Digital Archive for [Co-ownership of Action: Trajectories of Elements]

Data and Loss

May.2021

© SUNAKI

3D Scan
Archive

Digital Archive for [Co-ownership of Action: Trajectories of Elements]

Data and Loss

This project developed a component archive and a 3D scanning proof-of-concept for the Japan Pavilion exhibition "Co-ownership of Action: Trajectories of Elements" at the 17th Venice Biennale of Architecture. The subject was the Takamizawa House, a postwar wooden residence in Tokyo that had been repeatedly extended and renovated over decades, then dismantled and reassembled in Venice.

The exhibition treated architectural production as a chain of actions: parts are cut, replaced, repaired, mislabeled, and recombined while moving across time and geography. Our archive sits between demolition and reconstruction, providing a way to track elements as they leave their original context and begin a different life elsewhere.

Components Archive

The components archive links each dismantled component to identifiers, notes, photographs, and 3D data so that pieces can be searched, compared, and reconnected after disassembly. It records not only what a part "is," but also what happened to it: traces of use, defects, and ambiguities that appear when a house is taken apart.

Instead of aiming for a complete database, it treats loss as an essential condition. Missing surfaces, unscanned joints, uncertain adjacency, and elements that could not be digitized remain visible as gaps in the record. These gaps are not errors to be corrected later, but boundaries that shape how the house can be re-imagined.

3D Scanning Proof-of-Concept

For digitization, we tested both handheld laser scanning and photogrammetry. To stabilize long timber members and to provide reference points for recognition, we built simple jigs using off-the-shelf materials and a marker film frame. We first scanned the jig itself, then scanned the component inside it, and used the difference between the two scans to remove the marker geometry from the final data.

Under constraints of time, budget, and data volume, roughly one tenth of an estimated 1,000 components were digitized. The coverage is uneven by design: the archive preserves the limits of what could be captured, alongside what could not.

Photogrammetry was also tested as a low-barrier option, but long members and fine joinery proved difficult to reconstruct within the available time. The comparison clarified which types of elements benefit from which recording method, and where the "shadow" of missing data begins.

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「行為の共有:エレメントの軌跡」デジタルアーカイブ

データと欠損

本プロジェクトは、第17回ヴェネチア・ビエンナーレ国際建築展日本館展示「行為の共有:エレメントの軌跡」のために実施した、部材アーカイブ構築と3Dスキャニングの実証実験である。対象は、戦後の東京に建てられ、増改築を重ねて独自の形態へと変化してきた《高見澤邸》。解体と移動を経てヴェネチアで再構築される過程で、部材が辿る軌跡と、そこで生じる欠損をあわせて記録することを目指した。

本展が扱うのは、建築が生産される過程そのものだ。切断、交換、継ぎ足し、誤用や転用といった行為が連鎖し、部材は時間と距離を越えて別の意味を獲得していく。アーカイブは、その連鎖の途中に挿入される「引き継ぎ」の装置として、解体前後のあいだに起こる変化を受け止める。

部材アーカイブ

部材アーカイブでは、解体された部材を1点ずつ整理し、識別子、寸法・部位のメモ、写真、3Dデータを紐づける。形状の分類だけではなく、傷、汚れ、欠け、由来の曖昧さなど、解体によって露わになる「状態」を併記し、後から照合できる痕跡として残す。

完全なデータベースではなく、解体後に「どれがどれだったか」を追い直すための索引として、関係を記述できる粒度を優先した。欠損や不確実性は消去せず、記録の空白として可視化する。その空白は後から埋めるべき未完成ではなく、別の土地で部材が再び組み替わるときに、想像が入り込む余地でもある。

3Dスキャニング実証

3D化の方法として、レーザー式ハンディスキャナとフォトグラメトリを検証した。長尺材や単色面は認識が難しいため、透明フィルム+マーカーで参照空間をつくる簡易治具を用意し、撮影・スキャンの安定性を高めた。治具だけのスキャンと、治具に部材を入れたスキャンを取り、差分を取ることでマーカーの情報を除去する方法も試した。

時間・予算・データ量の制約のなかで、約1,000点のうち約1/10をデータ化したが、その偏りもまた「欠損」として残る。フォトグラメトリは導入コストが低い一方で、長物や仕口などの細部再現が難しく、実験の範囲では十分な結果に至らなかった。記録できたものと、影として抜け落ちたものの境界を含めて、アーカイブは「できたこと」を誇示するのではなく、「できなかったこと」まで含めた現実の輪郭を残す。

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Credit
TextTaichi Sunayama
Archive construction / 3D scanning proof-of-conceptRisako Okuizumi
Writing supportMio Kawabata
Web developmentKei Fujimoto
Information
ExhibitionThe 17th International Architecture Exhibition - La Biennale di Venezia
ThemeHow will we live together?
DirectorHashim Sarkis
VenuesGiardini di Castello, Arsenale, etc.
Exhibition PeriodMay 22, 2021 - November 21, 2021
Websitehttps://www.labiennale.org
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The Japan Pavilion
ThemeCo-ownership of Action: Trajectories of Elements
Commissioner/OrganizerThe Japan Foundation (JF)
VenueJapan Pavilion (Giardini, Biennale Venue)
Websitehttps://vba2020.jp/
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Credit
CuratorKozo Kadowaki
Participating ArchitectsJo Nagasaka, Ryoko Iwase, Toshikatsu Kiuchi, Taichi Sunayama, Daisuke Motogi
Participating DesignerRikako Nagashima
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Other collaborators
ResearchersNorimasa Aoyagi, Aya Hiwatashi, Naoyuki Matsumoto, Tetsu Makino, Building System Design Laboratory at Meiji University (Kozo Kadowaki, Makoto Isono, Kimihito Ito)
EditorJiro Iio
AdvisorKayoko Ota
PhotographerJan Vranovský
VideographerHirofumi Nakamoto
Exhibition DesignSchemata Architects (Jo Nagasaka, Sanako Osawa, Yuhei Yagi), Studio IWASE|Architecture + Landscape (Ryoko Iwase, Kaoru Endo, Musashi Makiyama), sunayama studio + Toshikatsu Kiuchi Architect (Taichi Sunayama, Toshikatsu Kiuchi, Risako Okuizumi, Takuma Shiozaki, Kei Machida / Zu Architects), DDAA (Daisuke Motogi, Riku Murai)
Graphic Designvillage® (Rikako Nagashima, Kohei Kawaminami, Hiroyuki Inada)
web developerKei Fujimoto
Structural EngineeringTECTONICA (Yoshinori Suzuki, Kakeru Tsuruta), Mitsuhiro Kanada Studio at Tokyo University of the Arts (Mitsuhiro Kanada), yasuhirokaneda STRUCTURE (Yasuhiro Kaneda)
Exhibition ConstructionTANK (Naritake Fukumoto, Ai Noguchi, Takashi Arai), Takahiro Kai, Tsuguhiro Komazaki, Takashi Takamoto, Masayasu Fujiwara, Mauro Pasqualin, Pieter Jurriaanse, Paolo Giabardo, Valentino Pascolo, Jacopo David, Tommaso Rampazzo
Fabrication CooperationSo Sugita Lab at Hiroshima Institute of Technology
Local CoordinatorHarumi Muto
Exhibition Design Managementassociates (Kozo Kadowaki, Akiko Kadowaki)
Exhibition Design Managementassociates (Kozo Kadowaki, Akiko Kadowaki)
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Sponsors
With special support ofIshibashi Foundation
Sponsored byStroog Inc., JINS Holdings Inc., Suikoukai Medical Corporation, Japan, KAMAWANU CO., LTD., Window Research Institute
In cooperation withunder design Co., Ltd., IWASAKI ELECTRIC CO., LTD., NBC Meshtec Inc., KUMONOS Corporation, DAIKO ELECTRIC CO., LTD., Japan 3D Printer Co., Ltd, HAGIHARA INDUSTRIES INC., Rotho Blaas