PROFILE

Description

Description

Yasuo Kondo is a designer who, as he used to call his title "Interior architect", developed his own world, moving between the two fields of architecture and interior design.
After a nascent period in the 1960s and 1970s, interior design in Japan reached its peak in the 1980s, when the number of jobs and designers exploded, particularly in commercial facilities such as fashion boutiques and restaurants, riding the wave of the bubble economy. While the designers were all developing their own personalities and creating a wide variety of spaces, Kondo began working independently in 1981.
In this context, Kondo developed a "Methodology" for logically deconstructing and constructing space, and he set out to create interior design that was independent of architecture, defying the fatalistic relationship between architecture and space as two sides of the same coin. During the 20 years from 1981, when he made his debut, to 2003, he experimented for three periods and established his own design philosophy. In the first period (1981-1983), another space was constructed within the architectural space, which was defined as interior design. In the second period (1984-1992), the introduction of "form" and "colour" attempted to diversify expression and focused on strengthening the space. In the third period (1993-2003), he further adopted "materials" and extended his existing "Methodology" to explore further possibilities. Among the major works that he has created using this "Methodology" are "POLYGON PICTURES", a high-tech architecture with a red colour scheme, and "TSE Arrows", with its futuristic, high-impact glass cylinders, for which he has worked on more than 800 projects and has received numerous prestigious awards, including the Mainichi Design Award and the American Institute of Architects Design Award. He also teaches at the graduate school of Kyushu University and at his alma mater, Tokyo Zokei University, and since 2003 has worked with the TOYAMA GLASS STUDIO and others to organise workshops and exhibitions to nurture young talent.
Editor Masaru Kawatoko, who has watched and critiqued Kondo's designs at his side for many years, said. "While almost all of the myriad interior designs that have been created and then disappeared have shown a sense of design stagnation or regression, Kondo Yasuo is one of the few designers who has always made steady, albeit gradual, progress". ("PORTFOLIO", Seibundo-shinkosha, 1986). Kondo also writes in his book. "I am only proud that I have always tackled 'space' head-on" ("AB Design", RIKUYOSHA, 2003).
About two years ago, he decluttered his office and discarded a lot of material. We asked Kondo about his thoughts and ideas on the archive, as well as his progress to date.

Masterpiece

Masterpiece

"robe de chambre" (Roppongi, AXIS, 1981); "The Gallery of LANEROSSI" (Nishi-Azabu L-1st, 1986); "POLYGON PICTURES" (Higashi-Shinagawa, 1987); "COORDINATE house" (Higashi-Yamato, 1987); "COMME des GARCONS SHIRT" (New York, Paris, 1988); "Restaurant & Bar La Costa D’ " (Kyoudou, 1989); "Stern Musashino Mercedes-Benz" (Sekimae, 1990); "GRAN BLUE & AO NTT Makuhari Bldg. " (Makuhari, 1993); "TOYOTA AUTO SALON AMLUX OSAKA" (Umeda, 1993); "HITACHI HUMANICATION PLAZA HIT SPACE" (Niigata, 1993); "espace TAG Heuer" (Omotesando, 1995); "UCHIDA YOKO Tokyo Showroom C3" (Hachoubori, 1995); "LA TERRAZZA Hong Kong Landmark" (1996); "Cassina ixc." (Aoyama shop, Nagoya, Osaka, Fukuoka etc., 1997~); "POLYGON PICTURES" (Ariake, 1998); "Miyagi Prefectural Library (Bookshelves, reading desks and chairs) " (Sendai, 1998); "TSE Arrows" (Kabutocho, 2000); "Ad Museum Tokyo" (Higashi-Nihonbashi, 2002); "YOHJI YAMAMOTO (Femme/Homme)" (Kyoto, 2002); "Y’s" (Nagoya PARCO, 2003); "Tokorozawa MUFG PLAZA" (Tokorozawa, 2004); "Hotel JAL City Haneda Tokyo" (Haneda-Asashi-cho, 2005); "Toyota Kaikan Museum (entrance hall) " (Toyoda-shi, 2005); "MUFG Bank, Sales Division Floor Department" (Marunouchi, Osaka, Nagoya, 2005); "FURANO NATULUX HOTEL" (Furano, 2007); "Saishunkan Pharmaceutical" (Kumamoto, 2007); "SHOIN Junior and Senior High School" (Kobe, 2009); "WEST showroom" (Minato-ku, 2010); "MUFG Bank, Ogikubo branch office" (Suginami-ku, 2010); "Parkhouse Kiyosumishirakawa Tower" (Koto-ku, 2010); "GLA Inochi-no-sato, Life Memorial Hall" (Yatsugatake, 2012); "GLA Asakusa General Headquarters, Kaikan" (Asakusa, 2012); "Atomi University, school cafeteria" (Niza-shi, 2012); "Bathclin headquarters" (Ichigaya, 2014); "HANSEL&GRETEL" (Kichijoji, 2014); "SHINEI SHOJI" (Ginza, 2014); "ComfortQ HANKYU HANSHIN DEPARTMENT STORES, 7F" (Umeda, 2016); "Cassina ixc., Aoyama shop" (2017); "SieMatic" (Aoyama, 2017); "PRIMETREE AKAIKE" (Aichi-ken, 2017); "Cassina ixc., Nagoya shop" (2017); "CENTURY MARINA HAKODATE" (2019); and many others

Books

"INTERIOR SPACE DESIGNING" (Graphic-sha Publishing, 1989); "AB DESIGN" (RIKUYOSHA, 2003)

Interview

インタビュー

The history of design is young and there is much that we do not understand
It's one thing to leave its evaluation to future generations

Interest in residential architecture from university assignments

ー　I would like to ask you how you became interested in design and architecture, and how you came to enrol at Tokyo Zokei University.

Kondo　When I was a child, I was hardly aware of creative work such as design itself, as it was not recognised in society. I had a very normal boyhood.
When it was time to think about my career path in my third year of high school, when I was preparing for university entrance exams, my mother happened to meet an art teacher from junior high school who praised my paintings and recommended that I go to art college. At first I wanted to become a social studies teacher, but I felt that being an art teacher would give me more freedom, so I decided to go to art college. While choosing a university without any knowledge of the art university entrance exam, I came across Tokyo Zokei University. I had no understanding of design genres, so I chose the interior architecture major, which was the only one written in Chinese characters.
What first sparked my interest in architectural design after entering the university was an assignment in my second year to design a 10m x 10m, 100 square metre house. I still had no knowledge of architecture, and when I first went to the university library to look at back issues of various architectural magazines, I was drawn to a photograph of a house. It was the House in White, designed by Kazuo Shinohara. Not only was I impressed by the beautiful space with only one pillar standing in the middle of the space, but I also felt that it opened up a vision for my future career path.

ー　You met Mr Masahiro Miwa, who would later work in your office, when you were at university.

Kondo　Mr Masahiro Miwa was a professor at the University of Art and Design at the time, and naturally I took his classes, but I started working part-time in his office when I was in my third year, and then joined his office. I was with Professor Miwa's office for about four and a half years. At Miwa's office, I was in charge of a wide range of work, including architecture, interior design and furniture, and I was able to learn the fundamentals.
Furthermore, having the opportunity to hear directly from Kiyoshi Seike, Togo Murano and Bunzo Yamaguchi was also a memorable experience.

ー　When did you meet Mr Shiro Kuramata?

Kondo　After the aforementioned Mr Shinohara, I was next struck by a class called Advanced Theory in which Mr Kuramata appeared as a guest. I was very surprised by Mr Kuramata's work that I saw at that time: the acrylic furniture and spaces designed in the late 1960s were irresistible to students. Furthermore, when I was in my fourth year, I took an assignment class with Mr Kuramata as his lecturer. It was a very vague assignment, commercial design, and Mr Kuramata's class was the most difficult of all - "everything is free" - but the opportunity to hear various stories in this class later led me to join the office.
I left the Miwa Office in the autumn of 1976 and met Mr Kuramata in December to discuss my next step. There, I was unexpectedly asked if I would help him because the office would be busy from the following year, and I started working at Kuramata Design Office in 1977.
I then worked in Mr Kuramata's office for about four years. It was a time when I was overwhelmed by Mr Kuramata's passion for design, which I saw up close, but on the other hand, it was also a place of valuable experience where I could think realistically about how I should think about my own design.

Post-independence and design methodologies

ー　You became independent in 1981. Did you have an idea at that time that this was the kind of design you wanted to do?

Kondo　I became independent in April 1981. II started thinking about my own design when I was at Kuramata Design Office. The reason being that I wondered if there was any design that was different from Mr Kuramata's design. I could never hope to have the same sensibility as Mr Kuramata, and since I was on his side, I couldn't follow Mr Kuramata's design. Then I had no choice but to think of another way.
This is a bit of a digression, but when I started my own business in the 1980s, society was in a period of high growth. At that time, there was no clear definition of what interior design was, and yet the number of jobs just kept increasing. The majority of my work was also in commercial spaces. Commercial in itself is not evil, but since the majority of the work is shop design, before you know it, interior design is considered to be the design of commercial spaces.
So why interior design is interesting is that it has the potential to become a new field of expression. In other words, because it has no known affiliation, it can be freely conceived. We thought it would also be editable with diverse genres, so I developed a "Methodology" to develop our own designs.

ー　You developed your designs under three different methodologies over a period of about 20 years, from 1981 to 2003, spanning one, two and three phases. Your debut project, and the first project of the first period, was "robe de chambre" in the AXIS building. It was an empty space with standing pillars and left a very strong impression on me. At the time, a wide variety of designers such as Mr Kuramata and Mr Shigeru Uchida were involved in the spatial design of the AXIS Building, how did you strategise and think about this?

Kondo　There was no particular strategy. For me, I was lucky to get this job in the first place. It was a project where the first design I had in mind was 100% realised.
Several rules need to be followed in developing the "Methodology". The first important position was the plan plan plan. It is not just a functional layout plan, but serves to create a new place within the architectural space. Next, based on this plan, the work moves on to the construction of the three-dimensional structure, and finally, the materials and colours are decided upon. Again, in the first phase, I decided on a gradation of colours from white to black and materials that were inorganic and non-assertive.
In "robe de chambre", the plane is made up of two rectangles, one large and one small, and the lines (pillars) that trace the shape of the rectangles rising from the plane create independent spaces within the interior space, which are then completed by adding shop functions to each space.
This became the prototype of my "Methodology", which has since been developed in various ways.
In this first phase, in order to automatically create independent spaces within spaces, it can be said that this was a period of rule-making, in which sensibility and sensory expression were eliminated as much as possible.

Add intensity to spaces and incorporate colour

ー　The first phase was from 1981 to 1983, what was the impetus for the transition to the second phase, which began in 1984?

Kondo　Quite simply, the speed at which design was consumed was much faster than we had imagined - perhaps a characteristic event of the 80s - and shop design developed and expanded nationwide, lured by the Japanese fashion business. In 1984, when I felt it was time to move on to the next step, I was asked to design the boutique "renoma monsieur", and as the theme of "brand restructuring" was included in the request, I decided to take this opportunity to change the design.
The first phase of the project, ‘Methodology Development’, was not immediately followed by the second phase, "Methodology + Form", so some of the work went back and forth a little, but from this point on, I added form, not as a superficial form design, but to further strengthen and intensify the space derived from the "Methodology".
Naturally, the second phase also requires rules. The overall plan is based on the method of the first phase, and form is added to columns, beams, walls and joints of fixtures, etc. For materials, steel plates are used extensively as they are an easy material to create form. I lifted some of the colour ban and decided on red as a colour that is more symbolic of the shape and as a colour insert.
Many people think of my work as designing for this period, but I am glad that I made the change at this time, given that it was so strong.

ー　Did you meet the architect Mr Shin Takamatsu during your second term?

Kondo　I met Mr Shin Takamatsu a little before this period, around 1983.
I first became aware of Mr Takamatsu when I heard from my editor, Masaru Kawayoko, that there was a strange architect in Kyoto. Later, when photographing a bar in Kyoto that I had designed, the photographer Mr Katsuaki Furudate brought Mr Takamatsu to the site and we met for the first time. At that time, he showed me around "ORIGIN", which was designed by Mr Takamatsu, and from there we began to get to know each other and had more opportunities to talk about various aspects of architecture and design.
I have received criticism about my work in the second phase. I was grateful that Mr Takamatsu criticised my designs in "Kenchiku-chishiki" (X-Knowledge, October 1985), calling them "architecture on the flip side".

ー　The book "AB Design" also contains Mr Takamatsu's explanation of "architecture of turning inside out". "His work seemed to be an architectural work. That was my first impression. I also felt that his work was very rational. (omitted) I once criticized his work as being the ‘architecture of turning inside out’. By this phrase I meant that if his rational thinking, or architectural thinking had achieved interior spaces with some quality and power, his works would not be interior designs in a general definition, but an architectural space which was composed of forms that made one think of a glove turned inside out".

Kondo　It is true that the spaces I create could be architecture, but I was once told that my work during the second phase resembled the architecture of MrTakamatsu. However, I did not imitate anyone, nor did I play with shapes, but took pride in the fact that it was born as a result of my "Methodology", which I developed from the first to the second phase, and I continued to strengthen my "Methodology" after this.

ー　What was the impetus for moving to that next third phase?

Kondo　The reason for the move to the third phase was that the scale of the spaces commissioned has increased and the function of the design has diversified in line with changes in the social environment.
My work on the "TOYOTA AUTO SALON AMLUX OSAKA" in 1993 was the catalyst for the change. Although essentially a car showroom, the space I was in charge of was requested to be a multi-purpose and versatile space. In the initial presentation, the design of the space was still considered following the design approach of the second phase and was symbolic, with the cylinder block of the engine on the column head. The presentation went through, but it was pointed out that the engine might disappear in the future, so I redesigned it again myself to change.
That's where we came to the third phase, "Methodology + Layering of the programme". The basic elements of the space - the floor, walls and ceiling - are made of different materials, which overlap each other and give different impressions depending on the angle of view, resulting in a space with a multiple structure. With this project, the addition of all elements such as colours and materials has increased the freedom and expanded the possibilities of spatial design using the "Methodology" we have considered so far.

Birth of a culminating project

ー　One of your best-known works, the 2000 "TSE Arrows", was also done in the third phase.

Kondo　The "TSE Arrows" project will be the culmination of my design work. With the systematisation of stock trading, the space for a standstill was no longer needed. A competition was held to consider how this space should be renewed. Dentsu's proposal to revitalise the space as a new image of the TSE was chosen, and I was commissioned to design the space. With an area of approximately 2000 square metres and a height of 14 metres, the interior space was unprecedented in scale.
In the course of designing the space, one space came to mind: the Musée d'Orsay in Paris. The former train station converted into a museum was a fascinating space that looked exactly like the interior architecture I had in mind.
In the TSE space, a new place is created within the original space by inserting a structure that combines a 10m-diameter cylinder cylinder and a cubic body. The electronic equipment and other symbolic facilities are placed there, the cylinders are made of transparent glass to show the transparency of the place, and the interior walls of the building are left intact to preserve the time and history of the building up to this point. The project has been completed using exactly the same thinking and"Methodology" that has been developed up to now.
It has been 24 years this year, but the fact that it still appears in the media every day, for example in stock price fluctuations, may indicate one direction for future spatial design, real or virtual, where the image of space is informationalised and established.

ー　I think the "Methodology" you came up with is very logical and clear. How did you instruct your staff to proceed with the project?

Kondo　We were working on a large number of projects at the same time, but the "Methodology" allowed us to proceed in a very streamlined way. Based on the "Methodology", we can deal with all projects while maintaining quality. For example, we break the space down on the drawing board first, and then proceed step by step from plan to three-dimensional drawing, so we can stop in the middle, look at other projects at the same time, or another person can continue with the project. The intermediate stages can be left to the staff and checked by me, but it is my job to come up with the initial plan of the plan. I always came up with that part of every project.

ー　Your books "INTERIOR SPACE DESIGNING" and "AB DESIGN" both explain the "Methodology" for each project.

Kondo　Both books are methodological commentaries and textbooks, as opposed to so-called collections of works.

ー　You also taught at the university, but did you also teach the "Methodology" in your classes?

Kondo　When I was 55, I was invited by three schools and decided that it was time for me to get involved in education.
The only way I could teach was through actual design, so just then I heard about the new design stratage at the Graduate School of Design at Kyushu University and decided to go, knowing that I would also need to teach practical classes.
I attended Kyushu University for five years and then Tokyo Zokei University for five years. At Kyushu University, the classes were mainly classroom-based, so I gave classes around the project, including methodological explanations. At Zokei University, the focus was on practical skills, so I gave classes mainly on "Methodology".

ー　When you look back at the history of interior design, especially in the 80s, there was a lot of mind-stirring interior design. In recent years, such spaces seem to have disappeared. Is the younger generation growing up?

Kondo　There is definitely more work, so I think there is a lot of younger generation coming up. But I think the way of thinking and values are different from the 80s, or rather from our time. I told you that interior design might have "the value of new expression", but now I think the emphasis has shifted too much to commercial value, and the volume and speed of information has made everything average and made it difficult to see the differences in design. Also, I feel that there are fewer opportunities to output my own designs. In particular, I feel that the decrease in media dealing with interior design has resulted in a situation where there is no critique at all. It may be a crisis situation as far as expression is concerned.

I took the opportunity of turning 70 to declutter my office

ー　This is where I would like to start talking about the archive. Your office has changed a lot, what was the catalyst for this?

Kondo　When I turned 70 in 2020, I wondered if I could continue like this, so two years ago I decluttered and discarded most of what was in this office and reduced the office space.

ー　Did you also destroy all your documents, such as drawings, sketches and photographs?

Kondo　The staff told me that I should keep the drawings, so I have kept them. Only two models were kept and most of the sketches were discarded. There are 4x5 positives of photographs, which became data images in 2005; when I turned 70, I finished all my university teaching and disposed of my library and filed materials that had passed their legal expiry date.

ー　What will you do with the drawings in the future?

Kondo　There is a limit to the number of sheets we can keep as there are quite a few. I believe I will eventually have to get rid of them.

ー　It seems to me that of all the design genres, interior design is the hardest to preserve archival material. Graphics are easy to leave behind because they are printed and not bulky, and products can leave behind something, if not everything, but in the case of interiors, especially commercial spaces, even though they are unique in the world, if they are demolished there will be no trace of them. Therefore, I think that if we don't leave at least traces of the fact that this kind of space once existed, nothing will really be left behind. We've recently felt that leaving books is also a form of archiving, preserving a person's work for future generations. Do you have a desire to leave a testimony of your life?

Kondo　It is true that keeping track of interior design can be a daunting task. Especially as my generation has been designing almost exclusively in the analogue era, it would be physically impossible to data-code everything from the very beginning. Even with my work, it's probably more than 800.
The question is what do you want to leave behind in the first place? Is it just a personal history or is there a point in leaving something behind? I think I have given a commentary in two books that focuses on my "Methodology", so I am asking myself what I want to do afterwards.

ー　Finally, I am asking you all, what are your thoughts on the lack of design museums in Japan that store archival material?

Kondo　I think it is still difficult to create a design museum. Design is established because of its relationship with society, and it changes on a daily basis. In other words, many things are born one after another, so it is difficult to judge where to cut and where to show. If you cut at odd points, you might be told that there is no point, and on the other hand, it would be difficult to cover everything. For example, if someone directs and selects the objects to be included in the museum, then it is determined by his/her viewpoint, so there will be a lot of different opinions again.
The problem is that design has a short history. The history of interior design in particular is only about 50 or 60 years old. Because of its young history, there are few critiques and reviews. It might be a good idea to take advantage of this and leave it in a state where someone can discover it later. We can only leave a record of the existence of such a designer, and leave the evaluation of that designer, whether 100 or 200 years later, to the person who discovers him or her at that time. Design has a short history and is still very much unknown, so I think one idea would be to leave it to future generations.

ー　Thank you very much for the two interviews and your valuable time.

Enquiry:

YASUO KONDO DESIGN
http://www.kon-do.co.jp/