Tokyo Design Ten

Tokyo Midtown Design Hub commemorates its 10th anniversary by organizing TOKYO DESIGN TEN, an exhibition that looks at Tokyo in 10 years’ time from the viewpoint of design. Through the 10 perspectives of “transportation,” “urban development,” “shipping,” “electricity,” “high-rise condominiums,” “market,” “printing,” “sightseeing,” “renovation,” and “multicultural,” Tokyo in the present and future is discovered and experienced by this exhibition and tours of the featured areas that link these perspectives.

 

The Tokyo Midtown Design Hub 65th Exhibition: Tokyo Design Ten

Tokyo Midtown Design Hub, which was established in 2007 to act as a new hub for Japanese design, celebrates its tenth anniversary this year. Through seminars and workshops and more than 90 exhibitions, Tokyo Midtown Design Hub has captured the way in which the role of design has expanded over the years and has worked to communicate its value and functions to the general public.

Over the decade since its inception, the public’s expectations of design have grown increasingly pronounced, and there have been major events such as the Great East Japan Earthquake and the scandal regarding the emblem for the Tokyo Olympic and Paralympic Games that have forced people to reevaluate their perceptions of the value and functions of design.

It was once thought that only designers had the skills necessary to engage in design. However, we are now entering an era in which each of us will be able to proactively utilize design as a tool with which to create our own worlds.

To mark the anniversary of Tokyo Midtown Design Hub, we have therefore produced an exhibition focused on the subject of “Tokyo”. The exhibition is an attempt to forecast from the standpoint of design, the state of Tokyo, or in other words, the lives of those who live in the city—a city being transformed on a daily basis—ten years from now, based on what we have seen over the past 10 years.

In what ways will Tokyo be designed over the next ten years? The objective of this exhibition is not to introduce examples of design in Tokyo. The exhibition is aimed at discovering important points relating to the future of design in Tokyo and looking at the relationships between these.
How to best enjoy this exhibition
Whether it be the design of things or ideas, the primary role of design is the solution of problems. The initial discovery of the problems themselves is also one of its important roles, however.

In order to design Tokyo’s future, it is crucial to first discover Tokyo’s problems and issues. It is learning about the Tokyo of the future that we are yet to see that is the first step we need to take when considering the design of Tokyo.

Ten important “points (ten in Japanese)” have been selected for this exhibition (ten-ran-kai in Japanese) from amongst a range of events and themes that symbolize Tokyo, and fragments (neighborhoods and facilities) of these are on display in the exhibition.

While these “points” may at first glance seem unrelated, they may in fact be interlinked and may prove crucial when considering the future of design in Tokyo. Discovering these kinds of hidden relationships is the first step to take when engaging in design.

We hope that after this exhibition you will discover a variety of such “points” around you, connect them, and design Tokyo in your own unique way.

It is at the end of this process that you will find the Tokyo of the future.