Keio Research Institute at SFC

* This laboratory has been completed.

Background and Objectives

Japan has more art museums and other types of museums than any country in the world, but they are not necessarily on par with museums in the West in terms of content and planning. Japan is behind in the establishment of museums dedicated to certain genre. In particular, many design museums were established in the West to promote design starting in the 80s, but are notably lacking in Japan. Other than corporate galleries, there is no architecture or design museum in Japan to store design and reference material on the production of contemporary architecture in spite of the high level of activity in the world of architecture. It can be pointed out that while the industry has been a vital one in terms of creating structures, it has been halfhearted when it came to leaving a historical record, and uninterested in preserving the huge volume of designs and architectural know how. However, in our society which will be sustained based on the accumulation of knowledge, it is important that the assets of the past be fairly evaluated and aggressively utilized. In this context, a new museum should be created in order to facilitate processes that lead to the utilization of the stock of historical assets as software. Naturally, new concepts are needed that are appropriate for the electronic age.

This consortium is based on the combination of the mechanisms of stock (museums), distribution (media) and production (factories), with an eye to utilizing past designs and experience in contemporary society. It will deal with a broad range of cross-over areas, from product design to architecture, providing an archive of primary materials directly linked to the actual design activities, with development of utilization technologies gradually implemented in order to establish a new international design museum network to promote international distribution. Furthermore, the creation of a production system that links regions with the museum products provided from the museum is very important. In the past, many museums depended on the cultural and artistic support of corporations, and focused on self fulfilling intelligent activities (exhibitions and publishing), paying insufficient attention to distribution and profitability. However, this consortium intends to reorganize the traditional configuration of museums from the standpoint of asset utilization, pursuing a new direction as a design museum that will serve as a model for museum business.

The activities of this consortium are being conducted with the cooperation of the Vitra Design Museum in Germany, known as an international design museum. We consider the modern and contemporary designs that have been pioneered to be cultural resources, and that the know how of the Vitra Design Museum will be invaluable in a contemporary context. It is highly demanded to start up a cross-over research and development organization that covers the museum, media and factory aspects in the age of electronic information, and to aggressively implement this information in an open society.

Details of Activities

The activities of this consortium can roughly be divided into the
following areas:

1. Creation of Contemporary Design Database and Archive:
   The drawings, sketches, models, pictures and design processes of
   specific designers and design items will be organized and stored.
2. Digital Content Distribution:
   Packages will be created from the stored design items and distributed
   according to user demand.
3. Production of Museum Products:
   Production will be started for stored design items that are
   commercially viable. This includes museum goods.
4. Creation of Domestic / Overseas Network and Circulation:
   Exhibitions (including digital) will be produced according to specific
   themes which will go on tours of different museums.
5. Factory Organization Tied with Regional Industry:
   Tie ups will be established with regional industry to produce design
   items in order to uplift the foundation for the design industry.
6. New Concept Making and Holding of Educational Work Shops:
   Workshops will be held jointly with domestic and overseas institutions
   and organizations to disseminate modern and contemporary design
   concepts and share knowledge of design.

Researchers, managers and professors