Renowned German architect Bruno Taut lived in Japan in the 1930’s. His only extant project there is the Kyu Hyuga Bettei on a steep hillside overlooking the ocean in the resort city of Atami in Shizuoka Prefecture. I was privileged to have had the opportunity to photograph the villa and subsequently have partnered with Italian architect, Marco Capitanio, to exhibit our collaborative project and present our work at international symposiums. The first was at the University of Venice in 2016, and the second took place in Yokohama, Japan at Keio University’s Hiyoshi Campus. The project is sponsored by co+labo at Keio University and The Formwork at the University of Venice. The Keio students were instrumental in setting up the exhibit and the hanging panels provided a unique visual platform to pair Marco’s drawings and my images. A new addition to the exhibit was a model of the villa at 1:50 scale made by the Keio students.
I was honored to present at the accompanying symposium with distinguished guests…Bruno Taut scholars, Professor Manfred Speidel and Professor Tatsuaki Tanaka, Yoshihiro Takishita (President of The Association for Preserving Old Japanese Farmhouses), Sumiko Enbutsu, author and member of the Bunkyo Link for Architectural Preservation, along with Marco Capitanio and Professor Darko Radovic of co+labo at Keio University.
Next up are two more exhibits … Suzhou, China and Milan, Italy in the fall…stay tuned.
