Mukojima, two stops out from Asakusa, would appear on one's first visit to be the boondocks. Nonetheless, this suburban Tokyo backwater has been the location this year of two site-specific architecture and art projects.

The first project, organized by University of Tokyo architecture student Titus Spree, gathered a group of fellow architects to the location, where they erected a motley collection of architectural projects across the neighborhood over a two-week period. Many of these were either not completed or ruined by the rain.

There were a few gems to be appreciated, though, particularly the white polystyrene house project built around a set of four flagstones in situ, posited to be a prototype for portable housing -- if the cost of building it were not so prohibitive. The other was the total paper covering of an empty lot, which stood up rather well to the copious rain and excellently conveyed how materials, even only long sheets of paper, can alter space.