Research & Works
Muramatsu Shin / Rokkaku Miru

Window Phylogenetics

"Windowology 10th Anniversary Exhibition" at Spiral Garden, 2017, ©Sohei Oya / Nakasa & Partners Inc.

Humans came to be by creating windows. This is a view of the human as a “homo fenestrator”（“man who creates windows”）. Windows are multifaceted mediums that connect people with their environment. Since the birth of the window, people have advanced society through creating new windows, first in a local adaptation-oriented society and then a development-oriented society. However, the world today has grown unstable due to the development-oriented society’s problems of overconsumption and unequal distribution of wealth, which are in turn causing environmental problems on a global scale.
This research aims to comprehensively examine the windows that have been created around the world over the course of humanity’s 50,000-year history in order to gain insights into the future of windows, the environment, and humans.

Muramatsu Shin Professor, The University of Tokyo / Architectural Historian

Specializes in architectural history, urban history, and conservation. Graduated from the Department of Architecture at the University of Tokyo in 1978. Taught at the Institute of Industrial Science at the University of Tokyo as a research assistant from 1988 and a professor from 2008. Professor at the Research Institute for Humanity and Nature from 2009 to 2014. Currently a professor at the Institute of Industrial Science of the University of Tokyo. Co-representative of the World Naka-naka Heritage Site Committee. Chair of the YʼAvant-Garde Architecture Society. Authored and edited books include Shanhai [Shanghai*], Chuka chudoku [Chinese Addiction*], Ajia kenchiku kenkyu [Asian Architecture: Trans-Architecture/Trans-Urbanism*], and Mega shitii [Megacity*] (six volumes).

Rokkaku Miru Specially Appointed Assistant Professor, Institute of Industrial Science, The University of Tokyo / Architect

Born in Tokyo, Japan. Graduated from the Architectural Design program of the School of Art and Design at the University of Tsukuba in 2001. Completed a masterʼs degree in architecture at the Graduate School of Fine Arts at the Tokyo University of the Arts in 2003. Worked at Kijo Rokkaku Architect & Associates (Rokkaku Atelier) from 2003 to 2005. Established Miru Atelier within Rokkaku Atelier in 2005. Enrolled in the doctoral program of the Institute of Industrial Science at the University of Tokyo (UTokyo) from 2005 to 2010. Educational research assistant in the Department of Architecture at the Tokyo University of the Arts from 2006 to 2009. Completed a doctorate in architecture at the Institute of Industrial Science at UTokyo in 2014. Specially appointed assistant professor in the Research Center for Advanced Science and Technology at UTokyo from 2015 to 2017. Specially appointed assistant professor in the Institute of Industrial Science at UTokyo since 2017.