Make Do With Now introduces the thinking and projects of a new generation of Japanese architects and urban practitioners. Born between the mid-1970s and mid-1990s, the exhibited architects  entered professional practice after the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake and Fukushima nuclear disaster. This is a generation that must grapple with  urgent problems currently facing the country, including a declining, greying population; an emptying countryside; the proliferation of vacant houses; profit-driven urban development; a stagnant economy; and, of course, the global climate crisis.

Instead of being humbled into resignation, however, many architects of this cohort are choosing to confront these challenges head-on. Turning their marginalised position into a strength, they are developing a range of critical, ecological, and social practices that creatively “make do” – with limited resources, found materials, or existing spaces. In contrast to the clean lines and minimalist spaces often associated with contemporary Japanese architecture, these projects pursue a decidedly different aesthetic politics that isn’t afraid to leave things rough around the edges. Whether working from the periphery, exploiting gaps in the system, or occupying different roles in the process, these practitioners are articulating a new architectural agency that radically departs from the traditional image of the architect-author.

The approaches coming out of Japan today are anything but a marginal phenomenon, but rather hold crucial relevance for architecture in a post-growth future. Approaches such as transformation of buildings, reuse of materials, participatory and social design – all ideas that have flourished in Japan – are gradually becoming the norm in contemporary European architecture as well. In this sense, these Japanese positions form an important contribution to a global discourse and practice of architecture. They demonstrate that to ‘make do’ by no means signalises a lack or a loss, but rather highlights the creative flourishing, following the realisation that what we have is already enough.

With the re-staging of S AM’s Make Do With Now exhibition, CAFx situates these challenges and methodologies in a Danish context where similar discourses are prevailing. By introducing contemporary Japanese practices we present both playful approaches and useful tools to inspire the emerging ‘renovation generation’ and the Danish building industry in general. Broadening the perception of value, aesthetics and creativity within the built environment,the exhibition thus invites an overall rethinking of the role of the architect with wider ethical as well as aesthetic implications.

In the accompanying event program we are examining these themes further through talks, debates, site and studio visits, etc. with both Japanese and Danish contributors, while the location of a radically transformed building from bank to office space by Pihlmann Architects adds a local meta-layer to the exhibition.

About the Exhibition

From S AM:

Curator: Yuma Shinohara, Films: Studio GROSS , Photography: Go Itami, Scenography: Yusuke Seki Exhibition Graphic Design: 75W / Tilmann S. Wendelstein.

From CAFx:

Exhibition Design: Ida Kjeldsen, Alexandra W. Emelianov / Event program: Signe Sophie Bøggild, Ida Kjeldsen