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よみがえったライトの建造物
アメリカの建築家フランク・ロイド・ライトは1920年前後の6年間に、さまざま作品を日本で手掛けた。
その中の一つに、自由学園の明日館がある。
帝国ホテル・ライト館の場合と異なって、明日館はタイミングよく重要文化財に指定された幸運もあり、修復工事を経て、現在は一般に広く利用される施設として健在だ。
Restored to life
During the six tumultuous years that Frank Lloyd Wright lived off and on in Tokyo (1917-1922), he poured his prodigious creativity into the Imperial Hotel. It would remain, as the many decades of his career passed, his largest and most complex project. But America's greatest architect also designed over a dozen other buildings for Japan, and the Imperial was not his only design to survive the 1923 Kanto Earthquake.
With construction of the hotel under way in 1920, Wright accepted a commission for a new girl's school in Mejiro, Tokyo. It was to be called Jiyu Gakuen, or School of the Free Spirit, typifying the liberalism of the era. The school's founders, Motoko and Yoshikazu Hani, were progressive journalists who wanted to prepare girls to be more productive and self-reliant.
Wright was introduced to the Hanis by his righthand man, Arata Endo, and the two architects collaborated so closely on the design that the final plans were signed by both of them — the first time Wright had ever shared credit. Built in a style evoking Wright's Prairie houses, Jiyu Gakuen featured a central section with double-height volume, and soaring windows facing south onto an open courtyard, embraced by symmetrical wings on the east and west.
The school outgrew its Tokyo location in 1929, and moved to a new campus in a western suburb. The original building was renamed "Myonichikan," and became the center of alumni activities. This continued until the mid-1980s, when it literally began to crumble from age. The cost of desperately needed repairs was no longer tenable, yet without them, Myonichikan had become a safety hazard.
At the same time, Japan's economic bubble had turned Myonichikan's lot into a potential goldmine — the land beneath the building was valued at a staggering $240 million (¥30 billion at that time). The solution seemed simple: Myonichikan had to go. Never mind its cultural value, the commercial value of the land made a sale impossible to resist.
But fans of the Wright building were legion, and for nearly 10 years, they fought to save Myonichikan from demolition. After the failure to save Wright's Imperial Hotel 25 years earlier, the preservationists were determined not to lose this time. Finally, the Japanese government revised its criteria for designating Important Cultural Properties, allowing historic buildings to be used in new ways, as they already were in Europe and America.
In 2001, after two years of restoration work, Myonichikan, now an Important Cultural Property, reopened as a public venue. It has been fully booked for banquets, parties, concerts and weddings ever since — proving beyond a doubt that beautiful old buildings can find vibrant new lives if we give them the chance.
- Restored to life
- よみがえる
- tumultuous
- 慌しい
- Frank Lloyd Wright
- フランク・ロイド・ライト(米建築家)
- off and on
- 断続的に
- prodigious
- 並外れた
- Imperial Hotel
- 帝国ホテル
- Kanto Earthquake
- 関東大震災
- With 〜 under way
- 〜の進行と並行して
- commission
- 仕事
- Jiyu Gakuen
- 自由学園
- typifying 〜
- 〜を象徴して
- founders
- 創立者
- Motoko and Yoshikazu Hani
- 羽仁もと子と吉一
- progressive
- 進歩的な
- productive
- 社会で活躍できる
- self-reliant
- 自立した
- the Hanis
- 羽仁夫妻
- righthand man
- 右腕
- Arata Endo
- 遠藤新(建築家1889-1951)
- collaborated
- 協力して取り組んだ
- credit
- 功績
- evoking 〜
- 〜を想起させる
- Prairie houses
- 草原住宅
- featured
- 〜を特徴とした
- central section
- 中心部
- double-height
- 2階分の高さの
- volume
- 量感
- soaring windows
- そびえ立つような窓
- courtyard
- 中庭
- embraced by 〜
- 〜にいだかれた
- symmetrical wings
- 左右対称の棟
- outgrew
- 〜が手狭になった
- Myonichikan
- 明日館
- alumni
- 卒業生
- crumble
- 崩れる
- tenable
- 負担できる
- safety hazard
- 安全性に欠けるもの
- lot
- 敷地
- staggering
- 驚くべき
- solution
- 解決策
- Never mind 〜
- 〜ではない
- legion
- 多数の
- demolition
- 取り壊し
- preservationists
- 保護運動家
- criteria
- 基準
- designating 〜
- 〜に指定すること
- Important Cultural Properties
- 重要文化財
- restoration work
- 修復工事
- venue
- 施設
- banquets
- 祝宴
- vibrant
- 活気に満ちた