On May 21, a tour "Looking around masterpieces of modern architecture-Current preservation and utilization-" was held. This is a project to see two masterpieces of an office building in the early Showa era, located in the center of Tokyo.

The first tour was the Meijiya Kyobashi Building (completed in 1933), which was renovated from 2013 to 2015. First, we used slides to introduce the outline in the hall of Shimizu Corporation's headquarters building, and moved to the site to observe the exterior.

Hiroshi Yokofujita (Shimizu Corporation), who was in charge of the construction. Participants' eyes are directed toward the feet of the building, thanks to the detailed explanation of how to handle the gap caused by seismic isolation at the joint between the building and the ground in advance. If you don't have an explanation, you can understand the signs that you don't notice or not.

Next is a tour of the Meiji Seimeikan (completed in 1876), which is about a 15-minute walk and displays the materials at the "History of Modern Architecture in Materials" exhibition. Here, Mr. Toru Nakajima (Takenaka Corporation), who was in charge of the preservation and restoration work carried out from 2001 to 2005, talked about the techniques of the early Showa era learned through repairs and the difficulties of repairs.

After seeing the exterior stones and grills from the outside, we toured the hall. The photo above explains the metal fittings of the window. Even in the same window, fine attention has been paid to usability, such as changing the metal fittings depending on the height.

At first glance, we can fully recognize the value of Historic buildings, but thanks to the careful explanation of what kind of technology it was created, it was a very meaningful tour that gave us a deeper understanding of the value. Considering the fact that many famous buildings in this area have been demolished, I can remind you of the value of being left and used in the future.

The next event related to the exhibition "History of Modern Architecture in Materials" will be a lecture on June 12 (Sun). No application is required, the first 300 people on the day. If you are interested, please join us.