Gakutoshi Kojima's 1974 Sassi project revisited in Matera 2019 talk

Japanese architect Gakutoshi Kojima, a native of Japan—the country with the most Pritzker Prize winners globally, including Arata Isozaki in 2019—will participate in a talk-workshop on May 8, 2019, in Matera as part of the Eu-Japan Fest collaboration with Matera 2019 European Capital of Culture. The event, organized with Open Design School (founded by Joseph Grima in the peripheral Rione Le Piane district), will reconstruct Kojima's entry for the 1974 International Competition for the Sassi of Matera. Although his submission arrived late, his proposal for a "common theater" in the Sassi—using the irregular natural spaces as stages for events—has proven prescient. The competition, which attracted international entries, ended without a first prize but spurred debate on the historic area's future. Open Design School has since researched Kojima's project, which prefigures the "open" urban space concept promoted in recent years. The talk takes place at Palazzo del Casale, Via Casale 63, from 19:00 to 21:00.