Shingo Masuda: Architecture from Outside

Summary

Japan fulfilled its massive post war housing demand in a little more than 30 years. Since 1974, the industry changed from speed and ease to “spatiality,” an abstract term invented to sustain production, from which an integrated spatial concept of “inside and outside” developed to the present.

Interior spaces are most affected by the outside – for example views that enter the building from windows and openings can completely alter the interior. Space, environment, and experience are continuous from the city and surroundings to the inside of buildings, yet buildings are generally still designed from the inside out.

This lecture and discussion will explore how to think about architecture beyond the building itself. Can we design from the outside in? How can we build up architecture from the outside?

About the Speaker

Shingo Masuda founded Shingo Masuda + Katsuhisa Otsubo in 2007 with Katsuhisa Otsubo. Their major works include Boundary Window (2014), Initiative Roof (2016), Heptad Pot (2021), and most recently Empty Drop (2024), for the Triennale Brugge in Belgium (Shinkenchiku July 2024 Issue).

Their office approach entails making careful observations and a thorough diagnosis of the daily activities planned for a site and the existing context, pinpointing the elements that can contribute most to shaping a place, and formulating a plan for what needs to be designed. This methodology reflects their pure attitude towards design, which drives them to purge their work of arbitrariness and approach things objectively. By being developed through this process, their architectural works that establish a bold presence even while melding into their surroundings are able to challenge our preconceptions and bring fresh wonder to familiar everyday landscapes.

Shingo Masuda graduated Musashino Art University and was the Baird visiting critic at Cornell University in 2015; a specially appointed associate professor at Meiji University from 2019-2022; In 2023, he was an adjunct associate professor at Hong Kong University and a Design Critic in Architecture at GSD Harvard University.