diversity of Japanese brutalism in terms of function, size, style, design and age," Tulett explained. "From large civic and governmental buildings to small barber shops and public toilets, the diversity of function is not seen elsewhere."

Read: Sacred Modernity showcases "unique beauty and architectural innovation" of brutalist churches

Tulett's aim was for the book is to spark interest in the style of architecture, which he said is "too often demolished based on the subjective opinion of a few individuals".

"Many brutalist buildings across the world are slated for demolition at a time when there is increasing fascination with the style – particularly amongst younger generations," said Tulett.

"Brutalist buildings in Japan, even the grandest, are not immune to talk of demolition. These include Hiroyuki Iwamoto's sublime National Theatre in Tokyo, Kenzo Tange's incredible Kagawa Prefectural Gymnasium and the fantastic Nago City Hall in Okinawa."

"I aim to inspire an appreciation for the aesthetic beauty of these structures while fostering discussions around their preservation. Ultimately, I advocate for the continued recognition and preservation of this often misunderstood architecture."

Read on for Tulett's picks of nine unusual buildings featured in Brutalist Japan:

Kagawa Prefectural Gymnasium, 1964, by Kenzo Tange

"Concurrent with Kenzo Tange's creation of Tokyo's mammoth Olympic structure for the 1964 Summer Games, a humbler athletic vessel was birthed further west.

"Between 1962 and 1964, the Kagawa Prefectural Gymnasium arose in Takamatsu, with a brutalist silhouette strong enough to renounce any kinship with its neighbours.

"An oval hull is hoisted by four titanic columns, extending its form in a defiant cantilever that bestows upon it the visage of a seafaring leviathan, mirroring both the formidable might and grace of an Olympian."

Kyoto International Conference Center, 1966, by Otani Sachio

"Enshrined amidst Kyoto's venerable aura, the Kyoto International Conference Center straddles the architectural zeitgeist of its time.

"This edifice stirs a lively discourse: does it belong to the brutalist canon, or does it bear the hallmark of metabolist architecture? The centre's silhouette, a composition of bold geometric lines and the stark honesty of exposed concrete, channels the brutalist ethos.

"Its colossal, forthright forms stand in sharp relief to Kyoto's delicate tapestry, an assertion of brutalism's unapologetic gravitas. Yet, within its robust frame, the structure nurtures the flexible, organic essence of metabolism."

Nago City Hall, 1981, by Team Zo (Elephant Design Group)

"This tumbling agglomeration of colonnades, pergolas and terraces set upon a floor plan resembles the outline of a B-2 stealth bomber.

"The colonnades are formed of porous vermillion and grey concrete blocks. Tilted concrete screening slats set within the pergola roofs absorb ambient moisture and provide a breeding ground for moss.

"The whole structure exudes an earthy pungency that is tempered by the fragrance of weaving bougainvillaea. Drinks vending machines aside, the place smacks of an undiscovered jungle ruin."

Nago Civic Hall And Center, 1985, by Shiro Ochi

"This is a U-shaped complex of civic centre, public halls and general welfare centre. Recognisable modernist features contrast with its mad tree-hugging neighbour – the City Hall above – and evoke a Corbusian rationality triumphing over nature.

"Reminiscent of Mayan architecture, a sharply terraced escarpment is carved down to the northern and western flanks of what would otherwise be a trapezoidal behemoth.

"The exterior austerity is juxtaposed by intricate interior precast trusses and sublime modulated concrete slabs on either side of the stage. These emanate a peachy hue that compliments the velvety seating."

Mixed-use complex, 1994, by Kuniyoshi Design

"Darth Vader's holiday home? Nah. This striking complex features affordable housing stacked above a ground-floor elderly daycare centre.

"It models Okinawa's social aspect of planning, more characterised elsewhere by the interests of private developers. This planning philosophy seeks to create urban spaces that nurture community bonds and ensure equitable access to resources.

"That said, a friend of mine had the opportunity to move into one of the apartments but his wife declined, arguing it wasn't close enough to a convenience store. Definitely grounds for divorce."

Keihan Uji Station, 1995, by Hiroyuki Wakabayashi

"In the shadow of tradition, where the air hums with tales of ancient temples and the crackle of fireworks over the Uji River, Keihan Uji Station emerges like a scene from a sci-fi odyssey.

"This architectural spaceship, helmed by visionary captain Hiroyuki Wakabayashi and launched in 1995, defies its historic backdrop with a daring leap into futurism.

"The design is audacious, a semicircular cocoon that dares to embrace both the circle's zen-like simplicity and the boundless possibilities of the cosmos. It is quite possibly my favourite building."

Kihoku Astronomical Museum, 1995, by Takasaki Masaharu

"Clearly in the throes of his Smack My Bitch Up phase, architect Masaharu took inspiration from the moon crab on The Prodigy's The Fat of the Land album cover.

"From certain angles, this Cancerian creature seems to be embracing the stars in rave-like rapture or wondering where it left its whistle and helium balloon.

"Actually, the design slightly predates The Prodigy's third album. More cerebral appraisals cover Masaharu attempting a cosmic connection between Earth and the universe. A participatory approach allowed for the local community to showcase the potency of the region's mushrooms."

Okinawa Prefectural And Art Museum, 2007, by Ishimoto and Niki Associates

"The Naha Prefectural Museum appears as both a cascading, multi-tiered limestone waterfall and immovable monolith – the result of a geological phenomenon aeons ago.

"Its appearance borrows from ancient Okinawan fortresses, or gusuku, yet is simultaneously futuristic with gentle curves, rectilinear geometry and stacked forms.

"A look of natural stone is achieved through the use of white cement – local limestone as the coarse aggregate and coral sand as the fine aggregate. Doctor Who fans might see a Dalek and the more domesticated an upturned laundry basket. I see it as my muse."

Matsubara Civic Library, 2019, by Maru

"Beside a tranquil pond, the Matsubara Civic Library rises like a tome from the annals of time, its spine crafted from 600-millimetre-thick concrete.

"The architects, in a stroke of narrative genius, penned a story of integration rather than erasure, allowing the library to float out into the water like a literary ark.

"Inside, the seismic-resilient walls have inscribed freedom into the library's chapters, with split levels that unfold storeys upon storeys, where readers perch like characters in a plot, poised between lines of text and water."

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John Jervis shares five design ideas you really need to know

The recently released 50 Design Ideas You Really Need to Know book features essays tracking the evolution of design from the 19th century until now. Here, its author chooses five key design ideas.

The latest in a series of 50 ideas books, the 50 Design Ideas You Really Need to Know aims to cover a wide range of design concepts and make them accessible to the interested layman reader.

"Its 50 ideas could perhaps be better described as a mixture of movements, mediums, concepts, processes, management techniques and marketing ploys, all introduced in a, hopefully, insightful and enjoyable manner," its writer, John Jervis, told Dezeen.

"My rationale for taking this on would, possibly, be along the lines that it was an opportunity to introduce some key design topics to the reader (and myself) in an accessible fashion, while also adding a bit of shade to indicate that there's often more to design than immediately meets the eye, or confronts the Wikipedia reader."

Here, Jervis selects five out of those 50 ideas, which he said "made me pause for a moment while writing, and change my intended script a little".

The Victoria & Albert Museum in London. Photo by Timothy Soar

Design Museums

"Including design museums in the book was a little contrived, but these institutions have reflected – and influenced – contemporary ideas about design to an enormous degree.

"The founding of London's Victoria & Albert Museum in 1851, skimming off some of the Great Exhibition's profits to purchase 'correct design', led to an astonishing number of replicas around the world – Vienna, Buenos Aires, Prague, Sydney, Chicago, Oslo, and on and on.

"Most shared the goal of improving public taste and manufacturing outputs – Leipzig's Museum für Kunstandwerk, for instance, announced its goal 'to take action against the archaic ways and pathetic mediocrity of German industry'.

"Exploring the twists and turns over the ensuing years – the impact of industrial design and modernism, the influence of New York's Museum of Modern Art, the fluctuating status of the curator and the exhibit, the arrival of 'high design' and (more recently) the 'design is everything' mindset – explains so much about how design reached its current lofty position, and definitely deserves a book of its own."

Lego braille bricks

Designing for play

"The role of an introductory text is, by and large, to be dispassionate, so this one largely retells the tale of modernist toys – colourful Bauhausian blocks and abstracted animals intended to nourish imagination and creativity with open-ended play, rather than mimick the adult world, or lock into existing stories.

"Yet the market for these perfectly crafted wooden objects has long been parents or godparents. Toys children actually play with, such as the phenomenally successful Star Wars toys mass-produced in Hong Kong from the 1970s, tend to come equipped with fully formed universes and enthralling narratives.

"The trajectory taken by the most famous modernist toy of all – Lego – proves the point. The company's singular focus on its colourful universal blocks, introduced in the 1950s, lasted only a couple of decades. As savvy rivals flourished, it introduced 'themes' to compete – Space, Castle, Pirates and so on – each with specialised blocks and definitive instructions.

"Star Wars and Harry Potter followed, and eventually Lego's own movie universe. The modernist dream of play had been replaced by boxes of joyful plastic, yet today we still venerate a bunch of dusty wooden ornaments. Sometimes design is confusing."

Pink pussyhat

Craftivism

"One of the most likeable 'ideas' in the book, with a history going back to the Suffragettes and beyond, Craftivism – a term coined by Betsy Greer in 2003 – has been called 'protest for the introverted'. Utilising often denigrated skills such as embroidery and knitting, those who struggle with the intensity of civil disobedience and protest marches can contribute to social movements, making their voices heard.

"The most famous example, 2017's Pussyhat Project, resulted in the emotional sight of a sea of pink in the US capital, as tens of thousands of marchers wore hats based on a downloadable pattern – some knitted by themselves, some by supporters across the country.

"Donald Trump's political durability, despite this powerful protest against his inauguration and his language, suggests that in today's fractured landscape turning craft into craftivism may not have the desired results. As with celebrity endorsements, the liberal elite tag can be highly destructive of even the best intentions."

The SS Normandie. Photo via Wikimedia Commons

Art deco

"Most of the book's entries come with a side panel – on an exemplary object, exhibition, individual, group, or even idea. For art deco, it's the ocean liner. I hadn't really considered them before. They don't seem real, existing only as extravagant settings for period films, or gorgeously sleek silhouettes on airbrushed posters. But they were real, and extraordinary.

"Subsidised by the French government, the SS Normandie drew on leading artists, architects and designers for its hugely opulent art deco interiors. The glass-clad dining room by Pierre Patout, for instance, stretched even longer than its famous model at Versailles.

"Today, it seems inevitable that modernism would go on to define our world. In 1932, when the SS Normandie launched, and an ailing Bauhaus struggled to get a few chairs manufactured, this colossus expressed internationalism, travel, style, industry and modernity. It expressed the machine and the future. Perhaps, if things had taken (quite a few) different turns, we would be living in an art deco world."

Photo courtesy of Shutterstock

The Bauhaus

"When writing this book, I hugely enjoyed revisiting design movements old and new, coming out of the experience with renewed admiration for their protagonists and works.

"But, most of all, it confronted me with the extraordinary achievement of the Bauhaus during its fifteen-year existence from 1919 to 1933 – just 15 years! And that's to say nothing of its influence in education and industry as its teachers, students and disciples spread across the globe.

"The impact and importance of the Bauhaus is taken for granted, so much so that it has become almost invisible. It was salutary to be reminded of the unparalleled mixture of practical and intellectual experimentation, commitment, radicalism, productivity, rigour, freedom and joy that emerged from its workshops – elements evident in other movements, but never all together, and not captured in my text, much as I tried. So most of my advance was blown on a small black side table with tubular-steel legs."

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