Lecture: A Place for People to Meet
On February 9th, the Embassy of Japan hosted a lecture ‘A Place for People to Meet’ by Mr. Manabu Chiba, professor at Graduate School of Architecture, University of Tokyo / principal of Chiba Manabu Architects.
At the invitation of Azrieli School of Architecture and Urbanism, Carlton University, Mr. Chiba visited Canada and gave lectures in Ottawa, Montreal and Toronto.
In his opening remarks, Ambassador Monji introduced some architectural works in Ottawa which were designed by Japanese and Japanese-Canadian architects, like the Delegation of the Ismaili Imamat building and the Canadian War Museum. He also said that he hopes future Japanese architects will continue to share their philosophies and design aesthetics with Canadian audiences.
Mr. Chiba explained different stages of the building process by showing many slides of his own works, such as Kogakuin University (the Murano Togo Prize and the BCS Prize, 2014) and the Japan Guide Dog Center (the Prize of Architectural Institute of Japan, 2009).
He also mentioned his program support for the Great East Japan Earthquake affected area. This includes “Archi+Aid”, an Architects’ Network to Support Reconstruction and “Cycling Oshika”, a project to promote tourism in Ishinomaki City, Miyagi prefecture through biking. Mr. Chiba, who is a cyclist himself, developed the initiative with the support of Ministry of Environment and other private companies.
After the lecture, there was a lively Question and Answer session getting to the essence of the Japanese architecture with questions covering the influence he received from Japanese traditional architecture and current situation of disaster affected area.
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