The Exhibition is presented by The Teatro dell’architettura Mendrisio (TAM) and the Università della Svizzera italiana (USI)
The Teatro dell’architettura Mendrisio (TAM)of the Università della Svizzera italiana (USI) is pleased to present, from April 11, 2025 until October 5, 2025, the exhibition‘Make Do With Now: New Directions in Japanese Architecture’.
The exhibition explores the ideas and projects of a new generation of Japanese architects and urban practitioners who began their careers following the 2011 earthquake and the Fukushima disaster. Turning their marginal position into a strength, these young architects have developed critical, ecological, and social engaged practices, demonstrating that it is possible to “make do” creatively by working with limited resources, existing buildings, and using found materials. Moving away from the traditional image of the architect-author, they are redefining the profession through a socially and critically engaged approach.
Ahead of the exhibition, the Academy of Architecture will host a series of five public lectures from February 20 to April 10, 2025, featuring five architectural studios active in Japan today, whose projects will be presented in the exhibition.
The final lecture, scheduled for April 10, 2025, at 6.30 pm, will coincide with the opening of ‘Make Do with Now: New Directions in Japanese Architecture’.
The Exhibition “Make Do With Now”
‘Make Do With Now: New Directions in Japanese Architecture’introduces the thinking and projects of a new generation of architects and urban practitioners working in Japan today. Born between the mid-1970s and mid-1990s, the architects featured in the exhibition largely entered professional practice following the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake and Fukushima nuclear disaster. This is a generation that must grapple with a range of urgent problems currently facing the country, including a declining, graying population and an emptying countryside; the proliferation of vacant houses across the nation; profit-driven urban development, mostly without the involvement of architects; a stagnant economy; and, of course, the global climate crisis.
Instead of being humbled into resignation, however, many architects of this cohort are choosing to confront these challenges head-on. Turning their marginalized position into a strength, they are developing a range of critical, ecological, and social practices that creatively “make do” – with limited resources, with found materials, or with existing spaces. In contrast to the clean lines and minimalist spaces most recently associated with contemporary Japanese architecture, these projects pursue a decidedly different aesthetic politics that isn’t afraid to leave things rough around the edges. Whether working from the periphery, exploiting gaps in the system, or occupying roles in the process that have previously been overlooked, these practitioners are articulating a new architectural agency that radically departs from the traditional image of the architect-author.
These approaches coming out of Japan today are anything but a marginal phenomenon, but rather hold crucial relevance for a world that is coming to terms with a future beyond a paradigm of constant growth. In this sense, these Japanese positions form an important contribution to a global discussion. They demonstrate that to ‘make do’ by no means signalizes a lack; rather, they make us realize the creative flourishing that follows when we recognize that what we have is already more than enough.
‘Make Do With Now: New Directions in Japanese Architecture’ is an exhibition of the S AM Swiss Architecture Museum, curated by Yuma Shinohara.
