Today, Hasegawa’s old school in Shizuoka has changed. Commoners were admitted quite some time ago and since the population in Japan is shrinking drastically, the institution has had to open its doors to boys. Hasegawa witnessed the transformation and, in 2004, designed the new school building with wide-open spaces, playful color arrangements reminiscent of Bauhaus patterns and asymmetrical windows. The classrooms now have glass walls that face onto corridors; boys and girls peered out at us as we passed, though they didn’t recognize their architect. The transparent walls might be the management’s way of dealing with co-education, or with the recent rise of violence in Japanese schools. Whatever the case, discreet surveillance has not deterred students from sleeping during class, as we witnessed during our visit. Hasegawa seemed at ease in her former surrounds and, as if she were returning from a lifelong trip around the globe, radiated a mix of nostalgia and freedom she no longer needed to prove anything to anyone. Now, Hasegawa’s work speaks for her instead and if she does speak, she whispers, so as not to disturb her work. Asked to be photographed on this occasion she declined, saying, “I think the portrait you took a couple of years ago is just fine!” She looked over to a courtyard where students were playing soccer. “You know, if a project is not interesting for me anymore, I just stop. I just walk away!”
“Even in the middle of construction?”
“Even in the middle of construction!”
ROLAND HAGENBERG How does it feel to work as a female architect in Japan?
ITSUKO HASEGAWA I always come across this kind of question. I believe any female architect of my generation had a difficult start in this world. People were against the idea that girls attend male dominated schools like those of technology. During the postwar period Japan’s goal was to industrialize quickly and this resulted in a male-dominant society. For example, all these products like kitchen sets and washing machines were put on the market to be sold to households, but the manufacturers did not pay much attention to the female consumers. It took them a long time to find out, for instance, that households are cautious when washing fabrics. Our industrialized society excluded the point of view from minorities.
