Melissa Hope Matlins

Architects like the term activation. It makes them feel like putting up buildings, which essentially create permanent boundaries, maybe isn’t such a static, heavy sort of enterprise.

Jerusalem can be a heavy place. It is architecture heavy. Lots of stone, lots of people worshipping stone. What a delight to happen upon the Soundscapes exhibit at the Tower of David Museum one evening. I was able to observe and learn a lot about what activation really means in an architectural context, and in a museum context.

An entire automated orchestra is installed in the courtyard of this ancient citadel. Moving prongs pluck a harp, wired sticks beat on drums, and 15 foot high guitar strings reverberate in arched doorways. The space was truly activated, with both adults running about like children to observe the mechanical instruments at work. It was a welcome respite from all of the heavy sightseeing we did that day.

The colored lights that accompanied the music meshed beautifully with the city landscape, visible from the ramparts of the Citadel.

More information on the Soundscapes exhibit available at: Design Interact

As important as it is to observe the architecture that a city chooses to build, it is equally important to observe the architecture that a city chooses to see. After visiting Beirut, and returning to New York City on the eve of September 11th, I realized that both cities have a few architectural ‘elephants in the room’ that natives don’t seem to be seeing.
The relics and remainders of Lebanon’s seemingly endless civil war would seem to be the most obvious. My hotel room in Beirut boasted both a lovely view of the coastline and port, and a more ominous view of a few destroyed skyscrapers, former hotels that were bombed into oblivion by competing factions in 1987. Twenty years on, enterprising Beirutis have reconstructed the adjacent beach club, which thrums with techno music all weekend long. The legal issues of responsibility for the cleanup, and ownership, are too complicated to wrangle, they say, and so the shell building continues to blight an otherwise lovely coastline.

After taking a few pictures from the street, we are shooed away by people that I assume are police officers. They lack uniforms, but do not lack automatic rifles. No pictures here. Noted. Don’t they know that we can survey the scene quite clearly from our hotel, and from the swank new Intercontinental Hotel across the street?

After twenty years of looking at these buildings, however, have they started to look normal? An entire generation of Lebanese are unaccustomed to the hotels looking any other way. Call it willful ignorance, or at worst a coping strategy, but, if acknowledged at all, they are generally perceived as a bit of a downer. The desire for reconstruction again stalled by fears of unrest, in another twenty years they may just melt into the sea.

I retained a rather judgmental attitude towards Beirut and its white elephants until I read a short piece in The Architect’s Newspaper on the woes of 130 Liberty Street, the former Deutsche Bank building, near the Ground Zero site. After the destruction of the World Trade Center towers nearby, this severely damaged skyscraper is being slowly deconstructed. A recent fire in the empty building claimed the lives of two firefighters, tragedy on tragedy, and work has halted to determine who is to blame. In the interim, 130 Liberty Street will remain shrouded, as it has been for the past six years. Meanwhile, the latest round of plans for the Ground Zero site have been released, and it warrants hardly a whisper among friends, some of them architects. Even New York City has its white elephants. I flash forward to a future, only ten years on perhaps. Wrangling continues at Ground Zero while adjacent areas, such as Battery Park City, forge on with their brash optimism, boasting expansive parkland and luxury green buildings with “city views” that include the stagnated site. I think of Beirut and somehow their willful ignorance of the destruction around them doesn’t seem so antiquated, or even so Middle Eastern. Maybe we all only see the city that we choose to see. There I was taking photographs of the destroyed, abandoned buildings of Beirut, and I have yet to take one picture of 130 Liberty Street, or Ground Zero, my own backyard.

(picture above: Matt Chaban for The Architect’s Newspaper)

It’s funny how something as simple as swimming can really shed some light on a culture. In Beirut, we stayed at a perfectly lovely boutique style hotel. But the hotel pool, we were told, was “under renovation,” although it appeared from the view out of our hallway window that for all intents and purposes the construction of this pool had been halted.

It was August, and it was hot, so we figured the least we could do is watch other people swim. As we walked along the promenade by the sea, we observed two types of swimmers, those with plentiful resources, and those without.

Expensive beach clubs along the shoreline feature large pools, thumping techno music and women in bikinis. Not to mention that this particular club was ringed by some of the largest concrete bollards I had ever seen. I don’t think that they have a problem with shoreline erosion here, so I can only think that they must be expecting a pretty significant invasion by sea. But for now the party continues.

Most Beirutis were hanging out on the natural rock formations below the promenade, fishing, getting some sun, or daring each other to jump from rocks that are too high into water that is too shallow. By most Beirutis I mean men. The few women I saw out and about were sweltering in burkas on the shade free walkway.

Towards the end of the route, the promenade, which was mostly rock and sand to begin with, became entirely sand and a bit difficult to slog through. Nature seems to have reclaimed the shoreline of this part of the city, at least temporarily. At dusk, the view of the half-built skyline is  spectacular.

A proposed solution for peace in the Middle East, discovered on a wall near Dizengoff Circle in Tel Aviv. This simple sentiment reflects a central problem of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and the larger web of sectarian conflicts in the region (well-described in Tom Friedman’s New York Times editorial today) change won’t happen as long as each faction hates the other more than they love their own children.

A place of wonderment, spiritual enlightenment, natural beauty, vitality and dynamism, I found the Middle East to be practically everything but peaceful! More to come on my travels.

After toting this illuminating film around with me on my own recent travels, I finally came home to a dvd player and screened it the other night. I would heartily recommend it to all aspiring adventurists, though not necessarily those of us that have frequented the places profiled: Beirut, Bulgaria, Chernobyl, Pakistan and Rio among them, as certain proportedly shocking moments may come off as insincere. My only desire was that the mini-documentaries that constitute this travel guide draw formal conclusions, even dire ones, about the situations they uncovered. Though the time spent with the PLO Boy Scouts of Beirut is particularly chilling, and the hunt for nuclear warheads in Bulgaria is tragically easy, it deserves a summation beyond “this is fucked up.” Maybe something along the lines of “why aren’t we seeing these stories on the nightly news?”

I have received requests for a sort of Japan rough guide, Tokyo in particular. Here is a first draft of this post. Let me know what you think!

For getting about.
I never got one, but you would have a much better time getting around if you get a tourist map of Tokyo, available at the Tokyo train station. If you take the Shinkansen(bullet train) you will arrive there. There will be a sign for an information counter where the maps are!

For staying:
I stayed at the Cerulean Tower which is a pretty grand western style business-y hotel with large, clean rooms located centrally in Shibuya. Everything about the place was great but it didn’t have a lot of character. However everyone there was very helpful which is what I needed to get oriented when I arrived. The hotel is right near the station, and this is one of the 2-3 main train stations in Tokyo on the JR “loop” line that gets you almost everywhere.
Other recommendations are the Asia Center of Japan, which has very inexpensive rooms, but I hear a lot of good things about it. There is also a boutique hotel, Claska, that I wanted to try but it is a bit out of the way, in Meguro. I will probably stay there next time. If money is no object, the Park Hyatt or Grand Hyatt is the obvious choice.

For eating and drinking.
Tenmatsu was the best tempura I have ever had. This is right near Shibuya station, but definitely get directions and make a reservation if you can (requires a Japanese speaking person), as they only have seating for about 10 at a time. 1-6-1 Dogen-zaka, Shibuya-ku, 03-3462-2815
Sukeroku is some of the best sushi in the world. I am sure I am not biased as the sushi master and his family has shown me unbelievable hospitality. Please try to visit and let them know that Melissa-san sent you! Definitely get directions for the train (Kameido station on the sobu line, east exit I think) and also an area map for the street as there is no sign on the restaurant, just the address. People in the neighborhood can help you find it too as it is well known. 6-22-8 Kameido, Kotoh-ku, 03-3638-1169. Also his assistant is Kobori Takashi and he speaks a little english.

Daiwa Sushi is just outside of the Tsukiji Fish Market, and is best before 8am otherwise it gets crowded. (I know, lines for sushi breakfast, its weird) So after you see the market walk outside of it and you should see numbered buildings - it is in building 6. This is the outer market where they sell vegetables, trinkets and tea and such, the inner market is just sushi. Try to get to the central fish market around 5am for the tuna auction. Check with the hotel where you are staying and make sure it is open when you are planning to go, it is closed on random days.
The Pink Cow in Shibuya is like home, or at least a California hippie version of home. Everyone here is sooo friendly and Traci (the owner) is a doll and will welcome you and is a wealth of information about the city. It is off the main drag so look at their website for directions from where you are.
For nightlife check out Superdeluxe (loft-like bar), Alife or The Baron (bar in the back of this club) or Yellow, all in the Roppongi area. Just be forwarned, if you are out past midnight you will probably be out until 4:30 when the trains start running again. After the witching hour bars and clubs take on the atmosphere of a school lock-in, with alcohol and a bunch of people that you mostly can’t understand that is.

Sights.
Tokyo National Museum in Ueno, the worlds largest collection of japanese art. Dont miss the gallery of Horyuji treasures (yes the same Horyuji as in Nara, minus the deer and plus the treasures). Harajiku and Aoyama area for the fashion and the fashionable, especially on weekends. And a visit to the Meiji shrine in this area. There is a great tshirt shop here, Graniph, and the english sayings on the shirts mostly make sense, which can be a rarity. If you are into home design Muji in Ginza is not to be missed. If you are in to luxury goods, Mikimoto (the new building), Hermes and Prada all have a fantastic selection of bank-breaking items, and the great architecture of these buildings is an added bonus.
The Hama Rikyu gardens, this is near the fish market and is good for a walk after sushi breakfast. They have lots of poison flowers, an ancient cypress that is barely standing, giant aloe plants and a shogun inn where you can have tea.

Outside Tokyo.
I wish that I had the time to visit Hakone, Nikko or Mashiko around Mt. Fuji, all have great onsen (baths) and views. Let me know if you make it there I will be envious.
Of course if you have 2 days or more to travel outside of Tokyo, Kyoto is a must.