Architecture and Urbanism: Residence in Hozumidai, Japan, by Matsunami Mitsutomo. Original or simplistic?

For approximately a decade, architecture has enjoyed popularity and media attention like never before, which has generated various positions on the part of architects, always seeking to solve specific needs while achieving a unique aesthetic in the process.

For those cases in which the attempt to attract the viewer's attention is taken to the extreme, the term "architecture of the spectacle" has been coined, or more colloquially and disparagingly, it is called vedette architecture. Matsunami Mitsutomo's residence in Hozumidai does not fall into this category at all, but in essence it could be said that he suffers from the same evil.

The project consists of 4 affordable three-level homes, a bit the Japanese equivalent of what in Latin America we would call popular architecture or low-income housing. Each of the houses is independent from the others, but they were conceived as a single project by sharing lot 352E on the street where they are located.

And this is where the part that generates a certain conflict comes to me, since Mitsutomo uses the facades of the houses as a huge sign with the number of the property they occupy. Although this manages to attract attention, which turns the resource into a success, it still seems like a facility, a resource rather than a merit, an occurrence rather than good design.

A little stylization would not have hurt the concept, there were more original and creative ways to achieve the same, but probably due to the economic aspect, it must be admitted, the most practical and obvious option was chosen: use the balconies to "write" on the facades.

Original or simplistic? Everyone can have their own conclusion, what is undeniable is that anyone who looks at them will remember them, and ultimately that is what matters ... or not? what do you think?

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