Thinking Forest: a semi serious diary.
By Giacomo Butté

Beginning.
The projects starts from the idea of using the construction fence of the new Todai building by Ando as an informative surface. I am interested and surprised by construction fence projects. One reason is because it is quite impossible in Europe to keep a public surface clean from graffiti and tags. Another lays in the use of public space for activity that are not related only to consumption/advertisement.
The concept is to create a Thinking Forest with the over 600 words taken from the students research projects. The first time Honda-san tells me the number of the keywords I am a bit worried, will we ever make it?

At the moment I joined the project Honda-san was already working on an idea that resembled Keith Haring big scale paintings. In the first phase we try to find the characteristics the forest should have. We try to define different visual languages. While proceeding we decide to be less abstract and more descriptive. Then my worries start again. Being part of the computer generation my drawing skills are quite poor. Usually surprises people because the stereotype is design=good form=drawing skills. Thank god I was born after western culture rediscovered abstraction.

We spend days imagining what this forest should look like. In the studio Honda and I belong to different culture and it is interesting to see how our images of a forest differ. My first sketches resembled, as Han-san said, a nice Swiss landscape which seemed far away from the idea of a networked micro-cosmo.
While searching through books and internet all the single elements needed in the forest ( animals, flowers, plants) I realized how less I know about plants. Could you name today’s seasonal fruits and vegetables? When walking in a park could you recognize more than 5 different trees? I do not think I can. Fruits and vegetables are at supermarket all year around. If it is too cold for something we can import from some tropical country. About trees, usually there are not many parks in cities and if there are it is only one type.

Usually when I design something I need a reference that express the final impression one gets from it. Something similar to a soundtrack. I found it important because it sets the “emotional direction”. I decide that my reference for the project would be Henri Rousseau’s painting. It is a jungle, it is charming, mysterious and dense.
The following weeks we produce several meters of print out trial. In the studio we create a 1:20 scale model of the fence (which it is still 4.5 m long) We stick the paper on the walls and continuously replace them with the new updated images.

The designer is usually associated with a quite romantic image of a person sitting under a tree or any other nice landscape and then suddenly, in a sort of small satori getting the inspiration. Note that this inspiration is believed not to be fuzzy and unclear but rather precise and already developed. Something like getting inspiration and immediately receiving the pdf files with all the drawing ready to be sent to the constructor.
Unfortunately designer do not have this luck and usually have to work a bit harder than this through a (sometimes exhausting) process of mistake and corrections. And that is what we did.
The following weeks all the commonplaces about Japanese working hard till last train become true. (On the other hand it also a quite common habit for design and architectural studios).
Honda-san and I spend more time together than a married couple after retirement.

Finally with a final rush where all the members of the studio are involved in, we manage to send Fuji Film the data. After few days we can start the installation. Japanese construction workers look usually like warriors, they wear very interesting uniforms. These are dressed in a bit more usual way but they work with such a care for detail. Somehow Japanese sensibility seems to reach and go beyond the millimetre. The installation process is quick: the over 90m fence is fixed in even less then two days. The next step will be the sticking event. We are a bit worried about how people will stick the animal and flowers. Because of its position outside the stickers must be placed very carefully. If water or dust comes in they will soon come off the fence. We prepare a flyer to be distributed during the Ubiquitous media symposium.

Personal notes: what I have learned.
-90 meters are longer than one thinks especially if you are drawing till 0.5 cm
-japaneses are very precise on details
-salesman say “neeee” with a different accent than non salesman
-Tokyo University looks quiet british
-once again got a confirmation that a design project is a hard controversial process
-not to eat cup noodles more than two days in a row
-construction fence have great potential
-I know a bit more about flowers and plants but still not enough
-I should finally get a drawing class
-I do not the Japanese word for “exit” but I know several animals name
-design projects that concern with people involvement give more satisfaction

～Thinking Forest デザインプロセス～
07/April

01～02.当初の案。どのように配置しても繋がるタイル状のようなもの。
学生が貼ることができると考えたが、やはり施工が難しいとのことから断念した

03.タイルの次の案のラフスケッチ
01時が唐草文様をイメージしていたが、まだそのイメージが残っている。また
動物や花のシールのアイデアはこの頃から存在していた

04.ヨーロッパな森

05.ネットワークの木だが、coolな印象を与える

06.まだ抽象的なイメージ。もっと生態系を表現する必要がある

07/May

07.少し、イメージが近づいてきたが、完成度はまだまだ低い

08.このあたりから、ジャングルというキーワードがでてきた。参考としたアンリ・ルソー。

09.ロゴ制作、微妙な色味を検討。

10.Tシャツ制作。当初はこの3デザイン制作予定

11.k－forest 1st　phase

07/June

12.色のスタディ

13.入稿一周間前。だいぶ今のイメージに近いが配置箇所、色が異なる

14～15.施工業者がフィルムを貼る前にフェンスを掃除する様子
フェンスの前で演じているかのよう(ジャコモ談）