If you go on the highway in the suburbs of Tokyo, a strange building made of spheres and cylinders piled up on one another. It is the “Mitaka Tenmei Hanten Jutaku In Memory of Helen Keller,” a residential building

This building which is available for occupancy is the work of artist and architect Shusaku Arakawa and his partner Madeline Gins, completed in October 2005..

This building was made under the idea that, like Helen Keller who learned about nature and human relationships by using her own body to discover a new world, people may turn the impossible to possible by believing in an infinite possibility and not taking their environment for granted. Thus, the establishment was named “Tenmei Hanten,” which means overturning destiny. (Jutaku= Japanese for residence)

ABRF, Arakawa’s Tokyo office that also operates Tenmei Hanten residence periodically organizes programs that allow people to actually experience the Tenmei Hanten Jutaku. I participated in the program to wake up my dormant senses.

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