FLUID HARMONIZATION
Fluid Harmonization is a retreat for documentary filmmakers, located within the 21,000 sq ft Teshima Art Museum on Teshima Island, Japan. Overlooking the Seto Inland Sea, the primary structure of the site will function as a complex for various forms of hydrotherapy, leveraging the physical properties of water for spiritual purification. The construction of the project is slated to coincide with the 10th anniversary of the opening of the structure, and is designed to carry forward the ecocentric goals of both the Benesse Foundation and architect Ryue Nishizawa.
SITE: TESHIMA ART MUSEUM, JAPAN
The Teshima Art Museum sits atop a hill on the island of Teshima, overlooking the Seto Inland Sea. It was opened in 2010 for the Setouchi International Art Festival, held in the Takamatsu Port area of Japan, and is currently being operated by the Benesse Foundation. The structure consists of freestanding a concrete shell, approximately 40 by 60 meters and with a maximum height of 4.3 meters, including two oval openings which expose the interior of the structure to the elements.
Designed by Tokyo-based architect Ryue Nishizawa, the museum’s shell resembles a water droplet at the moment of landing. The shape is derived from concepts concerning surface tension and capillary action. The goal of the architecture was to appear as to be part of the external landscape. The two large oval openings on the structure’s surface allow for light, rain, sounds, and wind to enter into the organic space, creating an intimate interconnectedness between nature and architecture.
The Teshima Art Museum site is located on the island of Teshima, Kagawa Prefecture, Japan, with a goal to act in harmony with the island’s environment. Japan as a nation is an isolated island country in East Asia made up of an archipelago of around 6,852 islands. The Teshima site overlooks the Seto Inland Sea, which uses networks of communicating ships that go between islands around the coastal cities. The region is known generally for its moderate climate, with a stable year-round temperature and relatively low rainfall levels.
The structure exists within a rural environment, where locally monorails are used to get around due to mountainous terrain and steepness of the area, located in the corner of a rice terrace that was restored in collaboration with local residents. The organic form creates a powerful architectural space in harmony with the sweeping landforms around it. In addition to the main museum space, the site also includes a locker room area/ticket center, a cafe/shop, and a winding walkway around Mt. Myojin (a small buffer between the museum and the sea).
THE CHALLENGE
The Teshima Art Museum was originally designed around the concept of surface tension within a droplet of water, resulting in a single organic chamber lacking flat planes aside from the surface of the floor. Located on the ceiling of the chamber, two large elliptical openings expose the interior to the natural environment. The project shell is a partially-interred thin-shell structure with major perforations to the sky. The project proposes an intervention designed to heighten the geometry of the shell, while dematerializing the interior assignments of spaces by using water.
The project intervention also supports harmonious unity through the use of active water formations within the structure, allowing for areas of privacy and deployment of program functions, while maintaining the openness of the grand interior. Connection to the surrounding natural environment also is vital to achieving harmony. Both within the structure and subsequently reflected within the viewer.
OMOTENASHI: JAPANESE HOSPITALITY
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Omotenashi is the tradition of hospitality in Japan. The word comes from “Omote,” meaning public face or image you wish to present to outsiders, and “Nashi,” meaning nothing. Combining them creates the foundation for Japanese hospitality; every service is honest, has nothing to hide and nothing to pretend. This tradition has its root in sado (traditional Japanese tea ceremonies) in which tea masters face the audience and make tea in front of them, honestly and clearly; a symbol of mutual respect. The Japanese mindset of hospitality centers itself around care rather than expectation.
Ryokan are a type of traditional japanese inn, originating in the eighth century A.D., which offer a unique and relaxing experience to the guests, focusing on wellbeing, health and rejuvenation. Many Ryokan have a street side facing the public, and a nature-oasis side in the back, creating a harsh divide between private and public atmosphere. Guests are provided with a yukata to wear, along with sandals, further creating a distinction between the busy world outside of the establishment and the harmony within. Additionally, breakfast and dinner are served to the guests on very punctual schedules, usually offering regional specialties using locally sourced food. Most Ryokan take advantage of local hot springs to create bathing/soaking areas, called ofuro, used to rejuvenate the body. Co-bathing is very common and offers a unique benefit known in Japanese as “hadaka no tsukiai.” Meaning “naked communion”, it is the concept of being both naked physically and spiritually to those you are with.
SOURCE MATERIALS:
SYMBOLISM OF WATER IN JAPANESE SHINTO
TRADITIONAL JAPANESE WOODBLOCK PRINTING
NATURAL RIVER CYCLES
SYMBOLISM OF WATER IN JAPANESE SHINTO CULTURE
Water as Purity.
In Japan, under the religious influence of Shintoism, water is believed to incarnate the purity and simplicity of life. Water is believed to have powerful cleansing and purification properties, especially when it involves running water. Water is also believed to have the power of being able to connect man to nature through its fluid bonds. Water flows and represents the formless things of the world, including the emotions.
The viewer will be cleansed throughout their journey at the retreat through the process of running water, both physically and spiritually. The viewer will not only visually experience it, but will also physically engage with the running water.
Harae Ritual.
The worshiping of kami, or the deities believed to inhabit natural world around us, always begins with the act of purification with water. Harae, or purification rituals, involve the cleansing one’s hands and mouth with water, performed at the beginning of the Shinto ceremony so that people can rid themselves of any kind of pollution.
Prior to entering the retreat, the viewers must symbolically cleanse themselves with water. Much like in Shinto practice, where the feet, hands, and mouth must be cleansed with natural water, the guests must walk through a waterfall entrance in preparation for the cleansing experience they will meet inside.
Misogi Waterfall Rituals.
Waterfalls are believed to be sacred and standing under one is thought to purify the individual. This Shinto practice, known as misogi, is a purification rite using water to free the body and mind from pollution, which can be traced back to the mythological stories of Izanami and Izanagi in the Kojiki.
Walls will not be present in the retreat, but rather curtains of water which the viewers must walk through. Digital responses to the viewer’s movements will be sensed as openings are created in the water curtains for the viewers to walk through. When entering the retreat, however, the viewer must walk through the waterfall entrance; an initial symbol of cleansing and purity.
TRADITIONAL JAPANESE WOODBLOCK PRINTING
Translucent Layers.
Traditional Japanese woodblock printing is a process which uses a series of flat, wooden carvings to stamp layers onto a single sheet of material. The wooden blocks are carved with the negative image that will be applied. Water based inks are used in the process, while the most translucent, watered-down colored layers are applied first. The final artwork is created through the printing of many layers, both translucent and opaque, applied through various wood carvings.
The retreat will be encountered though a layering process, both visually and experientially. Translucency of layers to create a “larger image” will be emphasized.
Collaborative Effort.
Woodblock prints were almost always created by the collaboration between an artist and a publisher. The production of classic Japanese woodblock prints is a very complex process, successful only by involving a large number of steps, each usually performed by a different person skilled in that particular step. The process transitions from artist, to woodblock carvers, to a series of printers, and lastly to special effects specialists if needed.
The retreat will not be experienced through an individual perspective, but rather through a communal one. There will be little to no private space, as everyone will be seen as equals to each other.
Form of Documentation.
“Ukiyo-e” is a genre of Japanese art, now used to describe woodblock prints in general, most popular between the 17th through 19th centuries, which literally translates to “floating world picture.” The medium has been used to document the world around the artist and to comment on the society and culture during the time of creation. The prints were able to be mass produced, whether they be artwork, books, theater posters, etc., making them widely available to the public.
The experience will strive to be it’s own “floating world picture,” transporting the viewer into a new and surreal realm. In this case, however, instead of documenting the world around them, their environment will document the viewer.
NATURAL RIVER CYCLES
The Water Cycle.
Most rivers begin as a small stream running down a mountain slope, fed by the melting snow or by rainwater. The water flows downhill through cracks in the land, eventually joining with other small streams, growing larger until it can be called a river. The water ways shape the landscape around it, eroding and depositing rock and silt, creating windier pathways as time goes on. Eventually, most rivers lead out into the sea and the water is evaporated, effectively starting the cycle again.
The circulation of the retreat will resemble the functions of the natural water cycle, offering the opportunity to travel off to other sections while always remaining part of the whole.
The Force of Currents.
Rivers flow from high points to lower ones and eventually down to a larger body of water. The force of gravity, which makes the water flow downward, creates a river current. Many factors contribute to the strength of river currents, such as volume, stream gradient, or even the river beds topography.
There will be a flow of energy in the space that pushes the viewer throughout the system, allowing them to remain peaceful in some areas, while pushing them through other areas.
MINDMAP
DESIGN TOOL - SYMBOLISM:
WATER AS SPIRITUAL PURIFICATION
A space in which individuals could interact with water, taking advantage of its physical properties to have this spiritual effect.
The space would have no walls but rather to have a series of curved sheets of falling water to determine the functional boundaries of the interior. Through various forms of hydrotherapy, the viewers would be led on a journey, representative of the water cycle, with the goal of decreasing physical stress levels by grounding with nature. The viewer is forced to be drenched by a waterfall entrance, symbolically preparing the individual for the cleansing experience to come.
SOLUTION
Translucent curved sheets of falling water are used to delineate the boundaries of each area, creating a middle ground between discrete privacy and overall unity, without the use of walls. Each habitable area is connected through a network of waterways, allowing for the system to work holistically.
As a foundational act, a well is dug In order to feed the water for this system, sourcing the element from the deep underground of the surrounding local environment. By doing so, harmonization is formed between the built environment and its natural surroundings, working as one and complimenting each other.
The intricate web of water pumps used to create the water walls are attached to the ceiling and have sensor-actuator functions, allowing for the pumps to turn off when people need to walk through a section of the water wall. Smart bracelets will be worn by the viewers to track their physical stress levels and will visually project it in the form of light intensity in the water falling around them. As a visual aura of their stress level is displayed, a cybernetic feedback loop is created as the viewer strives to decrease stress and effectively intensity their aura light.
Various forms of hydrotherapy will be used to aid in decreasing stress levels, such as ice baths, hot springs, hydromassages, etc. Through the physical and spiritual cleansing properties of water, visitors will detach from the chaos of society and ground themselves with the natural environment as they are both humbled and purified by the forces of water.
HYDROTHERAPY AS STRESS RELIEF
Each form of hydrotherapy will connect to some section of the water cycle in river formation.
Visitors will detach from the chaos of society and ground themselves with the natural environment as they are both humbled and purified by the forces of water.
MINERAL ROCK EROSION
As erosion occurs from the falling water walls, minerals will be released into the water used in the retreat. This alludes to the relationship to minerals in water of traditional Japanese Ryokans.
The stones start out more jagged but eventually soften into smooth river stones by the sheer force of water over time, representing the transformation journey the visitors experience as well.
3D MODEL FORMS
MATERIAL SELECTION
MATTE
CONCRETE
MINERAL STONES
FLOWING
WATER
LIVE BAMBOO
SITE MAP
EXPLODED AXONOMETRIC
TOPOGRAPHIC
GROUND SURFACE
STRUCTURAL
SHELL
INTERCONNECTED
WATERWAY SYSTEM
BAMBOO
GROWTH
WATERFALL WALL
NETWORK
RETREAT FLOOR PLAN
RENDERED SECTION
PERSPECTIVAL JOURNEY
PERSPECTIVE OF ENTRANCE LOOKING INTO WATER RETREAT AND WELL STRUCTURE
PERSPECTIVE OF COLD WATER BATHING AREA
PERSPECTIVE OF STILL WATER MEDITATION RING
PERSPECTIVE OF HYDRO MASSAGE AND HOT SPRING AREAS
VALUE
The power and purity of water is understood through religious and philosophic instruction during the proposed transformational journey on a global scale; universally emphasizing the fundamental importance to harmonize the human spirit with the natural environment across all elements of life.
