Within a Sky Full of Earth

A great conceptual revolution is underway across the world, but it is taking place so quietly that it has gone largely undetected. It is not the birth of a new ideology, like capitalism or communism; nor is it the advent of a new philosophy to replace that of Kant or Descartes. Yet the new currents of thought that are arising around the world will have a greater effect on us than any ideology or systematic philosophy. They are unarguably changing our way of living and our idea of what it is to be human. This great, invisible change I identify as the philosophy of symbiosis.
KISHO KUROKAWA in EACH ONE A HERO - The Philosophy of Symbiosis

The Japanese architect Kisho Kurokawa died last week but his work stays as a strong heritage for the following generations. For us, for the ones who stayed behind, who keep on breathing. Kurokawa co-founded the Metabolist Movement in 1960, pioneering a radical avant-garde style of architecture and urban planning for the future. The Metabolists’ vision centred around vast cities that adapted to an ever-increasing population by building flexible, expandable structures that could be added to over time.
Kurokawa was always ahead of his time. And if you look closer, not so much for the physical proves of the legacy but for the concepts that move them, from where they have gain form, you can see a philosophy of life that was never conceived before. For me he was one of the great thinkers of our time, that found on the edge of architecture the ground to practice and express his theories. But he should never be regarded just as an architect.

The elimination of the spirit of protectionism, in both trade and in the form of group loyalties that exclude all outsiders, is a universal struggle and a universal goal. But to pursue that goal also means that we are plunging into an age of confrontation: between benefit and harm, between personalities, and between cultures. It will no longer do to simply hammer down the nail that sticks out. We can no longer solve anything by attacking those who are unique or extraordinary. We are living at the start of an age of symbiosis, in which we will recognize each other's differing personalities and cultures while competing, in which we will cooperate while we oppose and criticize each other.

Following his theories of Metabolism, Kurokawa bred the Philosophy of Symbiosis in architecture, this is also the title of a book he wrote in 1987 that we highlighted here. Symbiosis in architectural terms to Kurokawa meant that buildings shouldn't be viewed as mechanical structures in isolation of each other but should instead work together advantageously as living and breathing entities. But surely what he was looking for was the complex symbiosis that lacks from the concept of hybridism. Like the distance between two walls, or the depth of a sharp-pointed screw that keeps the buildings from falling and Man for leaving a steady life. Isolation should not be seen as an individual recognition of solitude but as a whole abstraction of a common experimentation towards the multitude of social life.
Sorry but this is just me.

When the positions or standards of cultural value are in disagreement, it is not necessary for one side to defeat the other and force his values on his opponent. They can instead search for common ground, even while remaining in mutual opposition. The success of this approach depends upon whether one has any desire to understand one's opponent. Even two cultures so different from each other that understanding is impossible will find that the sincere desire to understand the other makes cooperation possible.

Symbiosis of this sort, a symbiosis that includes elements of opposition and competition, is a common feature of the animal and plant kingdoms. This is the reason that I have selected the word symbiosis, preferring it to other words such as peace, harmony, and coexistence.

ALL ON KISHO KUROKAWA HERE.
[TEXT RAISED WITH THE HELP OF YANKODESIGN] • His obituary at THE INDEPENDENT