Looking around this central Tokyo office we observe many-layered browser windows hoping to hide the active non-work-related twitter client, collaborative google doc or pleasure reading (spot the one-line layered browser reader in the image below).
It’s important to reclaim your brain-alert daytime for creative personal projects.
Materials: Browser
Location: Many Offices
Thanks to Christoph Rupprecht for this nice example of a residential fix (knife storage block as gate stopper) in Brisbane.
Christoph’s research and Treepolis site inspires me with investigations into informal green space, cities, and urban ecology with a focus on Australia and Japan.
Two ways to use public toilets to catch brief but welcome respite from tired and burning eyes.
(1) Resting chest against the hand rail of the urinal and closing eyes while peeing.
(2) Resting head against wall in front of automatic hand dryer in office building toilets.
In a city of super-instense eye drops and dried-up contact lenses you take the chance when you can.
Materials Urinal, Hand Dryer
Location: All over Tokyo
Lady at the crossing pumps her sun umbrella vigorously in front of her, creating a powerful cooling breeze while waiting for the lights to change.
Materials: Umbrella
Location: Shibuya, Tokyo
Swallows build nests to raise their young in the nooks and crannies of structures all over Tokyo. Instead of destroying the nests in retaliation for copious droppings that result, accommodating caretakers of residential and commercial buildings lay out mats of cardboard (when close to the ground) or build ‘dropping catchers’ by fixing wooden boards to steel H-beams with vices (for larger commercial structures). I’m impressed with these gentle constructions and savour the human/non-human relationships that slowly grow as we experience the process from egg, to chick, to flight.
Materials: Wood, Cardboard, Vice
Location: All over Tokyo
Concrete blocks topped with wooden boards form robust public benches (created by station staff) in Nogizaka station.
Thanks to @remmid for the tip and photo.
Materials: Concrete Block, Wood
Location: Nogizaka Station, Tokyo
All apartments are fitted with built-in washing lines which are below the line of the railing. Unfortunately, these are too low, meaning that sheets and futons have to be hung carefully to prevent them from resting on the balcony floor. This resident has erected his own (more common style of) washing line at a more practical height.
Materials: Plastic Line
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.
Coat hanger on balcony fitting holds laundry net for storage.
Materials: Coat Hanger, Laundry Net
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.
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.
Materials: Stone, Swing
Location: Tokyo
(Originally posted on Hand Made Play)
Synchronization of pedestrian crossing signals enables triangulation short cuts – traversing two roads with one green signal is a significant efficiency gain for harried morning commuters racing to appease time-card hounds.
Location: Shibuya, Tokyo
Sudare traditionally hang down from the eaves across the balcony/window to shade and cool the interior. This one is attached with wire to the balcony grate to provide privacy to the inhabitants of a lower-level apartment.
Materials: Sudare
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.
Wet wipes on the handles of a child’s bicycle – for clean hands or clean handlebars?
Materials: Wet Wipes
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.
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.
While walking down from a 5th floor office on Aoyama Dori in Shibuya I had a low key and voyeuristic chance encounter with three dedicated rooftop gardeners and their lush creations. I didn’t notice it at the time, but the first gardener is joined by his grandchild – slow hobbies foster gentle intergenerational interaction and knowledge transfer.
Tokyo is surprisingly green, even from up high.
I’ll be posting more videos of Tokyo gardening above eye-level over the coming weeks.
Location: Shibuya, Tokyo
Plastic bags stuffed in gap in bicycle parking structure – rubbish or storage?
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.
End piece added to bicycle parking port after complaints from residents about wind blowing over bicycles.
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.
Path through garden worn by junk mail delivery people trying to avoid the watchful eye of the apartment complex security/maintenance workers. It is not only the actions of the residents that slowly mold the building and surrounds over time.
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.
Lower level balcony garden blends in with planted grounds.
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.
Opaque balcony plates, rather than the usual metal grill create the (almost) perfect hiding/storage space for all that rubbish that you can’t be bothered throwing out. Secondary storage.
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.
Overview of items fixed and back in use in the rubbish center. The center tool stock comes almost entirely of rescued items from apartment complex trash.
Broom saved from the trash heap with a large helping of duct tape. Now in use.
Detail of hand made rack in rubbish center. Construction in plastic twine and tape.
Materials: Duct Tape, Plastic Twine
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.
