Make Do With Now: new visions of Japanese living at TAM

A generation emerged between crisis and regeneration

The post-2011 Japan, devastated by an earthquake and the Fukushima disaster, is the starting point to understand the urgency of this exhibition. The protagonists are architects born between the Seventies and Nineties, who have chosen to react to the social, economic, and environmental crises of the country with a radically new approach.
This generation faces demographic decline, rural abandonment, a stagnant economy, and the climate crisis. But instead of chasing the rhetoric of infinite growth, they have decided to work with what is there: limited resources, regenerated materials, existing buildings.
An aesthetic of imperfection, adaptation, concrete creativity that also redesigns the role of the architect in society.

A journey through ecological practices and social approaches

The exhibition at TAM is divided into two sections. The first presents twenty recent projects, diverse in scale and purpose, but united by a focus on sustainability, reuse, and participation. It showcases architects working within the folds of the system, in urban peripheries, using minimal means and maximum inventiveness: from Suzuko Yamada to VUILD, from Chie Konno to RUI Architects.

The second section focuses on five Japanese architecture studios – Mio Tsuneyama + Fuminori Nousaku Architects, 403architecture [dajiba], CHAr, tomito architecture, and dot architects – exploring their design processes and the alternative visions that guide them. Films, models, photographs, and video portraits created by Studio GROSS allow the audience to directly immerse themselves in their work environments and thoughts.

A global lesson on the architecture of the future

In a world struggling to move away from extractive and consumerist models, the lesson coming from Japan is clear: change starts with a new attitude. Adapting does not mean giving up, but recognizing the value of what exists and building with awareness.

Make Do With Now is an invitation to rethink architecture as a social, critical, and radically human practice. An unmissable opportunity for architects, students, urban planners, and anyone who wants to understand how architecture can address the great challenges of our time.