THE DESIGN PROCESS OF THE JINMU EMPEROR'S HONORING MONUMENT BY HIROSHI OHE
A study on the design activities of Hiroshi Ohe in the Ministry of Education: Part 1
2018 Volume 83 Issue 747 Pages 949-955
Details
2018 Volume 83 Issue 747 Pages 949-955
This study aims to elucidate Hiroshi Ohe's activities in the Ministry of Education and to consider the architectural view of Ohe before the world war II.
Hiroshi Ohe (1913－1989) worked as a technician at the Ministry of Education from 1938 to the beginning of 1941 and was involved in the construction of the Jinmu Emperor's honoring monument and the National History Museum. This study collected and analyzed primary materials such as sketches, drawings, and documents created by Ohe during the Ministry of Education's Technical Time, which have been stored in the Ohe Architecture Atelier (formerly Ohe Hiroshi Architects). The design process of Jinmu Emperor's honoring monument from the first stage to the fourth stage can be considered a process of a gradual reduction in the conceptions of Ohe.
It is assumed that the theme of Ohe's sketches in the first stage was to superpose the space containing the monument by creating a plan and sequence in order to gradually join the area on the outside to that on the inside. Therefore, it can be pointed out that Ohe's intention in the later years, which emphasizes the psychological changes in people who experience building, has already been taken into account in the design of the monument.
In the later years, Ohe developed criticism against modernist architecture, advocating the principle of “interminglement and coexistence” and arguing about the importance of roofing and decoration.
It is assumed that the sketch of Fig. 11 contains the themes of roofing and decoration, deviating from simplicity that is one of the features of modernism architecture. Therefore, this sketch is considered an important material foretelling the construction of Ohe during the later years.
