astronomy

Terunobu Fujimori

Terunobu Fujimori is a astronomy topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Terunobu Fujimori rather than just read about it. In short: Terunobu Fujimori (藤森照信, Fujimori Terunobu; November 21, 1946) is a Japanese architect and architectural historian. During the 1970s and 1980s he made studies of the city about early Western buildings and unusual occurrences, and did not turn to architecture until he was in his forties.

Key takeaways

Terunobu Fujimori belongs to astronomy; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Terunobu Fujimori to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Terunobu Fujimori from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Terunobu Fujimori (藤森照信, Fujimori Terunobu; November 21, 1946) is a Japanese architect and architectural historian. During the 1970s and 1980s he made studies of the city about early Western buildings and unusual occurrences, and did not turn to architecture until he was in his forties. His work is considered by many to be eccentric but is characterised by his use of natural materials. Although he is well known in Japan as a cultural commentator he was not widely known in the West until he represented Japan at the 2006 Venice Biennale.

Career Fujimori was born in Miyakawa-mura (part of modern-day Chino City) in Nagano Prefecture, Japan. He studied at Tōhoku University before entering graduate school at the University of Tokyo. He is currently a professor at the University of Tokyo's Institute of Industrial Science. Whilst writing his thesis in the 1970s Fujimori formed the Architecture Detectives. In this group he and his colleagues searched the city to find and photograph early Western-style buildings. Twelve years of work on this subject resulted in the publication of the book Adventures of an Architectural Detective: Tokyo (1986). In 1986 Fujimori formed the Roadway Observation Society with Genpei Akasegawa, Shinbo Minami, Joji Hayashi, Tetsuo Matsuda. The group records unusual but naturally occurring patterns in the city, for example the pattern left by a tree on a concrete wall or a rubbish bin that has been bent over to form a seat. Their studies have been compared to Venturi and Scott-Brown's Learning from Las Vegas. In 1991, Fujimori began to practice architecture with his first work, the Jinchōkan Moriya Historical Museum (神長官守矢史料館 Jinchōkan Moriya Shiryōkan) in Chino, Nagano. Architectural influences for his work include Le Corbusier, Claude Nicolas Ledoux, Takamasa Yoshizaka, the Ise Shrine and Callanish Standing Stones. His architecture is characterised by eccentricity and humour, experimental use of natural materials and the subversion of traditional techniques. Although the Jinchōkan Moriya Historical Museum has been criticised for merely wrapping a concrete structure in natural materials, it was praised by architect Kengo Kuma as "generating fond feelings of familiarity in people who had never seen it before". Well known in Japan as an author, cultural commentator and TV host he was relatively unknown in the West until he represented Japan in the 2006 Venice Biennale. His display in the Japanese pavilion showed houses sprouting leeks and dandelions. As the theme of the Biennale was the "city" Fujimori included a woven rice twine hut housing a slide presentation of the work of ROJO. In 2010 he contributed the Beetle's House to one of seven designs for the V&A's "1:1 Architects Build Small Spaces" exhibition. His work with ROJO has left an impression on younger architects like Yoshiharu Tsukamoto and Momoyo Kajima of Atelier Bow-Wow. Like Fujimori they surveyed the city for "no-good" architecture and published their findings in the book Made in Tokyo. In 2018 he served as advisor of exhibition Japan in Architecture: Genealogies of Its Transformations curated by Director of Mori Art Museum Fumio Nanjo

Takasugi-an Tea House (2003–2004)

Situated in Chino in Nagano Prefecture, the Takasugi-an Tea House is a four and a half tatami mat tea house supported six metres above the ground on two load-bearing trees (the name literally means "too high tea house"). Rather than using the traditional method of entering a tea house by stooping low, the visitor climbs a ladder to the top. Fujimori played with the traditional elements of a tea house in a modern way. For example, the picture scroll (kakejiku) that normally gives a clue about the time of year is replaced with a large window that frames a view to the town where Fujimori grew up. It is supported on two chestnut trees that were cut and moved to the site from a nearby mountain.

Lamune Onsen (2004–2005)

Lamune Onsen is situated in Takeda in Ōita Prefecture. Lamune is the name of a popular fizzy drink that resembles the warm carbonated water that is characteristic of the area. The onsen is owned by the owner of a nearby traditional inn and is used by guests and members of the public alike. The façade is composed of alternate vertical bands of charred yakisugi cedar and white mortar. Its many towers act as exhausts for letting out steam and are roofed with hand-rolled copper sheets. The apex of each tower is planted with a live pine tree. The waiting room has furniture carved from burnt cedar and one wall in the men's section has mother-of-pearl shells pressed into it.

Nemunoki Museum of Art (2004–2006)

The Nemunoki Museum of Art is situated in Kakegawa in Shizuoka Prefecture. It was designed to house works of art by physically disabled children from an institute formed by the Japanese singer and actress Mariko Miyagi in 1967. Jutting out of the hillside, Fujimori compares its design to a "hairy mammoth". The hand-rolled copper roof is connected to the hill by a line of living grass along the ridge. The route through the museum is choreographed to take the visitor from the reception into a landscaped garden before re-entering the museum through a small door at the back. This route is designed to offer an interlude for purification and contemplation from everyday life before viewing the works of art. The simple white interior is punctuated with a lattice-like screen above the main gallery that is reminiscent of the mammoth's spine.

Awards Mainichi Publication Culture Award (for Meiji Plans for Tōkyō) Suntory Prize for Social Science and Humanities (for Adventures of an Architectural Detective: Tokyo) Japan Grand Art Prix for the Nira (Leek) house Architectural Institute of Japan Prix for the Student Dormitory of Kumamoto Agricultural College (2001)

Selected projects Jinchōkan Moriya Historical Museum (1991), Chino, Nagano Dandelion House (1995), Kokubunji, Tokyo Nira House (Leek House) (1997), Machida, Tokyo Fuku Akino Art Museum (1998), Hamamatsu City, Shizuoka Prefecture Takasugi-an Tea House, (2004), Chino, Nagano Chocolate House, (2009), Kokubunji, Tokyo Roof House (2009), Shiga Prefecture Beetle’s House (2010), 1:1 – Architects Build Small Spaces, Daylit Gallery, V&A, London

Footnotes

… excerpt ends here. Continue reading the full article.

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Terunobu Fujimori

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Terunobu Fujimori claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In astronomy, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Terunobu Fujimori before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Terunobu Fujimori ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Terunobu Fujimori

In research: Terunobu Fujimori appears in astronomy research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Terunobu Fujimori in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Terunobu Fujimori is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1946 births, Academic staff of the University of Tokyo, Academics from Nagano Prefecture, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Terunobu Fujimori outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Terunobu Fujimori in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Terunobu Fujimori means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Terunobu Fujimori out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Terunobu Fujimori in simple terms?

Why does Terunobu Fujimori matter?

Because it connects several astronomy ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Terunobu Fujimori?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Terunobu Fujimori.