Abstract
John F Abel
Professor Emeritus of Civil & Environmental Engineering at Cornell University (USA), is a former President of the International Association for Shell and Spatial Structures, an IASS Torroja Medalist and worked closely with Professor Kawaguchi for many years.
My association with Mamoru Kawaguchi was almost exclusively through the International Association of Spatial Structures (IASS). When I was elected to the Executive Council in 1986, Mamoru was already the treasurer of the Association and soon became vice president and right-hand man to Professor Yoshikatsu Tsuboi (who became President of the IASS in 1986). Of course, I was exposed to Mamoru and his accomplishments through his oral presentations at IASS symposia and I enjoyed getting to know him more personally through the social events surrounding IASS events.
Mamoru was always willing to step up to major responsibilities as an officer of the IASS, and when Professor Tsuboi died in 1990 in the midst of his second term as president, Professor Kawaguchi agreed to step in as president. After a period taken up with his responsibilities as a Dean at Hosei University (where he had served on the faculty since 1972), he was again elected president of the IASS from 2000 to 2006, making him the only member of the Association who served two distinct periods as president. Throughout the 1980s to the 2000s, he frequently served as a plenary speaker at IASS symposia and colloquia (as well as at other international conferences), representing the Association around the world. He also played a major role in the broadening of IASS activities in Asia in the 1980s, when there was an increasing number of members from Japan and other Asian countries and IASS conferences began to be held in the East.
I was always particularly struck by the keynote plenary addresses that Mamoru presented at IASS symposia. His lectures demonstrated his creativity and innovation and were always based on careful analytical investigations and ingenuous model studies as well as on an acute evaluation of aesthetics. Yet there could be a playfulness in his design projects as best illustrated by his successful design and deployment of a giant flying carp to the delight of Japanese schoolchildren. He was a great mentor and teacher of students and younger colleagues.
I was also delighted to host Mamoru at my university and home, sometimes with colleagues. He came several times to the difficult-to-reach area of upstate New York to observe and photograph spatial structures such as the Carrier Dome, an inflatable roof stadium in the nearby city of Syracuse which was designed by Walter Bird and fabricated and erected by his firm, Birdair. Mamoru visited our computer graphics lab to see our work on computer-aided design of spatial structures and was kind enough to give a lecture to our graduate students on his pantadome system.
I also vividly remember the tour that he led for a few of us on the occasion of the 1997 Singapore symposium to personally show us the pantadome he had designed there, and a more recent similar tour in 2016 of the 1964 Olympic structures in Tokyo that he had designed with Professor Tsuboi. Finally, I will always remember the hospitality that he showed during the 2001 Nagoya symposium while he was president of the IASS; he not only entertained small groups of us at a traditional Japanese inn but also hosted a huge post-symposium party for the EC members and guests with much jollity, singing and drinking.
In my opinion, Mamoru’s three main contributions to the design of spatial structures were his development of the pantadome system, his achievements in the area of tension and membrane structures, and his execution of unique special structures.
Mamoru Kawaguchi and John Abel during the IASS-APCS 2006 Symposium in Beijing, China, October 2006, when the IASS Presidency was transferred from Kawaguchi to Abel.
The pantadome system is striking because of the way it integrates an innovative structural design with a means for construction economy: designing the structure as an erectable mechanism permitted construction of the roof of these large stadia much closer to the ground, with the nearly complete form then jacked into position and stabilised by the insertion of key supporting elements. Mamoru’s cable and membrane structures, as featured in the IASS 50th Jubilee Book, Fifty Years of Progress for Shell and Spatial Structures, include the 1964 Yoyogi Olympic Stadium I, a semi-rigid roof, which later led to the development of the ‘suspendome’ system. In the Jubilee book, Ken’ichi Kawaguchi describes this as ‘a single layer dome passively reinforced by a tension-strut system, partly extracted from the hypar tensegrity dome, without any necessity for heavy prestress to keep the structure stable’. Professor Kawaguchi’s special structure designs ranged from the temporary structures at the 1970 Osaka Exhibition to the aforementioned giant flying carp to an elegant light footbridge later in his career.
I looked up to Mamoru throughout my experiences as a member of the IASS, and he was a great mentor to me. I will miss the guiding influence, both professional and personal, that he quietly and patiently exerted.
R Sundaram
Chairman and Managing Director of Sundaram Architects Pvt Ltd (Bangalore, India), is a member of the IASS Advisory Board, President of the Structural Engineers World Congress and an IASS Torroja Medalist.
I met Professor Kawaguchi in 1984 during the IASS Symposium in Germany, at which I presented a paper on ‘Folded Plate’. I remember that Professor Kawaguchi was very friendly and encouraging about my paper.
I then wanted to conduct an IASS Symposium in Bangalore in India. Again, Professor Kawaguchi encouraged me to do this, along with Professor N K Srivastava, and the 1988 IASS Symposium was held in Bangalore. It was a very good symposium with more than 500 delegates and many keynote speakers.
Earlier the same year, I presented a paper on ‘Domes’ in Istanbul in Turkey, in which I mentioned an Indian Dome, the ‘Gol Gumbaz’. When Professor Kawaguchi and Professor Tsuboi visited India for the IASS Session, they made a point of visiting ‘Gol Gumbaz’ which is about 525 km from Bangalore, driving the entire distance because they missed the flight there. That kind of enthusiasm is pretty unparalleled.
Professor Kawaguchi’s innovative designs are many. One of the important ones is the ‘Pantadome’ construction. In simple terms, this structure was erected to an advanced level and destabilised by removing some important members, making it easier to lift. The missing members were then put back in at the final level. This was an excellent and very efficient system for constructing large structures.
Many of my memories of Professor Kawaguchi demonstrate his personal attachment to the subject and his generosity. I once consulted him on the design of a sports shell project being built in Bangalore, India. He welcomed me in Tokyo with warmth and affection, rolled up his sleeves and gave me lots of suggestions, and refused to accept any fee.
On another occasion, I wrote to him that I and some friends wanted to visit the cigarette manufacturing factories in Japan. He made all the arrangements, met us at the airport when we landed in Tokyo and gave me a programme with times of our visits to the different factories. He took a personal interest and in ensuring that everything went to plan.
One of Professor Kawaguchi’s famous projects, which I admire very much, is ‘The flying carp of cotton fabric’ created for Children’s Day in the city of Kazo in 1988. In this design, which measures 100 m, the jumbo carp fly in the breeze and appear to swim elegantly in the sky. The structure was raised by means of a truck crane – it is a remarkable project.
Professor Kawaguchi founded the organisation Innovative Architecture in Asia, which held its first conference in Osaka in 1996, where I was invited to give a keynote speech. Following on from this, the organisers of the Osaka Symposium – and especially Professor Kawaguchi – proposed that India should host the second International Symposium and that I should take the lead in organising and chairing this, which is how we came to have a very successful Innovative Architecture in Asia symposium in 1998.
Professor Kawaguchi was very humble and kind, and always straightforward and positive in his approach. My relationship with him was unique, and he came to my aid in all sorts of ways, whether that was dealing with an issue to do with the Structural Engineers World Congress or IASS, or another problem. He listened as I talked through my projects, especially my new shell structures, and was eager to visit these projects whenever he visited Bangalore.
Above all, Professor Kawaguchi was a great inspirer and a very special human being. His contributions in the field of structural engineering have made a long-lasting impact in this field.
Olga Popovic Larsen
Professor at The Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts School of Architecture (KADK) in Copenhagen.
I first met Professor Kawaguchi when I was still a PhD student at one of the IASS Symposiums – I think it was in Stuttgart. I didn’t talk to him but heard his presentation and read his work. Before that, already as an undergraduate architecture student, I had studied some of his buildings and really liked them, so hearing him speak was very inspiring. A few years later, I attended the Structural Morphology Symposium in Aarhus, Denmark. I had just finished my PhD and started lecturing at The University in Sheffield in the United Kingdom. My presentation was about the new (at the time) combined architecture/engineering MEng programme that we had started in Sheffield. I remember it vividly as I was very nervous before my presentation knowing that in the audience there would be people of extremely high standing such as Professor Kawaguchi. My presentation went well and evoked a discussion where some were in support of the idea and others were of the opinion that it is best to keep the subjects of architecture and engineering separate. After my presentation, Professor Kawaguchi came up to me and praised me for what I was doing and commended me on sharing this at the symposium. Having my work recognised and encouraged by this great man was a true honour and something I will always remember.
From left: Ed Saliklis, Olga Popovic Larsen, Mamoru Kawaguchi, Alireza Behnejad and Hiroyuki Tagawa at the IASS2016 in Tokyo, Japan, September 2016.
I loved Professor Kawaguchi’s presentations about structural design and education. It was the simplicity of how he was able to explain very complex engineering issues. I also admired him for his engineering design skills. The buildings that he designed are a true integration of architecture and structure, and his contribution is not only to the field of architecture and building design, but also to humanity.
I think some of his most important contributions to the field of spatial structures were the design of the Expo 70 Fuji Group Pavilion, which opened up a new era for pneumatic structures, and his invention of the pantadome system, which optimised the construction of many spatial structures. Another was his design of the Yoyogi National Gymnasium, a building that is as impressive today as when it was built. Through the integration of technical and architectural design aspects, innovative engineering design and beautiful detailing, this building is a landmark and a real celebration of beautiful and meaningful design. Aesthetically, it takes engineering to the level of art.
Professor Kawaguchi was also a leading figure within IASS. I remember the Tokyo IASS symposium where we invited Professor Kawaguchi to give a keynote presentation. The room could not accommodate the number of people who wanted to hear the lecture. And that did not come as a surprise – we always learned from him and his work continues to be an inspiration.
Few months ago, I finished my book Physical Modelling for Architecture and Building Design – A Design Practice Tool that describes Mamoru Kawaguchi’s work that he developed with physical models. It is sad I could not show him the text, which I hope he would have approved of.
Professor Kawaguchi was one of the world’s greatest engineers and designers, especially in the field of spatial structures, yet he was such a modest and approachable person. A true inspiration to everyone in the field.
Alireza Behnejad
Director of the Spatial Structures Research Centre at the University of Surrey, is an editor of the International Journal of Space Structures.
The first time I met Professor Kawaguchi was at the International Conference on Architecture and Structures at the University of Tehran, Iran, in 2007. He was a keynote speaker and I thoroughly enjoyed listening to his inspiring talk. One of the highlights of his visit to Iran was an interview with the Iranian television where he discussed different aspects of spatial structures in non-academic language. The interview was much appreciated by the viewers.
I remember that at the IASS Annual Symposium in Wroclaw, Poland, in 2013, I was discussing the idea of establishing a new working group for the IASS on teaching shell and spatial structures and Professor Kawaguchi was a great supporter of the idea. The Working Group (WG20) was established in 2014 with the mission of creating a discussion forum on teaching practices, tools and materials in the field of shell and spatial structures.
From left: Alireza Behnejad, Koryo Miura, Mamoru Kawaguchi and Gerry Parke at the IASS2013 in Wroclaw, Poland, September 2013.
Two design concepts clearly stand out when it comes to Professor Kawaguchi’s most important contributions to the field of spatial structures: the Pantadome and the Suspendome. The Pantadome method optimises the construction challenges and the risk of working at height for the assembly team and provides an ingenious solution for the construction of large span dome structures. In the case of Suspendome, the combination of a shallow single layer lattice dome with a cable dome offers a very efficient hybrid structural system. Several outstanding suspendomes have already been constructed in different countries and ongoing research shows very high efficiency of these systems.
Aside from his design innovations, Professor Kawaguchi also made vital contributions through his role in education, and his passion for growing the professional network in the field of spatial structures. His support helped to enable many scientific conferences in various parts of the world. He was also an editorial board member of the International Journal of Space Structures for a number of years.
The Spatial Structures Research Centre of the University of Surrey enjoyed a very close relationship with Professor Kawaguchi. He attended the Third International Conference on Spatial Structures at the University in 1984, giving a talk on ‘A Domical Space Frame Foldable During Erection’ describing the Pantadome system. During the Forth Conference in 1993, Prof Kawaguchi received the Pioneer’s Award from the Centre to honour his significant contributions in the field of spatial structures.
Professor Kawaguchi was a legend in the field and a role model for younger generations. He was open to new ideas and was willing to support them. Always humble and hard-working, he was a genius responsible for designing numerous outstanding spatial structures in Japan, as well as other countries.