The short version Hi there, I’m Shirokuma! There’s a particular kind of helplessness that comes from being handed a Japanese construction drawing you can almost read. The geometry is fine. A wall is a wall, a column is a column, a section is a section — drawing is close to a universal language and it […]
The short version Hi there, I’m Shirokuma! If you stand close to certain buildings in Tokyo and look down at the ground, you’ll see a gap running all the way around them. It’s usually covered with a loose metal plate, and it looks like a mistake — as if the building and the pavement were […]
The short version Hi there, I’m Shirokuma! Here’s something that surprises people outside the industry: you can’t build a building from the architect’s drawings alone. Those drawings tell you what the building should be. They don’t tell you how the duct gets past the beam, where the joint in the ceiling lands, or which piece […]