Interview
Architektur Basel
December 2021
Daisuke Hirabayashi – About the difficulties and advantages of an international architect and photographer based in Basel.
By ARCHITEKTUR BASEL – 21 December 2021 – PORTRAITS
Daisuke Hirabayashi describes himself as a Japanese architect and photographer, based in Basel. In order to understand his practice today, it is first important to know where he comes from and what he has done so far.
Daisuke Hirabayashi was born in Osaka, Japan and grew up in New York, Tokyo, London and Lisbon. He completed his undergraduate studies at the Massachusetts College of Art and Design in Boston and his graduate studies in architecture at Harvard University in Cambridge, USA. In the meantime, he interned for Toyo Ito in Japan and was teaching assistant to Ryue Nishizawa at Harvard. More than ten years ago, he came to Basel where his girlfriend, also an architect and now wife and mother of his two children, resided. Today, he is a respected newcomer in the Basel architectural scene – especially known for his work as an architectural photographer.
He worked at Herzog & de Meuron for eight years, primarily on design phases for large projects such as the Tate Modern in London, the Asklepios 8 on the Novartis Campus and the National Library of Israel. He enjoyed this time very much and learned that the development of an idea is always a non-linear process. Also, an architect never knows where a project is going and has to trust that a meaningful building will emerge from this process.
«Herzog de Meuron’s office on the Rheinschanze could be described as a kind of airport – an international zone in the middle of Basel.»
Five years ago, Daisuke Hirabayashi started his own practice. As his first project, he renovated a traditional Chalet in Tanay, by rethinking the circulation as a spatial concept and thus the entire interior space in a new but at the same time traditional way. Alongside the realization of smaller commissions, he participated in several local and national competitions. But as an architect with an international background, seeing and not understanding the winning projects, he felt like a stranger and was left with a sense of wonder, sometimes even frustration. Living in Basel for almost ten years, but working for an international office like HdeM, did not really make things any better.
At Herzog & de Meuron he learned one of the most important criteria for innovative and creative architecture. Bringing something to a project that was not asked for, an idea that enriches the project beyond solving the brief. So for him, it is essential to have a vision! His source of inspiration comes from art, with works of land artists such as Michael Heizer or Walter De Maria. The projects Daisuke Hirabayashi has completed so far are rather small, but rich. Considering his international and local experiences in creating unique spaces where people enjoy spending time in, it is a pity that the chance to appreciate his work as an architect has so far been limited.
«Architecture is for people and as an architect, I want to create unique spaces where people truly enjoy spending time in.»
But let’s move on to the second part of the story – how Daisuke Hirabayashi has become a well known and successful architectural photographer – because that’s what he is known for. When his daughters were born he bought a camera to take pictures of them, and together with his artistic and architectural background his interest in the art of photography and photographing architecture gradually grew. By chance, these pictures came to the attention of friends and architects, one thing led to another, and he became a busy architectural photographer.
«I carefully look at my surroundings with a fresh eye, to find what may be overlooked by the locals.»
Being inside beautiful buildings from sunrise to sunset, Daisuke Hirabayashi spends most of his time enjoying the space, wandering around, exploring, feeling the building and figuring out when to return to a specific space to eventually photograph it. The difficulty of grasping the local architecture scene turns into the advantage of seeing with different eyes and photographing it in a unique way. Just as he tries to bring an idea that was not asked for in architecture, he tries to do the same in photography – to create atmosphere. For this he needs time, patience, luck and above all an intuitive feeling. If he could choose anyone to photograph his own projects, it would be Todd Hido, who is a photographer but would definitely have a different, probably a more interesting, view of architecture than an architectural photographer.
«The main difference between designing and photographing a space is that when I photograph a space I don’t know much about it like the architects, and that difference allows me to focus on the essence of the building.»
In the future, Daisuke Hirabayashi hopes to be involved in more self-initiated photography projects. Recently, he began photographing the amazing Koechlin House in Riehen, which in his opinion is the hidden masterpiece of Herzog & de Meuron, at least of houses, as it is almost thirty years old and yet timeless. Since the atmosphere of the house is constantly changing depending on the season and time of day, he goes there all year round, each time hoping to capture a unique moment. Since the photographs of the house deserve a worthy form of publication and should not fall victim to the instantly swiped digital photos, Daisuke Hirabayashi would like to disseminate the photographs through a book, prints or exhibitions. We stay curious!
Text: Johanna Bindas / Architektur Basel
Excursion tip:
Another place Daisuke Hirabayashi would like to spend endless time photographing is the Museum Insel Hombroich near Düsseldorf, Germany. An island as an ideal, both in terms of museum and landscape, designed by the artist Erwin Heerich, and showing art in parallel with nature. A museum with an atmosphere Daisuke Hirabayashi has never experienced anywhere else and that is definitely worth a visit.
_____________
