Verena von Beckerath (Weimar / Berlin): Filmvorführung »Two Houses (2019)«

The Two Houses research project at the Chair of Design and Housing at the Bauhaus-Universität Weimar focuses on the interaction between the Bauhaus and Japan, based on two houses in the suburbs of
Tokyo – Migishi Atelier and Bunzo Yamaguchi House. Both houses were designed in the 1930s and 40s by Japanese architect Iwao Yamawaki, a student at the Bauhaus in Dessau, and Bunzo Yamaguchi, who worked in Walter Gropius’ practice at that time. Both are still privately owned today.
The Migishi Atelier features a light and sculptural steel spiral staircase immediately behind a large, ceiling-high, south-facing studio window; it leads to a Tatami room on the gallery level. The Janus-faced architecture of the Bunzo Yamaguchi House combines European and Japanese influences that extend to original and contemporary uses in the garden and the outbuildings as well as to the interior of the building. The film Two Houses (2019) documents the buildings’ architecture and tells the story
of their inhabitants, providing glimpses of life in and with the buildings.

Two Houses (2019), 38 min
Director: Verena von Beckerath
Assistant directors: Niklas Fanelsa, Momoko Yasaka, Maximilian von Zepelin
Camera, Sound, Editing: Jens Franke
Produced by: Bauhaus-Universität Weimar