The wonderful structure of the shoin of the Jikō-in, a small temple in the western section of Nara is worthy of our admiration. I know nothing to equal the beauty of the spatial construction of this building. Some criticize the building for its crude structure and for a floor plan that seems to be merely a reflection of the feudal way of life, but these beautiful spaces are above any such criticism. To eliminate such forms would be to do away with what we have left of Japanese culture. Let us try to make a proper appraisal of the spaces of the beautiful Jikō-in.
The idea that there is an intimate connection between the old Japanese heritage of a sense of space and the point at which Western architecture finally arrived was very strong after the War. This gave the Japanese people confidence and helped them to quickly recover from the defeat of the War ; however, it is quite clear that the beautiful Japanese spaces and the new spaces achieved in modern architecture are not things of the same nature. To look at the two, of course, there is a connection, but this is only the feeling that architectural spaces give, and it would be mistaken to believe that these two were homogenous. The natures of these spaces are vastly different because the background of Western architectural space and the subtleties that have interwoven to create Japanese spaces are very different.
In his important work Space, Time, and Architecture, Sigfried Giedion uses a wonderful method to develop a discussion of architecture. He says that there is a direct connection between the architecture of a period and the concept of space that the period achieves. I don’t think that there is any other suitable explanatory work on the strong background of modern Western arc...
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... a part of the lives of the nobility of the middle ages, and later passed on to the common people, may be thought of as a form of restraint. The aesthetic sense of the nobles doubtless can be extracted from this ideal of Japanese spatial expression. However, the reason this was able to develop into such a splendid ideal, is not so much a reflection of the indecisive and evasive uncertain Japanese world outlook, as it is that through the strength of the aesthetic sense of the creators the real uncertainly of the world outlook was elevated to the position of an ideal.
If we follow Giedion’s explanation and view modern architectural space as time-space, Japanese architectural space is of a completely different dimension. The aims and concepts of modern architecture, intent on extensive transparency and flexible space, and Japanese traditional space are vastly different.
In his 1996 chapter of “The Grand Shrines of Ise and Izumo: The Appropriation of Vernacular Architecture” of the Architecture and Authority in Japan, William Howard Coaldrake explores the history and the purpose of the Grand Shrines of Ise and Izumo.
From the animated mega city of Tokyo, to the serene zen gardens with rustic ponds home to the koi fish, Japan has a unique past, present, and future. The alcove ornament samurai houses called, shoin-zukuri are a symbol of the struggling past that Japan escaped. These samurai houses were training centers long ago of judo, sumo, and other martial arts. Lush trees envelope houses, and the religion Shintoism was developed back in 500 A.D. Paintings and drawings capture the grace and beauty the landscape portrays. The Japanese dragons reveal the legends held within themselves, many are associated with rainfall and the ability to reach peace. Seeking farther inland you witness the largest city in the world, Tokyo. Cars, buses, subway systems, taxis, and bicycles are buzzing through every street, going to and from work, quickly advancing technology.
(Image taken from Tranchtenberg, Marvin, Isabelle Hyman. Architecture: From Prehistory to Postmodernity. Second Edition. Prentice Hall, Inc. New Jersey: 2002.)
Jarves, J (1984) A Glimpse at the Art of Japan Charles E. Tuttle, Tokyo, Japan.
Denison. B. (2002, January 1). A Basic Overview of Japanese Culture . . Retrieved May 3, 2014, from http://www.mizukan.org/articles/culture.htm
People are made of complexities and contradictions. Venturi recognized that buildings should be complex and complicated, too. He theorized and built buildings inspired by this principle, and succeeded because of his emphasis on individual experience and the interaction between humanity and architectural forms. In pursuit of this goal, his pluralist and revolutionary style of architecture embraced difference and ambiguity and rejected the rigid rules of modernism. While undoubtedly influenced by Venturi’s ideas, later postmodern architects failed to live up to his principles by forming their own inflexible rules and not concentrating on the human experience with buildings.
Although this extremely close connection of the individual with nature, the basic principle of Japanese gardens, has remained the constant throughout its history, the ways in which this principle has come to be expressed has undergone many great changes. Perhaps the most notable occurred in the very distinct periods in Japanese history that popularized unique forms of garden style—Heian (781-1185), and the Kamakura (1186-1393). Resulting from these two golden ages of Japanese history came the stroll garden from the former period and the Zen garden from the latter. As we shall see, the composition of these gardens was remarkably effected by the norms of architecture and the ideals of popular religion in these eras. Therefore, in understanding each garden style in its context, it is essential to also take into account the social, historical, and theological elements as well as the main stylistic differences.
The essence of modern architecture lays in a remarkable strives to reconcile the core principles of architectural design with rapid technological advancement and the modernization of society. However, it took “the form of numerous movements, schools of design, and architectural styles, some in tension with one another, and often equally defying such classification, to establish modernism as a distinctive architectural movement” (Robinson and Foell). Although, the narrower concept of modernism in architecture is broadly characterized by simplification of form and subtraction of ornament from the structure and theme of the building, meaning that the result of design should derive directly from its purpose; the visual expression of the structure, particularly the visual importance of the horizontal and vertical lines typical for the International Style modernism, the use of industrially-produced materials and adaptation of the machine aesthetic, as well as the truth to materials concept, meaning that the true nat...
In the process of development of human society, architecture and culture are inseparable. Cuthbert (1985) indicates that architecture, with its unique art form, expresses the level of human culture in different historical stages, as well as the yearning towards the future. According to his article, it can be said that architecture has become one of the physical means for human to change the world and to conquer the nature. Consequently, architecture has been an important component of human civilization. Since 1980s when China started the opening and reforming policy, a variety of architectural ideas, schools and styles have sprung up. Accompanying with a momentum of...
To understand the role of place in architecture, the author compares architecture to language. Language has patterns and arrangements, architecture relates directly to what humans do. It changes or evolves as
Remarkably, unlike in the description of art or music, the notion of atmosphere remains largely unaddressed in architecture. Atmosphere, can be argued, is the very initial and immediate experience of space and can be understood as a notion that addresses architectural quality, but the discussion of atmosphere in architecture will always entail, by definition, a certain ambiguity. After all, atmosphere is something personal, vague, ephemeral and difficult to capture in text or design, impossible to define or analyse. Atmosphere, Mark Wigley says, “evades analysis, it’s not easily defined, constructed or controlled”.
In conclusion, although the development of modern architecture and the intervention of computer technology to advocate this development, the contemporary architectural outcomes have became more complex and complicated with potential formulation problems. As a result, the new architecture theories came to put boundary lines between being in the range of these problems and producing elegant modern built environment. The seduction of computer-produced form also enhances architects to involve in seeking for new theories to develop the discipline and work to combine formulization with materialization. Finally, some of these theories are accepted and some other still a controversial aspect in architecture.
Deal, William E. 2006. Handbook to Life in Medieval and Early Modern Japan. Facts on File, Inc., 2006. eBook
Charles Jencks in his book “The Language of Post-Modern Architecture “shows various similarities architecture shares with language, reflecting about the semiotic rules of architecture and wanting to communicate architecture to a broader public. The book differentiates post-modern architecture from architectural modernism in terms of cultural and architectural history by transferring the term post-modernism from the study of literature to architecture.
Wide stone stairways and a diagonal slicing wall disappear beneath the surrounding rocks, creating a dramatic path to the rooftop terrace in the Naoshima Contemporary Art Museum. Ando defines architecture as “the box that provokes.” He says, “I do not believe architecture should speak too much. It should remain silent and let nature in the guise of sunlight and wind speak.” His gift is to create spaces that respond to human needs and spirit, juxtaposing powerful concrete walls with light and nature to create a deep sense of peace. Using simple materials and geometry, Ando has produced a volume of exquisite