FIXES

Non-Intentional Design: Investigating alterations of space/objects at the public/private boundary in suburban Tokyo, Japan. A resource by a-small-lab.com. Contact: Chris Berthelsen chris@a-small-lab.com

No Playing in Board and Marker

Wooden sign on suburban shopping street reminds children not to play on the staircase. It’s dangerous.

No Playing in Board and Marker
No Playing in Board and Marker
No Playing in Board and Marker

Materials: Wooden Board, Marker
Location: Kunitachi, Tokyo

Skipping Aid in Power Pole Stabilizer

Skipping rope with one rope and two people requires an extra set of hands. A power pole stabilizing cable does the trick.

Skipping Aid in Power Pole Stabilizer
Skipping Aid in Power Pole Stabilizer
Skipping Aid in Power Pole Stabilizer

Materials: Power Pole
Location: Akishima, Tokyo

Playing Camp in Beer Crate and Rocks

Children play camp – an upturned beer crate rocks, concrete and plants form a roaring campfire.
Playing Camp in Beer Crate and Rocks
Playing Camp in Beer Crate and Rocks
Playing Camp in Beer Crate and Rocks

Materials: Beer Crate, Rocks, Concrete, Plants
Location: Tachikawa, Tokyo

Play Ball

Painted plate in inner-city residential street.
Play Ball Tokyo via @oylintokyo
Materials: Paint
Location: Ueno, Tokyo

(Courtesy of Oyl in Tokyo (@oylmiller))

Coin Parking BMX Training Update

As noted in Deadspace Parking as BMX Training Course these income-generating asphalt plots become obstacle courses for budding and/or PRO suburban Tokyo BMXers from 12:30am onwards. Tonight as I return in the Dark Hourz I find the same man in a different coin parking space. I wonder whether he moves around to avoid detection or whether these spaces offer a valuable diversity of terrain that I have not before detected….. I need to look at those wheel clamps, judder bars and smooth asphalts more carefully.

Deadspace Parking as BMX Training Course

We often decry Tokyo parking lot deadspace as an unimaginative and underused default money-making use for vacant lots but this stance exposes our own prejudices against concrete and blinds us to the diverse possibilities that the rugged terrain may offer.

Here, a half-empty suburban Tokyo pay-parking lot is the scene of a solo BMX training session in the early hours of Wednesday morning.

It is easier to record the remnants and artifacts of human(e) use of the city than it is to record use-in-action, but this example encourages me to spend more dark hours wandering the streets.

I wonder how these deadspaces by design are used when prying eyes are asleep: Deadspace by Design ONE & TWO on Tokyo Green Space.







The site in daylight:








Video: Simple Playground Hacks (Grab the Rock Game)

It’s incredibly easy to hack your neighbourhood playground for competitive sports. Here, a rock and a set of swings are the required elements for the intensely competitive “Ishi-tori ge-mu” (Grab the Rock Game).

How to Play: Get a rock. Place it somewhere where you think your opponent can’t reach. When he picks it up, he does the same to you. Ad infinitum. Superb afternoon fun.

Q: What fun and camaraderie might result from creatively combining multiple mundane elements of city infrastructure?

The video after the photos shows two boys teaching their younger friend how to play. The other videos offer a brief glimpse of the game in action.
Grab the Rock Game | 石取りゲームGrab the Rock Game | 石取りゲーム

Materials: Stone, Swing
Location: Tokyo

(Originally posted on Hand Made Play)

Children’s Cycle Parking

Parking space for children’s bicycles. Bicycles locked together shows they are owned by a single family.

Location: Setagaya, Tokyo.

This example is a note for a pamphlet on “Hand Made Aspects of Mass Produced Housing”. Subscribe to my somewhat-frequent letter HERE if you want to keep in touch easily.

Message Board Play

Traditional, semi-decommissioned blackboard for leaving messages at the train station gets new life as a playground for idle hands.

Message Board Play
Message Board Play
Message Board Play
Message Board Play

Materials: Chalk
Location: Nagoya

Poor Shot Protection in Netting

Plastic bamboo poles and netting are used to add height to a playground/creche fence to help prevent loose soccer shots from straying onto the road.
Poor Shot Protection in Netting
Poor Shot Protection in Netting
Poor Shot Protection in Netting
Poor Shot Protection in Netting
Materials: Netting, Plastic Pole
Location: Tachikawa, Tokyo

Mega-Cities: Design Anthropology and Urban Landscapes
I'm delighted and honoured to have my FIXES work included in Jared Braiterman's Tokyo University graduate seminar on mega-cities.
You can download the syllabus [HERE]


Thanks to the URBAN DESIGN Lab 西村・北沢・窪田 都市デザイン研究室, Department of Urban Engineering, Graduate School of Engineering, The University of Tokyo for making this a featured resource of their lab [LINK]

Vision Plus 2010
Thanks to the organizers of the conference for selecting this project as a featured resource, even though I was not able to attend.




Article: Small Places of Anarchy in the City: Three Investigations in Tokyo on This Big City

Article: The Non-Intentional Landscape of Tokyo - read at This Big City

Article: Framework for Neighbourhood Creative Climate - read at This Big City

Tokyo Green Space from Jared Braiterman is a great inspiration [LINK]

Urban Bricolage by @ehooge is an inspiring site on a related theme [LINK]

Treepolis by Christoph Rupprecht inspires me with investigations into informal green space, cities, and urban ecology with a focus on Australia and Japan [LINK]

Everyday Structures by @alanwiig is another fine site in the same vein [LINK]