Zach awry in Japan

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12 February 2008 History in (of) a Roof

 

As Stewart Brand points out in his brilliant How Buildings Learn, buildings tend to change over time based on varying needs and environmental factors. This is well illustrated in this building:

 

 

Here you see the side of a building built in the old Japanese way: Rough-cut boards on top of stucco wattle and daub. This probably predates WWII, or if not was built soon after it ended. You can see how the boards fallen off reveal the stucco underneath. The boards were not originally black; that comes from long years of weather. In fact, you can see a red band under the eave of the roof where some of the wood’s original color remains because it’s been sheltered from rain.

Next, although this is just a guess, it appears they replaced some of the wood siding with aluminum or tin because a building was being built right next to it. Some time ago that building was torn down, leaving just the tin siding and the silhouette of where it used to be.

Another interesting detail is the post stuck onto the top of the roof to draw the telephone and power lines. This was clearly done after the original construction, too.

All in all I love all the textures here. Even the dove on the “Keep Japan’s Pacifist Constitution” poster adds a bit of color. Here’s a detail: