Built Environment

An Alternative Guide to Japan

An Exhibition featuring sustainable Japanese Architecture and a Public Dialogue with Japanese & Filipino architects and an engineer

September 1 to November 14, 2020

Metropolitan Museum of Manila | Tall Galleries
Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas Complex, Roxas Boulevard, 1302 Manila, Philippines

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The Japan Foundation, Manila and the Metropolitan Museum of Manila, in cooperation with Embassy of Japan in the Philippines are pleased to announce the traveling exhibition Built Environment: An Alternative Guide to Japan which will be physically exhibited from September 1 to 30, 2020 at the Metropolitan Museum of Manila.

Built Environment: An Alternative Guide to Japan presents a rarely considered aspect of Japan, taking the built environment of the various of regions of a country that is geographically diverse and often struck by natural disasters, with the aim of examining how Japanese people have engaged and struggled with the natural environment and how they have carried on and created locality. The exhibition features photographs, texts, and videos to introduce a total of 80 buildings, civil-engineering projects, and landscapes which extends from the modern era of the late 19th century to the present, and geographically, it includes at least one offering from each of Japan’s 47 prefectures. It has been exhibited in countries like Vietnam, South Korea, China, India, and more.

In view of the current restrictions on limited openings and gatherings, the exhibition will be launched on September 1, 2020 during an online webinar which will feature a virtual tour of the exhibition at the MET followed by a dialogue with the curator and a panel of Japanese and Philippine architects and an engineer focusing on the built environments both in Japan and the Philippines, using responsive design that withstand natural disasters including a perilous pandemic in both countries.

The webinar will feature the Curator of the Exhibition, KURAKATA Shunsuke (Associate Professor of Faculty of Engineering at Osaka City University), KUROKAWA Sho (CEO, Sho Kurokawa architects Co. Ltd.), Jo MIRANDA (Chairman, United Architects of the Philippines-Emergency Architects), Lorena HERNANDEZ (Project Team Leader, TAO-Pilipinas) and moderated by Architect Emmanuel MIÑANA, Principal of E.A. Miñana Architects, and a member of the MET Museum of Manila Board of Trustees.

“We hope that Built Environment: An Alternative Guide to Japan offers a comprehensive look at not just the elegant design and sophisticated technology of Japanese architecture, but also their relation to history, culture, and the environment. We hope that this exhibition can also contribute to a meaningful dialogue with Filipino architects, engineers, and other sustainability experts as both countries deal with diverse geography, natural disasters, and other global changes,” says UESUGI Hiroaki, Director of the Japan Foundation, Manila.