TOKYO CODe
urban code hackers



We are urban code hackers. Our goal is to decipher and visually communicate the code of Tokyo to the international architecture audience.

Tokyo is a megalopolis of over 32 million whose amorphous structure is incomprehensibly complex. It is impossible to describe Tokyo as a whole. Accurate knowledge of Tokyo is inaccessible to foreigners. Firstly there is the problem of the language barrier. Secondly, most local research on Tokyo is of a highly quantitative nature meaning knowledge is concealed inside a data format. Similarly in foreign media, specialist knowledge of Tokyo is blurred by stereotyped projections.

In an attempt to understand and communicate Tokyo to the outside it is necessary to break down these barriers and complexities, and propose a new reading.

This project firstly proposes knowledge about Tokyo can be communicated by insiders to outsiders using 'diagraphic' representations: complex data about Tokyo is translated into a visual format that does not hinge on language.

The objective of the Tokyo Code project is to counteract stereotyped images and introduce a new definition of Tokyo to the international architecture and design audience. This project proposes defining Tokyo by a series of 'codes'. These codes represent systems, rules, patterns, languages, mathematical expressions or interactive algorithms that define Tokyo. Collectively these are called 'Tokyo Code'. Therefore knowledge that has until now been concealed, is revealed using a diagraphic language that is readable, valuable and desirable in the eyes of foreigners.

Secondly, rather than statically documenting and storing this knowledge, this project proposes the Tokyo Code can form the structure of a multi-player, online computer game. This game is accessed and adjusted by anyone around the world. It is a simulation for interactive knowledge creation about urban code.
The final product, a book, will be a code-bank of intellectually demanding and visually provoking diagraphic interpretations and implementations of Tokyo Code. The book will be accessible by architects and designers around the world who want to know more about Tokyo.

Process

1. Define Codes
Forum: graduate design studio, web BBS, mailing list
A diverse selection of urban 'codes' that represent important, hidden systems of Tokyo are defined. For example: Tokyo Vision, Tokyo Motion, Tokyo Density, Tokyo Layering, Tokyo Hole, Tokyo Room, Tokyo Nomad, Tokyo Fold, Tokyo Green, Tokyo Window, Tokyo Phone, Tokyo Tube, Tokyo Trash. Each of these codes represents knowledge that currently exists in the form of city statistics, urban/architectural theses, research data or events, but is not already represented in the media.

2. Translate Code into Diagraphics
Forum: workshop, graduate design studio, web collaboration
Each code is translated into a visual format we call a 'diagraphic'. Unlike a diagram, a diagraphic does not aim to simplify a system in order for it to be understood; rather it combines graphic concepts with diagrammatic language to produce an image of artistic quality and analytical integrity that demands intelligent interpretation. A diagraphic is hence an attractive and significant visualization of code.

3. Discourse and Design
Forum: symposium, graduate design studio, Tokyo game design, web BBS
The significance of the diagraphic representation of Tokyo codes and its implications for architectural and urban design are further explored via a symposium and design studio.