Koichi Takada recently sat down with Hamid Hassanzadeh, founder of Parametric Architecture, to discuss the evolution of his architecture practice and his driving forces.
“I grew up in Tokyo, where we have beautiful nature that expresses four season. Nature is very close to living there. That’s the beautiful part of nature. But equally in Japan there are also earthquakes, tsunami and dangerous parts of natural phenomenon that we learn to live with. You learn to respect nature. You learn to co-live with nature. That’s really a fundamental part of how we design architecture today.”
Launching in 2008 during the GFC was brave, but with three projects to bolster confidence, Takada left his employment, rented a space and set up Koichi Takada Architects.
“…and then after two or three months, the projects were essentially cancelled. The feeling of nervousness when you wake up in the morning not knowing what to do. I remember I went to my rented space with my white desk and opened my sketch book with no sketches in it, a white canvas. It’s been a tradition to go back to the blank canvas – that gives you a lot of imagination. A lot of thoughts come to mind and you start sketching or writing. That’s how I started, essentially by myself.”
Watch the full interview here: PA TALKS #48
