Ghost Rail Factories and Roller Coasters

For school I have to read some core texts for architecture and landscape architecture.  I hope to talk about each of these books individually, time permitting.  Here is the first of 5 installments.    

The first book I read was Made in Tokyo, a analysis of modern architecture in Japan, full of different examples of architecture indicative of Japanese style and culture.  "All roads lead to logistical urbanity" the authors state, arguing for a more fluid approach to development and approving of the subsequent resulting styles.  The core of the theory centers on the notion of interdisciplinary design, saying that architecture in Tokyo necessarily combines architecture, urbanism, landscape architecture, anthropology, biology, engineering, physics, art, and so on.  Eventually this leads to a modern Tokyo, one that comprehensively synthesizes all the different fields into a cohesive architecture unique to Tokyo.

Though I enjoyed the examples in the book, including a repurposed abandoned ghost rail factory and a roller coastal central to the city, most of the ideas seem rather obvious.

Of course architecture is multi-disciplinary; it is inherent in the field, which is also true for many other fields as well.  Perhaps the authors' main intent was not to suggest that this be adopted by all architects, but instead to look at Tokyo as a technical and immediate example of successful architectural urbanism.  

Regardless, the examples presented are interesting, as they provide brief insight into a city and culture I am unfamiliar with.  My background in anthropology has trained me to understand this, but it never occurred to me to apply this to architecture.  The 20th century in architecture attempted to produce a universal, international language for architecture, which I believe is the correct approach, yet Made in Tokyo proves that this may not be entirely possible, as different cultures designed different spaces for different purposes.

The United States of America may have a roller coaster looping through Las Vegas, but an abandoned railway now being used as a plaster factory, a sex building that is essentially a prostitution house, an apartment mountain temple, and a self proclaimed "Vampire Park" used normally as a standard park, train station, and blood donation center are unique to Tokyo.  Granted other countries may adopt similar practices or spaces into their own cultures, but for now I'm convinced to look at each architectural instance as a separate entity, which will hopefully allow me to better approach the application of my own architectural theories.