Challenging Technology
to Create Unprecedented
Formative Beauty
Shimizu Corporation
Shotaro Takenaka
―― You are working in construction management at a leading Japanese construction company. How are you involved in this pavilion?
"I am responsible for the construction of the pavilion. The Joint Pavilion Iida Group x Osaka Metropolitan University was started as the first private order. The infrastructure was not yet in place so there were many problems in coordinating the construction with the work area. However, as the site manager, I became responsible for ensuring that the construction proceeds smoothly."
―― What were some of the difficulties you faced in producing the pavilion?
The Joint Pavilion Iida Group x Osaka Metropolitan University is characterized by its unprecedented complex steel structure used for the pavilion construction. During the production stage, there was great difficulty in achieving this shape, which can only be drawn in 3D, while ensuring the required quality and accuracy. In the construction work, with the support of a dedicated department that specializes in steel construction, we analyzed in advance what forces would be applied during the assembly, welding, and tightening of the steel frame, and how deformation and twisting will occur. Based on the results of that analysis, we made efforts to maintain the accuracy of the steel frame construction method and to maintain the necessary accuracy of the steel frame.
―― What do you want visitors to feel?
I want the visitors to see and experience the extraordinary space where Nishijin Textile, a traditional Japanese fabric, is used as the exterior material. It is unimaginable in the conventional sense. Personally, I like the shape of the steel frame the most, and I am very disappointed that we cannot actually see it while it is open, but I am really impressed by its magnificence. Through this pavilion, I hope that visitors around the world will sense the richness of Japanese ideas and the technical skill required to achieve this by challenging things that are often thought to be impossible.
