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Tsuchi-no-ie (Maison en terre)

Possibilities of using earth in space design for new ecological paradigms

On some hints for post-humanist art and design in theCthulucene* which the experimental and pedagogical art project
Tsuchi-no-ie (Maison en terre) in Kyoto has given us.

Akihiko Inoue

30 novembre 2022

* Cthulucene > Anthropocene = Capitalocene < Donna J. Haraway

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Maison en terreon the campus of KCUA

not in an Asian jungle

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Akihiko Inoue

Artist & DesignerProfessor of KCUA (1995-2020)
Visual Planning Lab.

Toits incertains, 2013-contemporary art and design :from Book design to space design and installation

アーティスト・ブック

Visual Planning Lab.
at Kyoto City University of Arts (KCUA)

4

佐々木水音

中西優多朗

2019

1/23 WED 12:00-20:00
1/24 THU 9:00-13:00
図書館閲覧室

矢野七鼓

辻田しづく
古谷藍里
塩谷諒

德永

葵

岡留

優

岡本佳那子
北林綾子
早川美月

藤澤恵

加納静香
中田彩羽
菊地陽菜
渡邊京子

馬塲まゆみ

伊達奈々実
伊藤きく代
平井もも

高

美遥

中森碧

下玉利知

大里真瑛子
福井聡

谷川由芽

ビブリオテーク208

5Keywords / my interests
・Art in-situ
・water, gravity, ground and roof as fundamental premises of human existence
・indigenous wisdom
・relationship between art and nature・material and form
Can we return art back into theBiogeochemical cycles ?

6As an artist, I had been interested in the relationship between material and form beyond
the already existing art.
What material I can and should use for my artwork ?

In the first place, what is material ?

7Another water : what comes around
1997

Installation of frozen polluted underground water on thestreet, Hirano, Osaka.

Djienné, Mali89When I visited Djienné,Mali, in 2008, I foundbuildings directly appear
from and sink into theearth ground.
It suggested anunbelievable relationshipbetween material andform and an eternal
circulation of earth.
That was true art in-situ,in-situ resource utilization,
not exploitation ofresources.
But at that time, I didn’tknow what could I do as aJapanese artist.
A backside view of Great Mosque of Djenné
Photo: Akihiko Inoue, 2008

10About KCUA, its geographical context
Kyoto City University of Arts is the oldest public art academy in Japan, founded in 1880
at the center of Kyoto City. But from 1980 it is located at the west end of the City.
The area has name of Kutsukake, which means “exit” of village or town.
Next year in 2023, KCUA will move to just near the Kyoto Station.
In 2016, I was asked to make the basic concept of new KCUA’s plan for competition ofarchitecture.
Through this work, I reconsidered the geographical and topographical context of theold capital Kyoto.
KCUA’s location “ Kutsukake” includes the problems of the “periphery” of the capital.

11Location of KCUA:
west end of Kyoto City

琵琶湖

鴨川

Lake Biwa

Kamo River

京都市

Kyoto City

京都市立芸術大学(KCUA)

riveaR

sur状道路二外環
京都第way

名神高速

New

Meishin Freeway

Free宇治川

RiYo
do

淀川ver

Uji River

木津川Kizu River

The First Tunnel of Lake Biwa Canal

1Kat

9Lake Biwa Canal

疏水第一トンネル

桂川

Kyoto City University of Arts

琵琶湖疏水

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In 2008, the constructionof Free way close to
KCUA was begun.
The area Kutsukake,Oe and Oharano had
suffered from ageing andshrinking populations.
I found the instabilityof landscape in theperiphery of city.

KCUA

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Flow of massive earth
Destabilization and liquidizationof landscape14

Destruction of local forests and hills
near village and KCUA

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Destruction of old houses close to KCUA

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KCUA

Tea house onthe passThis old house and wall from Edo
period close to KCUA was planned
to be destroyed. But this road is anapproach to an old Shrine at thefoot of the mountain "Nishiyama"
which is the west limit of Kyoto City.

Making “Tea house on the pass”
With students, I tried toextend the earth wall
before destruction.
We used in-situ resources,
earth from destroyedbamboo forest and woodsfrom destroyed houses by
the freeway construction.
The extended wall becamea part of new tea house onthe pass.
One of the most interesting
things was that ourworking place became a
new commons with local
people, their feeling andknowledges.

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Tea house on the pass with extended earth wall worked as a creative commons at the same time.

Tea ceremony with old residents and students

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In May 2010, the day of destruction came.

We saved all the earth of the wall and house.
The demolition company kindly waited for our work.

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The earth we saved byhand was over 10 tons,
more than 420 sacs.

Akihiko Inoue

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In 2010, I was commissioned toparticipate in the exhibition Trouble
in Paradise: Ethics of survivalorganized by National Museum ofModern Art, Kyoto (MoMAK).
The year 2010 wad 120 anniversaryof Lake Biwa Canal, which had
conducted the modernization of Kyoto
City in Meiji period supplying theinfrastructure of water and electricity.
For making Aqua-café, I decided tobe based on the geographical andhistorical context of Kyoto as moderncity, KCUA and MoMAK.

Flyer of the exhibition “Ethics of survival”

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琵琶湖疏水

Lake Biwa CanalaRsurive

取壊し竹林rdemolished bamboo forest状道路
二外環
京都第way

名神高速

New

Meishin Freeway

Free

宇治川

ive

YodoR

淀川r

Uji River

木津川

Kizu River

The First Tunnel of Lake Biwa Canal

1Kat

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demolished old houses
from Edo Period

琵琶湖

Lake Biwa

疏水第一トンネル

桂川

Kyoto City University of Arts

古民家解体

Kamo River

Kyoto City

京都市立芸術大学(KCUA)

Aqua Café

第一竪坑

鴨川

京都市

アクアカフェ

The First Pit Shaft

Conception ofAqua-café

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Lake Biwa Canal

Its construction begun in 1885

Lake Biwa Canal had conducted themodernization of Kyoto City in Meiji period,
supplying the infrastructure of water andelectricity.

The site of National Museum ofModern Art, Kyoto

New opened land "Okazaki park" by Lake BiwaCanal, 1892

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Conception ofAqua-café

Project

Where the Water Flows :Aqua-Café

京都国立近代美術館

National Museum of Modern Art, Kyoto
Exhibition "Trouble in Paradise"
July 9 - August 22, 2010

Entrance

Entrance hall

peo

ple

lep
eo

p

Restaurant

植込みWorkshop

Terrace

AquaCaféwater

疏水犬走り）
からend
端rnのet西swe
都の（京土Ehart

frohemtoyotof Kwater pump

琵琶湖疏水Lake Biwa Canalwater(photography)

soundproof sheet

W-herewatertub

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Aqua-café
Bringing earth from west end of Kyoto City and mixing it withwater from Lake Biwa Canal which flows from east end of Kyoto
City in order to build a temporary space for drinking water infront of Museum.
For the construction, using bamboos and earth from destroyed
land of west end of Kyoto and water from Lake Biwa Canal fromthe east end, and purchasing nothing for art work.
The model was the First Pit Shaft which was digged at first to
make the first tunnel of the Canal.
It was almost forgotten and unknown, but one can say it“the vertical birth canal” of Kyoto as a modern city withinfrastructures of water supply and electricity.

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The model :First Pit Shaft ofFirst tunnel ofLake Biwa Canal← KYOTO
Section of Lake Biwa Canal

Lake Biwa →27Construction of Aqua-Café in front of MoMAK.

Ellipsoid form is from the First Pit Shaft.

Using bamboos, earth and water without money

The technic is traditional Japanese earth wall using bamboo lattice “Take-komai”,
but modified radically in order to build cylindrical form, that is “Double Bamboo Lattice”.

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Double bamboo lattice
Normally in Japanese woodenarchitecture with post-and-beam
structure, bamboo lattice is one layer.
But with double bamboo lattice that
I invented, one can build round wallwith invisible pillar.

↑ Normal post-and-beam construction
with one layer bamboo lattice

Double bamboo lattice enabled us to realize an
African house or cylindrical building with earthen
blocks.

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In the double bamboo lattice,earth dries in-between two lattices.
And one can realize thick and roundwall at once without making andlaying lots of earth blocks.

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The outdoor working place for Aqua-café became a kindof creative commons with many people and visitors ofvarious backgrounds and diverse generations.

A French architect from Nîme.

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Aqua Café

Water from Lake Biwa Canal
penetrates through Aqua-café andreturns to the Canal.

Aqua Café

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Contrast of the material and shape of window

National Museum of Modern Art, Kyoto, designedby Fumihiko Maki, is one of representative postmodern architectures in Japan.

Director of the Museum joined in a tea ceremony in
Aqua-café.

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Deconstruction of Aqua Café

After the exhibition, we showed the process of deconstruction as well.

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In Aqua-Café project, to be independent of themarket economy and to get materials withoutpurchasing them were so much important asmaking the art work itself. Today, in art as well as inarchitecture, we use materials bought at the market.
All those materials are industrial products and theywill be waste after life.
Against this current trends, our approach consistsof :1_getting natural materials directly from the regional
environment without purchasing them,
2_reusing the materials after removal for anotherwork or project.
This project also refers to the reconsideration of therelationship between material and form. According
to Aristotle, hyle (material or matter) is a potential
and passive element which comes into being as
energeia (actual thing) with a given eidos (form).
But hyle remains constant throughout the processof change. It is dunamis (potentiality) inherent toeverything.

We destroy the form of an actual thing, for example,
that of Aqua-Café, but not the material. In otherwords, through destruction, hyle is liberated
from the eidos (form) forced by human beingsand turns back to the state of dunamis.
We human beings tend to see the world fromthe viewpoint of the form which we pressed
upon the material. This leads to the dualism ofcreation and destruction, which is connected withanthropocentrism.
But if we see the world from the viewpoint of hyle(material or matter), all things are dunamis (potentialbeings) in the state of flux without end.
Aqua-Café is neither an "art work" nor an "end”, but
simply is a temporary form or a network of relations
which the primary material (hyle)—earth and water—takes in the process of constant change.

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After deconstruction of Aqua-café, we bring all
the earth back to campus of KCUA to reuse for
new space design, that is Tsuchi-no-ie.

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Reclaim of the site
For the site of Tsuchi-no-ie in the campus, we reclaimed the site on the top of the hill overgrown withweeds.

Kyoto City is too poor to maintain the entire campus of KCUA, so there are some neglected areas.
We found an abandoned and buried flower garden on the hill and digged it up.

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construction with natural curvedtrees and bamboos

Instead of purchasing sawn woods from a market,
we use in-situ resources in/around campus of
KCUA. It is a trial to be independent of the capitalist
economy.

That asks us to invent new ways of constructing.
For example, two curved trees are jointed byabandoned woods to be transformed to two pillars.

Pillars are not embeded, they stand up on thefoundation stones. In tradiitonal japanese wooden
structure, it's called "Ishiba-date".

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Thatching the roof

Gathering bamboo and thatch for the roof

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Thatching the roof

To inherit the traditional technic in danger
now is important to art students.

Learning from artisan.

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Planand three types of earthen wall
double earth wallwith bamboo latticecentraensecond pillar for thatched roof
wall with adobe bricks

rammed earth wall42

3 type of earth construction
3-1_Rammed earthwork

Rammed earthwork uses formworks to ram
down the soil. It was used since thousands years
ago, for example, Great Wall of China.

First earthen wall of Tsuchi-no-ie was that oframmed earthwork.

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Rammed earthwork is
universal technic formillennia.
When I visited Tata,
Maroc, in 2016, I saw
the same technic.

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3-2_Working with earth blocks (adobe)

Sun-dried earth blocks

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Laying wet earth balls(Nerituchi-zumi)
Kutsukake
Kyoto

samplein Africa

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3-3_Working with ouble bamboo lattice

Our double bamboo lattice enables to realise a thick and round wall at once.

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How to knead earth with straw
At first, by foot.

After 2010, with mixer

Famous plasterer Mr.Akira Kusumi taught us that
one can use cut grass instead of straw and theessence of traditional technic is not fixed but flexible
and inventive.

48Interior design

Making “earth bench” by digging the ground

It generates new earth as material.

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Doma-za“Doma” means dirt floor. “Za” means seat.

The earth generated by digging the floor were transformed to earth blocks for making a furnace.
Doma-za accept more people than common bench.

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Working place as new space for creative commonsConcert Feb. 2012
Roof was not yet completed, but people enjoyed the space in mid-flow.

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Wall painting withpigments from earth

Motifs are living creatures around Tuchi-no-ie.

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Making Tsuchi-uki-an(Floating earth room)
second Tsuchi-no-ie

Finding another site for second house.

Study of location and scale

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Making Tsuchi-uki-an

Tsuchi-uki-an is planned as a small tea housefloating on the slope of the hill. The floor is 180 cm2.
All the materials were gathered in/around KCUA'Scampus.

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Tsuchi-uki-an is not with double but normal
bamboo lattice.
This way of setting pillars is called "Ishibadate".

The diagonal beam, called "Sujikai", is by natural wood.

"Ishibadate" is a traditional construction method
in Japan with many earthquakes. It doesn't fix
pillars into ground in order to correspond toearthquake.

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In Tsuchi-uki-an, Nijiri-guchi (entrance of teahouse) is a hole opened at the floor.

Ordinary Nijiri-guchi of traditional tea house

View from the loft space

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Tsuchi-uki-an has a loft space in which
4-5 persons can enter and have a goodview.
And It has aloso a small terrace.

Tsuchi-uki-an

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Making a new path

We also made a new path to Tsuchi-uki-an
and Tsuchi-no-ie.
Making a new path is realizing a newperception and a new landscape.

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harvests

In searching for the in-situ resources,
we cultivated a farm on the hill

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Discovery of our in-situ resources:
earth / clay

ceramic cup
pigments of colors

Ninni Maklin, student of ceramic from
Finland, made original cups from clay she
had found on the ground of the hill.

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Climate change has
become harder inthese years.
The biggest tree
on the hill was
broken by theviolent typhoon in
september 2018.
But Tsuchi-no-ie
and Tsuchi-uki-an
had little damage .

62How shall we live on this planet ?
Through the praxis with earth and various natural materials in outdoor space,
I realize that it is important to reconsider all human products including art
works in larger biogeochemical cycle.
Human being is an only creature who produce waste that cannot turn back tonature. But productive activity with raw earth does not produce any waste.
Earth is primary material and Mother of all materials, and among the most costeffective, low carbon, low embodied energy solutions for sustainable world.
40 % of the world population lives in earthen dwellings.
If we, artist and designer, should redefine the objects of art and design andtheir roles on this planet so as to elaborate new ecological paradigms in theCthulucene, we must learn from earth itself.