the wonderful world of raepo

First Christian Church, Columbus, Indiana. Look at the finish on those bricks! And the coursing on that grid! And those paneled doors! Love it.

From the top: a fire house; a pigeon visiting a Kevin Roche building; three views inside an I.M. Pei library; a war memorial by Maryann Thompson. All in Columbus, Indiana.

North Christian Church, Columbus, Indiana.

Miller House, Columbus, Indiana. 

Maekawa’s modernist concert hall in Ueno Park, the Bunka Kaikan, blew me away. It out-Corbued the heck out of the LeCorbusier theater across the park. Until next time, Japan!

We stopped by Yamashita’s striking From First retail space in Omotesando, Tokyo.

Visited the Asakura Museum in Tokyo, which is devoted to that sculptor’s work, which seems to mostly be about cats. Also there was a rad roof garden!

We popped into Kurokawa’s National Art Center in Roppongi, Tokyo for postcard/gift shop fun. Check out those cones though!

Walking through Maekawa’s ROHM Theater in Kyoto after the rain

The first day in Tokyo, we stumbled upon this pre-war Frank Lloyd Wright building, the Jiyu Gakuen Girls’ School. Some pretty bizarre, acrobatic details in that place.

While traveling through Nagano, we visited Matsumoto castle, then hiked along the old Tokugawa-era samurai path from Tsumago to Magome in the Kiso valley. Greg found a satsumaimo sweet potato, and we learned that animals won’t eat the persimmons that are strung up outside to dry. Also, Nagano showed us wonderful oyaki dumplings and a lot of things you can do with a chestnut.

We communed with the snow monkeys of Yamanouchi, then explored the mountain resort town that supports that park.

We visited Taniguchi’s D.T. Suzuki Museum in Kanazawa on the way to Kiso.

We took a train to Kanazawa and visited SANAA’s 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art. So many good reflections! So much blinding direct light.

Walking around Kyoto, we spotted a Fukihimo Maki-designed office, a face-facade, and a troop of uniformed children on a field trip.

This temple had an amazing system in place called the nightingale floor. Give it a listen: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jJThECzA1bc

Still damp and slippery outside, next we visited Shorenin(?) temple. The wet stone and landscape seem especially vivid against the overcast backdrop.