Toshiharu Naka

160 pages, Japanese/English

This book by architect Toshiharu Naka establishes specific concepts based on two systems: a “Social Cycle”, or a cycle coexisting with small economies, and an “Ecological Cycle”, or a cycle of natural energy and resources. He illustrates his macroscopic idea to integrate the two through his architectural works. Naka’s detailed speculation includes the live/work house, places for spontaneous activity, landscapes of grouped houses, realising possibilities for fusion, and dynamic programme theory. He proposes intermediate areas as spaces for interaction with the outside, giving visibility to the social cycle, or as thermal environments, allowing the ecological cycle to become visible as well.