In Yanaka, a 10-minute walk from Nippori Station in Tokyo, a new art center is being constructed in the shell of a 50-year-old house that had been the atelier and residence of students from Tokyo Art University since 2004. Like many buildings of its age, it suffered considerable damage during the Great East Japan Earthquake, and its owner had consigned its fate to simple demolition.
Earlier this year, however, the building's three-week final farewell event, Hagionalle 2012, attracted more than 1,500 visitors, which became enough of a reason for the owner to reconsider the demolition. Working with a small group of past students, a plan was made to turn the old building into a new cultural center in which studio space, a hair salon, cafe and gallery would help support the local community.
Still under construction and due to open officially in early 2013, Hagiso will go public with an exhibition fittingly titled "Japanese Junction." Eighteen architecture graduates have hung, installed and decorated the entire building with drawings, models, prototypes and an array of ideas and architectural propositions that represent their travels to some of the most important schools of architecture worldwide.