Von Jour Caux's La Porta Izumi *map updated

Next stop on the Von Jour Caux hunt: La Porta Izumi, about two minutes' walk away from the other building in Daitabashi.

Wowza, you think, but the building (built only in 1990) looked fairly neglected and on its way to becoming dilapidated. I should have photographed the door patched up with bits of masking tape.

These corkscrews of iron were used strategically in the lobby as well.

 The poor animal face is all covered up by untended plants.

 The building viewed from the side.

 From behind the building, it looks like something else altogether.

The majestic lady is fortunately not just two-dimensional. The painted glass (not stained), along with molded cement (not marble) is Von Jour Caux and his team's major concession to creating affordable housing. 

Mailboxes are to the left, rooms are past the door on the right.

I'm sure that not even the residents are aware of all the small details hiding in plain sight.

 

Octopus stairs. 

I ran into an inhabitant who seemed both mildly suspicious and bemused by my curiosity. He helpfully pointed out the other building in Daitabashi. He must see this all the time.

While trying to find out more information on Von Jour Caux's buildings, I came across his Facebook page. It's surprisingly active, although it's hard to tell whether the 78-year-old himself is updating it or not.

 

In honor of paying it forward, here is a map of all known Von Jour Caux buildings. Be warned: they contain even his generic-looking works. (Sensible buildings pay the bills.)

 The tiling on the wall, with the entrance to the right.

梵寿綱 in Daitabashi (From the Side Door)

 Here is the side door to the Von Jour Caux building in Daitabashi.

The light immediately above the side door entrance.

 Immediately upon entering, you are confronted with this thing.

It is actually an elephant.

 Go right, and you find yourself headed towards the courtyard.

This is the ceiling.

 I found this too much like a trail of blood.

Go left at the entrance and you go down an unexpectedly tranquil-looking staircase, but it only leads to the garbage disposal area.

梵寿綱 in Daitabashi (Lobby and the Courtyard)

The Von Jour Caux building in Daitabashi, now seen from the lobby.

Steps leading to the elevator.

Artwork on the left wall.

A closer look at the steps.

Elevator and ceiling. Unlike his other buildings, this one had security cameras.

 

 What you see when you stand in the lobby and look up.

 

Path leading to the courtyard, a surprise considering the decidedly plain interiors his other buildings have. 

I wanted to give this hallway a good hosing and get the accumulated grime off.

 

There were framed articles hung in the hallway detailing the players involved with the construction of this building. 

 The courtyard, which looks more like a cafe space. I hope the residents are taking advantage of this spot.

A look at the individual apartments. For all the grandeur, Von Jour Caux's buildings have always been surprisingly affordable. This building has 2DK (two rooms, a dining room, and a kitchen) and 2LDK (two rooms, a living room, dining room, and kitchen) rooms available from around 140,000 yen. Considering the exorbitant prices for renting in Tokyo, this isn't so bad.

梵寿綱 in Daitabashi (The Facade)

The Von Jour Caux building pilgrimage continues with a visit to Daitabashi, where two of his buildings remain. (I originally planned to visit his Mundi Animus building in Sugamo, only to find out that it was torn down in 2008.)

This one (built in 1992) is a fairly large construction containing apartments, a coffee shop, and a convenience store. The gaudiness of the combini sign makes for an interesting contrast with the gaudiness of the building.

The entrance. That I was unable to get a shot of the entire building gives you an idea of how large it is, and how narrow the streets are. This was taken from across the street.

 The color scheme seems altogether incongruous.

 The shutters of the coffee shop.

  

Even the balcony receives the tile treatment.

 As always, the tiles have been painstakingly arranged.

 His buildings truly are all about the facade, but no part is left untouched.

 The side entrance.

 The back of the building.

Von Jour Caux in Ikebukuro, Part 2

Literally across the street from the Von Jour Caux building in Ikebukuro is another one of the architect's creations. I write this quite skeptically because I couldn't find any concrete information on the internet to back this up (I'm basing this on a fan site), and because this building is so tame in design and careless in upkeep that I can hardly believe it's his.

The use of color and the use of tiling is there.

And there are just about enough odd decorations to convince me. But overall, it strikes me as a lesser work, and that there is a massage parlor on the second floor (not that this should be a surprise in Ikebukuro) doesn't add to my fairly low opinion. I almost wonder if this is an imitation.

Construction began in 1987, several years after the other building was completed.

While looking for information on this building, I came across a page that listed Tokyo buildings in danger of demolition. I was sad to see two of his buildings on the page. At the very least, I hope to visit them before they are demolished. I would not want to be the person who tears down a Von Jour Caux building, dreams and history being crushed so vividly in front of you.

Von Jour Caux in Ikebukuro, Part 1

When I posted about architect Von Jour Caux's creation the Dorado Waseda a couple years ago, I learned for the first time that some of his other buildings were in the Tokyo area. Dorado Waseda is such a singularly unique building, it had never occurred to me that it wasn't a one-off.

It took me a while, but I finally made it to Le Bois Hiraki Minami-ikebukuro, about five minutes' walk from the JR Ikebukuro Station. The building gets its name from Hirakiya, the liquor/food/tobacco shop on the first floor. The "Le Bois" is a guess: read as it is written in Japanese, it would be something like "rubowa".

I actually see more of a moth motif than trees, but who knows?

 

Built in 1979, Le Bois Hiraki predates the Dorado Waseda by six years. Lest you think he was much tamer back then...

 

...one look at the entrance will make you think again.

 

The lobby. The mailboxes are in the brightly lit room on the left.

 

Taken from the elevator: the lobby and the entrance. The colored glass, the tiles, the eeriness -- it's all there, in his trademark mash of cultures and philosophies.

The elevator, with stairs to the left. I went up to the eighth floor for a peek, but once I got into the elevator, everything I saw was as plain as could be. This seems to be a common feature of his buildings.

Like the Dorado, Le Bois is surprisingly affordable. According to a 20-year-old article, he and his craftsmen used styrofoam molds and concrete instead of rock, use aluminum for fixtures rather than bronze, and use stained-glass pigments to color ceramic tiles.  

I worry that the glass is too fragile for the door to be opened and closed too frequently.

A look at the lobby ceiling.

Another shot of the ceiling. For all I know, this photo could be upside down.

Some interesting info on the architect: Von was "the baby of an actress of the modern theater movement known as shingeki, adoptive son of a Kagurazaka geisha and a ne'er-do-well stockbroker, a child who witnessed the fire-bombing of Tokyo, an avid adolescent reader of Edo-period stories and French literature, a carefree Waseda student, an adventurer in America at the end of the beatnik era, a honeymooner with nisei painter Tamiko Yoshihara, a six-time visitor to Disneyland ('The representation is kitch, but the energy to make fantasy is tremendous') and winner of an art award in Chicago's McCormick Place on the day John F. Kennedy was killed."

In the same way you think "Gaudi" the second you set eyes on Dorado Waseda, the first thing I thought of when I saw the lamp-holding arms was Jean Cocteau's version of Beauty and the Beast, released in 1946. When someone first enters the Beast's lair, arms holding candelabras extend from the walls, flames mysteriously flickering. (Photo above.)

If you're interested, the address is 2-29-16, Minami Ikebukuro, Toshima-ku, Tokyo.

Next stop: his buildings in Suginami. But before that, a minor Von Jour Caux building.