博士論文

Representation and Contextualization of Japanese Architecture

in Western Architectural Periodicals

(西欧メディアにおける日本建築の表現と文脈化)

ニコロヴスキ ニコラ
Acknowledgments:

I would like to express deep gratitude to my supervisor Prof. Kengo Kuma for the
guidance and inspiration he provided during the past three years. He gave me the opportunity to
be part of his laboratory and have the invaluable experience of working under his supervision.

I would like to additionally thank my sub-supervisor Prof. Yusuke Obuchi for his advice
and critiques, which always challenged my work and allowed me to do a better job. I appreciated
all of our meetings; they motivated me and pushed me to do better.

I am deeply grateful to Arata Isozaki, Fumihiko Maki, Itsuko Hasegawa, Hiromi Fujii,
Botond Bognar and Tom Heneghan for giving me the opportunity to interview them and
helping me to broaden my study. Without their input, this study would not be nearly so rich in
content.

Thanks to Prof. Jordan Sand, Prof. Dana Buntrock, Prof. Maren Harnack, Prof. Hajime
Yatsuka and Prof. Seng Kuan for having the time to meet with me, discussing the topics of this
thesis, and giving me valuable feedback.

Many thanks to Kaon Ko for her generous help while conducting the interviews and
with the subsequent translation. Thanks as well to Denton Clark and Marisa Cassidy for assisting
with transcription and translation. I would further like to thank all the members of Kuma Lab
for their collaboration, and MEXT for giving me the opportunity to study in Japan.

I owe a lot to my parents, Lena and Sotir, and my brother Daniel for their unconditional
support, love and care in the things that I do. I can never thank them enough for all their
sacrifices. My success is thanks in large part to them.

Finally, I want to express my deepest gratitude to Joseph Crnich, for his selfless support
for this project, and for his direct help in the text coding part and proofreading of the thesis. But
most importantly, for his moral support in this whole process; without his love and care, this
project would have not been possible.
 Table of Content

Acknowledgments:..................................................................................................... i 

Table of Content ...................................................................................................... iii 

1. Introduction ............................................................................................................ 1 

1.1 Background ..........................................................................................................1 

Japanese Architecture...................................................................................................... 1 

Architecture Magazines................................................................................................... 2 

1.2 Research Question .............................................................................................. 4 

1.3 Aim and Objectives............................................................................................. 7 

1.3.1 Importance of the Study ....................................................................................... 8 

1.4 Thesis Structure ................................................................................................. 10 

1.4.1 Methods ................................................................................................................. 11 

2. Literature review .................................................................................................. 15 

2.1 Representation of Architecture in Media .......................................................... 15 

2.1.1 Architecture and media ....................................................................................... 15 

2.1.2 Representation in architectural periodicals ....................................................... 19 

2.2 Eurocentrism in Architectural History ............................................................ 23 

2.2.1 The Field of Architectural History .................................................................... 24 

2.2.2 towards non-Eurocentric Architectural History.............................................. 25 

3. Japanese Architecture and Its Representation ....................................................29 

3.1 Architecture in Japan ........................................................................................ 29 

3.2 Representation of Japanese Architecture ......................................................... 36 

 3.3 Japan-ness in Architecture ............................................................................... 39 

3.4 Representation of Japanese Architecture in Western Architectural Periodicals

................................................................................................................................ 46 

4. Analysis of the Representation and Contextualization of Japanese Architecture

in Architectural Periodicals during the 1960s ..........................................................57 

4.1 Japanese architecture in Architectural Design in 1960s ................................... 58 

1958 issue ........................................................................................................................ 60 

1961 issue ........................................................................................................................ 62 

1964 and 1965 issues ..................................................................................................... 64 

1966 issue ........................................................................................................................ 66 

1970 issue ........................................................................................................................ 67 

4.2 Japanese architecture in Casabella in 1960s ..................................................... 69 

1963 issue ........................................................................................................................ 71 

4.3 Japanese architecture in L'Architecture d'Aujourd'hui in 1960s ..................... 75 

1956 issue ........................................................................................................................ 77 

1961 issue ........................................................................................................................ 78 

1966 issue ........................................................................................................................ 80 

Other articles .................................................................................................................. 81 

4.4 Discussion of the representation and contextualization of Japanese

architecture during the 1960s ................................................................................. 84 

5. Analysis of the Representation and Contextualization of Japanese Architecture

in Architectural Periodicals from the late 1970s until the 2000s ..............................88 
 5.1 Japanese architecture in Architectural Design from 1977 until 1999 ................ 89 

Quantitative analysis ...................................................................................................... 90 

Qualitative analysis ...................................................................................................... 100 

5.2 Japanese architecture in Casabella from 1982 until 2005 ................................ 128 

Quantitative analysis .................................................................................................... 129 

Qualitative analysis ...................................................................................................... 138 

5.3 Japanese architecture in L'Architecture d'Aujourd'hui from 1977 until 2005. 153 

Quantitative analysis .................................................................................................... 154 

Qualitative analyisis ..................................................................................................... 163 

5.4 Discussion of the representation and contextualization of Japanese

architecture from the late 1970s until the 2000s .................................................... 176 

6. Interviews ........................................................................................................... 188 

Interview with Arata Isozaki ...................................................................................... 189 

Interview with Fumihiko Maki .................................................................................. 192 

Interview with Itsuko Hasegawa ............................................................................... 195 

Interview with Hiromi Fujii ....................................................................................... 198 

Interview with Botond Bognar .................................................................................. 200 

Interview with Tom Heneghan ................................................................................. 203 

6.1 Discussion........................................................................................................ 205 

7. Conclusions ........................................................................................................ 209 

Table of figures ...................................................................................................... 216 

BIBLIOGRAPHY .................................................................................................. 221 

APENDIX I - Survey of Magazines……………………………………………….227

Table of collected articles…………………………………………………..228

Charts……………………………………………………………………...230

Tables of coded text from magazine articles …..…………………………..238

APENDIX II - Diagrams and analysis generated in KH Coder………………273

APENDIX III - Transcripts of interviews ……………………………………….303

Interview with Arata Isozaki ………………………………………………304

Interview with Fumihiko Maki …………………………………………….321

Interview with Itsuko Hasegawa ………………………………………….333

Interview with Hiromi Fujii ………………………………………………350

Interview with Botond Bognar ……………………………………………373

1. Introduction

1.1 Background

This study is inspired by the growing international interest in Japanese architecture

during the past two decades, placing Japanese architects in the spotlight of international media

attention. In the past five years, four Pritzker laureates were Japanese; Kazuyo Sejima was the

first woman and non-Westerner director of the Venice Biennale for Architecture; Japanese

architects have won the Golden Lion for best project in 2010 and national pavilion in 2012; and

Japanese architects Toyo Ito, SANNA and Sou Fujimoto each were selected to design the

prestigious Serpentine pavilion. This activity has resulted in twelve editions of El Croquies

magazine dedicated to architectural production in Japan (more than any other nation), and

countless articles in architecture magazines, web sites and blogs. The international awareness for

Japanese design is undeniable and its representation has never been more prominent and evident

than it is today.

Japanese Architecture

Japanese Modern architecture is one of the rare, if not only, non-Western1 trajectories

entering the canons of Modern architecture history. From the middle of the 20th century until

now, Japanese architects established a solid architectural discourse that is well represented and

contextualized in the greater narrative of architectural history. Japanese architecture is the only

non-Euro-American school of thought providing globally important and influential architectural

knowledge. Japanese designs continually appear in all of the relevant architecture magazines.

1 Before proceeding, here I would briefly define the term of West and Western. This research is based on the
dualism West/Western vs. Japan/Japanese. West and Western in this context is a broad term covering the Euro-
American region, or more precisely, Western Europe and the United States of America. The data of the research
only explores West European periodicals, but the theoretical part and literature review part covers both of the
regions. In Japan the term West sometimes covers broader geographical regions, but in the architectural discourse
most often it is used to signify the Euro-American region.

1
Media space provided by the architectural press enabled Japanese architecture to grow as a

distinctive architectural language, to reach a wider, international, architecture audience.

Historically, Japanese culture pressed by the Western influences underwent a

transformation in the late 19th and early 20th century. From the Meiji Restoration to the mid-

20th century, Japan absorbed the Western understanding and practice of architecture, accepting

the Western approach of architectural design, and translating the existing architectural legacy into

a Western understanding of building and space theory. This Western understanding of Modern

architecture permiated Japan though trips by influential Japanese architects to Europe and visits

by foreign architects to Japan, shifting a profession that once was in the sole domain of crafts

and transforming it into an academic discipline. The Metabolist movement was the final stage of

this modernization (Yatsuka 2011), after which, the world’s perception of Japan became that of a

modern, contemporary nation.

From the middle of the 20th century, Japanese architects intensively communicated and

exchanged ideas with the international architectural community, and their works were published

and presented outside of Japan. In parallel with building, many architects also engaged in

research and theorizing about Japanese traditional architecture. Concurrently, Shinkenchiku, the

leading architectural magazine in Japan, in 1956 started publishing The Japan Architect magazine,

aimed at an international audience to present and promote Japanese architecture. The intensive

building and theoretical production, followed with extensive media coverage resulted in a stable,

well-established and distinctive architecture discourse which characterized and theorized the

concept of Japan-ness in Architecture.

Architecture Magazines

In Kester Rattenbury’s edition of “This is Not Architecture” architecture is presented as

a curated media construct: “architecture – as a distinct form of building – is always that which is

represented, and particularly that which is represented in the media aimed at architects”

2
(Rattenbury 2002, p.xxii). This goes for all forms of representation: books, exhibitions,

magazines, movies, internet blogs and news sites. In the 20th century, particularly the second half,

architectural magazines occupied the primary position of information exchange; today there is a

strong shift towards the Internet as the primary source of news. What is important for all forms

of representation is their strong role in delimiting the field of architecture. In the same text,

Rattenebury argues that constructed representation defines what we consider good, fashionable

and popular (2002, p.xxii). She also comments of architecture students, that “ninety-nine out of a

hundred” learn to identify and define architecture of any form, first by looking at a

representation: a photo, a drawing, a lecture, a magazine article or a book. In this regard, it is

essential that designs are represented in order to qualify as architecture, and moreover only

through representation can architectural information be exchanged in a manner accessible to

everyone.

As already mentioned, the dynamics of information exchange in the twentieth century

brought the curatorial influence of architectural magazines to the forefront of architectural

discourse becoming the primary source of information around the globe. All that was new,

relevant and important was exchanged with periodicals. Some of these journals had more

informative content and their editorial politics were based on a journalistic approach, but quite a

few had a different take and aspired to create a solid architectural critique, selecting topics

important for the core of the architecture profession, contemporary architectural discourse, and

the history of architecture. A few of these crossed national boundaries, becoming internationally

renowned, and having great influence and authority to curate contemporary architecture

production.

Following the line of architecture periodicals in the 20th century is akin to tracing the

architecture history of the century. Magazines were used for the promotion of newly finished

designs and buildings, manifestos, competition announcements, book and exhibition reviews,

3
and materials and conference advertising. They were an architect’s window to the world and a

tool to communicate with their peers. What is new, in trend and important to know would be in

a periodical. Towards the second half of the century, many of the magazines would become

bilingual in order to address a wider audience, but this would also create competition between

their editorial politics. In different periods, different magazines would have quite an influential

role in creating architecture opinion, making them a footprint of the architecture zeitgeist from

today’s point of view.

1.2 Research Question

From the mid-50s until today Japanese architects produced a body of work with a unique

design aesthetic that translated into an autonomous, distinguishable architectural discourse. This

lineage of knowledge is the only non-Western, “relevant” architectural tradition, that is curated in

books of contemporary architecture history and thought, and that is recognizable with distinctive

regional aesthetic, material and formal qualities. The main question preoccupying this

research is how has Japanese architecture been represented and contextualized in the

West through architectural magazines? The study seeks to evaluate what the role of the

architectural periodical was in presenting unique values of Japanese architecture and establishing

the relevance of this discourse. It seeks the patterns of representation in printed media and, by

looking at patterns, will try to understand how Japanese architecture is contextualized in the

larger narrative of Western architectural history. The study’s interest is to discover what is

emphasized while presenting Japanese design and how this presentation correlates with Western

architectural thought.

One of the key points of this study is to determine what the West perceives as Japan-ness

in architecture and how Japan-ness is constructed and sustained in the architectural discourse.

From the beginning of the twentieth century, Western architects have visited and admired

4
Japanese traditional architecture. From the period of Tange and the Metabolists, Isozaki, Hara

and Shinohara to Ito, Hasegawa, and Ando, to Ban, Kuma, Sejima and the latest generation of

Japanese architects, the world has recognized a quality of Japan-ness in each of these architects.

This study will investigate how this vast field of extremely diverse architectural production of

these architects constructs the idea of a Japanese architectural aesthetic that today is

internationally identified as a national architectural aesthetic.

Analyzing the writings that represented and discussed architecture produced in Japan,

this study looks for the differences in contextualizing narratives. It is essential to understand

which texts presented Japanese architecture as a product of European influences or conformed

Japanese architecture to already established European frameworks, and which texts discussed

Japanese architecture as products of the unique Japanese condition. For the latter texts, it is also

important to understand what was presented as the theoretical position of Japanese architects, or

that which was highlighted as characteristic of the design. This study enables us to understand

which periods of Japanese modern architecture have been subjected to Eurocentricity, meaning

Japanese architecture seen as a part of movements and happenings in the West, and which

periods were contextualized as independent discourse with its own historic narratives–products

of internal influences and changes. Architectural periodicals, as artifacts of the zeitgeist, reveal

how the understanding of Japanese architecture changed over time.

As is currently understood, Metabolism is the beginning of independent Japanese

discourse. It can also be argued, however, that regardless of all the European influences,

Japanese architecture never fully assimilated to Western design agendas, and that the history of

modern Japanese architecture is separate from that of the West. Ultimately there is no such thing

as universal Modernity as established in the Euro-American context (Duanfang 2012). In

contrast to the contemporary understanding of history, this study identifies that the idea of

Japanese architectural discourse in a Western context did not fully develop before the second

5
half of the 1980s. For example, the originality of the Metabolists was never contested, but they

were seen as part of the Modern movement, therefore their Japanese-ness was never elevated to

a level of discourse apart from the West. The earlier generation of architects, like Maekawa and

Tange, were furthermore subject to Eurocentrism; for example, Kenzo Tange’s Tokyo plan from

1960 was seen as another project in the line of Modern utopia. Western media appropriated the

early, original Japanese designs, which were products of the unique cultural setting of Japan, as

part of Modernism and its regional qualities. Charles Jencks appropriated the work of the

Japanese architects in the 1970s and theorized them as Post-Modern, and this subsumption of

Japanese architects into Western design vocabularies lasted well into the 1980s. Architecture

from Japan was interpreted through Western theory and its discourses. Only in the late 1980s did

media in the West truly recognize the unique characteristics of work produced in Japan. After

years of international presence in the 1980s, Western media started to conceptualize Japanese

architecture as different and having a discourse of its own. Employing different rhetoric and

narratives, a contemporary idea of Japanese architecture was created that can be followed and

traced to today. This distinction and essentializing have been so strong that despite intense

conforming pressures of globalization, Japanese architecture continues to exist as a realm

different from the rest of the word.

Using architectural magazines as historical artifacts, this study argues that the true origin

of Japan-ness is not the Metabolist era, but the decade of the 1980s, the so called “bubble

period” of Japan, when the strong economy of the country drove an exuberant hyper-production

in the field of architecture. In the absence of dominant theoretical positions in Japan, the vast

field for extremely diverse architectural production in Western media was contextualized as

Japanese architecture. The narrative does not exist as a theoretical framework or style with

defined esthetic rules, but is a product of essentialized ideas about Japanese architectural

tradition, Japanese urbanity, and the interaction of Japanese architecture and nature. The diverse

6
field of readings of Japanese architecture in this study is systematized into tangible categories that

formed the idea of Japanese discourse. I argue that nature, tradition, and Japanese urbanity are

the three dominant elements in all the presentations of Japanese architecture. Understood as a

product of relationships and theorized with abstract architectural categories, Japanese

architecture ultimately is a product of the opposition between Japan and the West. Japan is what

the West is not, an idea sustained by Western media but also by Japanese architects too, creating

the ultimate distinction of the Japanese architectural discourse. Or, as Isozaki (2015) would say,

Japan-ness is a framework that can be only understood from outside, meaning there has to be

observer/Other–in this case the West/Western media–otherwise, the idea of Japanese discourse

would not exist, and Japanese architects would not be theorized based only on their geographical

and cultural origin.

1.3 Aim and Objectives

The aim of the research is to find out how Japanese architecture was incorporated into

and contextualized in the larger narrative of Western architectural history–to look at modes of

representation and the way Japanese architecture has been evaluated and understood. And

although “when it comes to the matter of civilization, Japan has behaved like a fully Westernized

state” (Nishihara 2005, p.245), geographically and culturally Japan is part of the non-Western

world, and with that, has been subjected to the same approach as the other non-Western

cultures, including Orientalism. Ultimately, this research strives to contribute to the fields of

architectural theory and history by opening a discussion of different approaches in designing

space and traditions of design that exist beyond the Euro-American architectural discourse that

can challenge the already canonized understanding of architecture.

One of the main objectives of this research is to find out how architectural media depicts

Japan-ness in architecture. Is it a tangible category and can it be somehow qualitatively

7
expressed? Discovering the topics of interest present in this media, and the way in which they

have been presented by the West serves to clarify the essential aspects of Japan-ness in

architecture. A second research intention is to examine, understand, and track the differences in

representation over time. The idea is to locate the distinctive and important historical shifts that

generated the subject of the discourse. Thirdly, this study offers thematic and chronological

categorization of Japanese discourse that does not necessarily follow the Western timeline of

architectural-periods. This strengthens the position of Japan as “the Other” – different discourse

that, although it looks up to the West, was developed independently with its own internal laws.

Finally, this research proposes a reading of Japanese architecture as the Other that challenges and

competes with the West, by offering different approaches in building architecture and creating

space. The intent is to look at how the West has recognized those moments of difference and, by

its acknowledgment, has created a valuable voice in the contemporary field of architecture. The

interest of this study is not “the ethnic nature of Japanese architecture but the ways in which

Japanese architects contribute to the architectural profession,” (Grave 2013, p.101) a profession

that in present day has lost national boundaries.

1.3.1 Importance of the Study

The history of Japanese architecture is a well-established research field, and many studies

focus on traditional and modern Japanese architecture. There is also well established Japanese

architectural theory, expressed in the writings of many Japanese architects, albeit mostly in the

Japanese language. The studies of modern Japanese architecture inevitably touch the issue of the

Japanese relationship with the West. Japanese modern architecture in its core is linked with

Western modernism. There are many studies focused on the influences and relations between

Japanese architecture and Western architecture. Most of them focus on Western influences in

Japan, or the Japanese reaction to and assimilation of these influences. This study is likewise

8
focused on the bridge between Japan and the West; however it departs from previous studies by

examining this relationship from a reverse perspective. This research is focuses on the Western

architectural media and the historical changes in the reporting and contextualizing of Japanese

architecture. It is a question of Japanese influence in the West.

Studies in the field of architectural history usually take the dominant Eurocentric position,

where Europe is the source and one that influences. This thesis offers a reverse perspective.

There is very limited research how Western, particularly the field of modern European

architecture has been changed by non-Western knowledge. Japanese architecture as a dominant

design discourse offers that unique perspective to examine the role of the non-Western influence

in European architectural theory by examining the changes of the contextualizing narrative of

Japanese architecture in European architectural media. Although limited only to architectural

periodicals, this study reflects on broader field of studies, opening questions about non-Western

knowledge that changed the dominant mainstream architectural theory and design. This study is

not a research on Japanese history, but the European history of contextualizing the Japanese

architectural narrative in Western architectural theory.

Besides the field of architectural history, this study is important to the field of architectural media

and representation. The research treats architectural magazines as an archeology of the

theoretical debates of the twentieth century. These magazines offer journalistic credibility that

current architectural media is not able to provide. In the age of the Internet, architectural media

became bottom up process that is crowd-sourced and has input from all of its users. Preoccupied

with providing prompt mass of information that that changes on daily bases relevant internet

mediums request their users to contribute with content. In this informational race, magazines

loose the battle as a relevant source of information. The curatorial role of the editors is lost as

well. What is relevant is not anymore just a decision of few. Lesser known domains and

architectural culture become more exposed and have better possibilities for self-promotion.

9
Discourses and paradigms are more fluid, open and inclusive categories. Compared to these

changes media in twentieth century is a much more stable category. It offers fix positions that

are useful for systematic historical studies, particularly of the dominant theoretical frameworks.

Unfortunately there are very few studies that utilize this material. This study builds on the already

established research of Beatriz Colomina, Kester Rattenbury and Andrew Higgott. It aspires to

deepen the debate about architecture and architectural discourse as media construct.

1.4 Thesis Structure

This research is a case study with combined methodology. The thesis follows a linear

structure of problem statement, literature review, methods and results.

The problem statement is included in the introduction chapter and presents the initial

findings, and background that led to conducting this research. This chapter also elaborates the

research questions, the aims, objectives, and methodology of this research.

The literature review chapter covers some of the seminal readings that influenced this

research. It is used for the purpose of understanding the field of study and positioning the

research in a wider range of studies conducted on similar topics. This chapter discusses the field

of architectural media and euro-centricity in architecture history, to position this thesis as

continuation of the writings made in the field of architecture and media, particularly those

analyzing the relations between magazines and architectural history. Additionally this study

advocates for plurality in understanding and interpreting architectural history.

The part on methods covers the research conducted on the case study of representation

and contextualization of Japanese architecture in the West. This part has a chronological

approach in structuring the material and will use quantitative and qualitative analysis to answer

the research questions and tasks stated in this chapter. The use of qualitative discourse analysis

10
over historical-interpretive approach is more adequate to discuss these topics from an

architectural-design rather than historical perspective. Furthermore this study aims to give

answers to questions that are not only relevant to the field of architectural history, but also

relevant to the field of architectural theory and architectural critique. The focus is not the

historical circumstances how the discourse of Japan-ness was conceived, but what was the

influence of Japanese architecture represented in architectural magazines - effectively, how the

world perceives Japanese architecture. This part of the research is covered with four chapters in

the thesis.

The first chapter of the part methods, chapter three, frames the field of this study. It

presents a historical outline of the study, the issues related to representation of Japanese

architecture, the historical background for the idea of Japan-ness in architecture, and presents the

data and its classification in this study. The other three chapters, chapters four, five, and six,

cover the data analysis. Chapter four and five are focused on the data collected from magazines

and chapter six is focused on the interviews.

The last chapter of the thesis, chapter seven, presents the conclusions of the study.

1.4.1 Methods

This research represents a qualitative case study that exploits a multiple method approach

for data gathering, in order to achieve a more accurate understanding of the problem. The study

build heterogeneous dataset that this author collected between June 2014 and March 2015. One

pool of data is from magazine articles, collected from three leading architectural magazines:

Architectural Design, Casabella and L'Architecture d'Aujourd'hui. It includes all the articles on

topics related to Japan and Japanese architecture published in the period between 1955 and 2005.

The second pool of data is six interviews with architects and writers; one semi-structured and

11
five structured interviews. The information for socio-economic historical events was obtained

mainly through secondary sources.

The data collected from magazines was analyzed with quantitative and qualitative

methods. Qualitative discourse analyses were used to interpret the discourse developed in the

media, and they focus mainly on articles and issues that are presented and theorized about

Japanese architecture in general. Some of the analyzed texts include individual presentations and,

in these cases, the presentations are made in relation to the wider context of Japanese

architecture, for example, the special issue presenting Arata Isozaki in 1977 in Architectural

Design, the special issue presenting Tadao Ando in 1988 in L'Architecture d'Aujourd'hui, or the

text “Architecture as Another Nature” published in 1991 in Architectural Design presenting Itsuko

Hasegawa’s work. The qualitative discourse analyses include all of these data collected between

1955 and 2005. The quantitative word mining and statistics were done on the data from between

1977 and 2005. It includes all the articles published in this period. The word mining was done

with KH coder and used a pre-coded text from the magazine articles. The interviews were

conducted in February and March 2015 and were based on the findings from the magazine

articles. The interviews were used as a tool to reexamine the findings from the article data.

Qualitative narrative analyses were used for their interpretation. The final conclusions are a

qualitative interpretation of the findings in the method chapters.

This study is focused on interpretation and analysis of text, as images in architecture are

not left to free interpretation. Text exclusively accompanies presentations of any kind of design,

and these writings conceptualize and contextualize our understanding of architecture. As Higgott

(2006) says, buildings do not speak for themselves, but only through the interpretations that are

made of them, and architectural projects are invariably created within the context of believing in

specific ideas. Following the chronology of publications gives a unique understanding of the

changes in contextualization of Japanese architecture. Today, historical distance has changed the

12
perspective and interpretation of certain events and designs, but magazines as historical records

of the twentieth century architectural history reveal the original interpretations. Using them, this

study identifies the exact moments when the West began to make a distinction between Japanese

and Western architectural discourse.

The statistical and the word mining methods were crucial in determining what the West

perceives as Japan-ness in architecture. In absence of an architectural theory or movement that

unites Japanese architects, the problem of defining Japanese architecture becomes an issue of

geographical and cultural references. The question is, what does the Western audience recognize

in architecture as Japanese? The quantitative study combined with the qualitative analysis gives a

tangible answer. The statistical methods help to understand the relationship between the

frequency of represented architects, buildings, use of terminology, theoretical conceptualization,

and the notions and characteristics understood as Japan-ness. For example, Tadao Ando is the

most represented Japanese architect. The theorizing of his work has been influential on the

general perception of Japanese architecture as one in relation to tradition, harmony, minimalism,

etc. The quantitative method is used as a statistical support of the finding made with the

qualitative research of the texts.

The interviews formed a necessary element to the research, and were used as a re-

examining tool for the study, which illuminated the relationship between Western architectural

media and Japanese architects, the degree to which they had input in the way their work was

represented, whether Western media had any direct contact with the architects, and whether

architects were the source of the theoretical framing. Understanding the path of information

exchange helped to understand the process of shaping the discourse. Architects were also asked

how they feel about these presentations and whether they truly reflect the meaning of their work.

Isozaki’s role as a mediator between Japan and the West is particularly important for this study.

He is a rare case of a Japanese architect who had a direct influence on the representation of

13
Japanese architecture. It was vital to hear his opinion on questions that examine his influence on

the field.

14
2. Literature review

The literature review of the research covers the following topics: media representation of

architecture, Japanese architectural history, and Eurocentrism in architectural history. The topics

of media representation and Eurocentrism in architectural history will be elaborated in this

chapter as they influence the theoretical framework of the study. The material of Japanese

architectural history will be discussed in part of the findings in chapter three titled Japanese

Architecture and Its Representation.

2.1 Representation of Architecture in Media

This research is focused on printed media, though this chapter also looks at studies of

architecture and media in general. The literature review covers writings that focus on the

curatorial and contextualizing role of media in the field of architecture, with a particular focus on

architectural periodicals. The role of the media in establishing architectural discourses has been

wildly discussed in the periodical themselves, but there is little scientific research available on this

topic. The role of architectural periodicals is particularly interesting from a current point of view,

as the Internet era brought new ways of communicating and information sharing among

architects. The role of the magazine has changed dramatically since the 2000s and it has lost its

dominant power as the primary news source. Magazines today no longer represent the key

source of news for architects, though the twentieth century architectural discourse was shaped by

these periodicals.

2.1.1 Architecture and media

Media, through the promotion of new theoretical ideas and practical achievements, had a

defining role in the architecture of twentieth century. Printed media was central to this

dissemination of information, magazines being the primary source, but photography, film and

15
television were also influential, particularly on the wider non-architectural audience. Today more

than ever, architecture is consumed through media. The internet is a source of information about

architecture not only for architects, but a wide, non-architecturally trained audience. Web sites

that are dedicated to the promotion of architecture and design are followed both by professional

and non-professionals. And despite the boom in presenting and mediating architecture, very few

scientific studies focus on the role of media in architecture. The majority of texts found on the

topic are written by authors who are personally involved in publishing and appear as part of the

editorials where the authors contribute. The academic sphere, with few exceptions, has never

seriously discussed the contextualizing and curatorial role of media in architecture.

Several writings related to architecture and media focus on the interaction of architecture

and film. These studies mostly focus on the representation made by movies and the cultural

implications of these representations. For example, the book “Architecture and Film” edited by

Mark Lamste (2002) is a collection of essays that explores the depiction of architects in movies,

the process of creating onscreen architecture, and the use of architecture by filmmakers in

addressing issues in society. Juhani Pallasmaa’s (2001) book “The Architecture of Image: Existential

Space in Cinema” has a phenomenological stand and examines the use of architectural imaginary

for depicting emotional states. Both of the books explore the semiotic nature of using

architecture in media but do not explore the influence of movies in architectural discourse.

Of the few studies that engage in the relationship between architectural discourse and

media in general are the books: “Privacy and Publicity: Modern Architecture as Mass Media” by Beatriz

Colomina (1994) and “This is Not Architecture: Media Constructions” by Kester Rattenbury (2002).

Through the work of Adolf Loos and Le Corbusier, Colomina explores the birth of a new

relationship between architecture and media – one where architecture is medium on its own. Her

argument goes beyond the accepted fact that architecture is encountered mostly through

representation in media, and claims that mass media is the true site where modern architecture is

16
produced (Colomina 1994, p.14). Architecture, no longer can be seen only as artistic object for

observation, but by reading modern architecture as “high artistic practice” versus the everyday

and mass media, it is denied the overwhelming evidence of the involvement of architecture in

mass media (Colomina 1994, p.14). The complexity of the issue comes from the three different

stands in this book: architecture is communicated through representation in media; at the same

time, architectural representation becomes essentially production and the product; architecture

adopts the rules of communication and becomes medium by itself. But Colomina’s interest in

this study is focused on the last point. Her thesis focuses on the change that happens in

modernity, the dissolution of the solid boundary between interior and exterior, and the mix of

the public and private, asserting that modern architecture adopted systems of communication

from photography and moving images that transforms from a pure object for observance to a

medium that communicates. This transformation for Columina is essential in modern

architecture, in fact for her modern architecture becomes modern only when engages and

establishes this relationship with mass media.

The primary idea behind Kester Rattenbury’s book This Is Not Architecture is that

architecture, although an artifact that exists in the physical reality is almost exclusively defined

and discussed through representation in media. Paralleling Rene Magritte’s painting Ceci n'est pas

une pipe (This is not a pipe) and photography of the Barcelona Pavilion from 1929, Rattenbury’s

argues “it’s hard to accept the construct – that what you are looking at is a representation and

not the thing itself”(2002, p.xxi). Representation has a more defining power then the real objects

themselves. It is deeply imbedded in the culture of the architecture field to define, theorize,

discuss, and teach architecture through representational material. This to some extent is

contradictory because in the very nature of architecture there are the properties of materiality,

texture, form and spatial arrangements, light, movement – properties that are very difficult to

capture and transmit with representation.

17
 At the very beginning of the book the author says - “architecture – as a distinct form of

building – is always that which is represented, and particularly that which is represented in the

media aimed at architects” (Rattenbury 2002, p.xxii). Representation has a delimiting role in the

field of architecture. The existence of a building as architecture is not defined by the presence in

the physical world but by the existence of representational objects that will testify the

architectonic nature of the building. The line between architecture and representation is so

blurred that often they are equated. Furthermore, many unbuilt architectural designs,, have

strongly influenced and transformed the architectural field, through their representational

imaginary. Rattenbury presents the example of Tatlin, Hadid, Piranesi, Archigram and Futurist

projects whose designs and imaginary stand are equivalent and sometimes more powerful

positions in the architecture canons then existing and built projects. This testifies to the power of

mediated and curated images and drawings.

All forms of representation—books, magazines, photos, models, lectures—contribute to

the understanding of what architecture is and what constitutes good architecture. As Rattenbury

says of architecture students “ninety-nine out of a hundred” (2002,p. xxi), learn to identify and

define architecture of any form first by looking at its representation. In other words media

delimits the field of architecture and media representation is the source of architectural

knowledge–exactly this makes architecture a curated media construct. That which is

represented becomes architecture. Not only do architecture students learn, study and inform

themselves from representational artifacts, but also architectural discourses are the products of

various modes of representation.

Accepting the idea that from modernism, mass media is the true site where architecture is

produced or understanding architecture as a curated media product leads to the conclusion that

the concept of Japan-ness in architecture can only exist in media artifacts. That is why at the very

core of this research is architectural media, and the primary source of data is magazine articles. In

18
order to find out what the West understands as Japan-ness in architecture, one should first

understand how the media represents Japanese architecture. The research is concerned not with

the reasons for why particular representations occur, but with the influence of these depictions

of Japanese architecture in the West.

2.1.2 Representation in architectural periodicals

In the past century printed media particularly that whose audience is architects, has had a

central role in architecture discourse. During this period, many architects were personally

involved in publishing and editing. As much as in practice, Modernism was born on the pages of

magazines like De Stijl and L'Esprit Nouveau. In the twentieth century, writing became a

standard practice for architects intending to develop recognizable discourse and to promote their

work. Apart from the monographs that became regular for already established names, the latter

half of the century is marked by a wave of publications produced by young offices to support

their ideas and work. These books are not products of critical and analytical writing, but have

manifesto like approaches and supports Colomina’s stand that media is the site where

architecture originates.

One of the arguments of this study is that tracing the archives of architecture periodicals

in the twentieth century, in effect its traced the architectural history of the century. This is of

course the curated and constructed version of that history, however, one that magazine editors

decided to tell to the architecture audience, but is also the architecture that most likely will pass

on in history books. Additionally some of the most important and influential events of the

century happened exclusively in print. For example Oppositions, Archigram and the Any

publications.

19
 “Clip, Stamp, Fold: The Radical Architecture of Little Magazines 196X to 197X” is first research

of this kind and probably the most remarkable in the field made Beatriz Colomina and a group

of PhD students at Princeton University. “Little magazine” is a term used for all the short lived,

influential avant-garde publications from 1960s and 1970s that changed the state of architectural

press. Colomina’s research also collects and archives professional magazines. The radical

magazines impacted the professional press and transformed its informative tone into a more

critical one. The book contains transcripts from the debate “Small Talks”, where editors and

designers were invited to discuss their magazines and additional series of interviews with an

international selection of magazine editors and architects. The book is also filled with an annual

selection of the most provocative issues published during the two decades.

Colomina, whose study and traveling exhibition continues to this day, is the most

comprehensive researcher on the topic of architectural press. The study unveils the critical

period for the architecture press when it becomes international and starts having global impact,

and chronicles all the critical magazines in the Western world and Japan. This encyclopedic

approach is the most fascinating aspect of the study as it uncovers the enormous data produced

by the press, crucial for globalizing the architectural debate and establishing discourses that no

longer are tied with place of origin. The state of architecture as it is known today is in part the

result of the publishing revolution that happens in the period of 1960s and 1970s.

The only weakness of “Clip, Stamp, Fold” is that the encyclopedic approach fails to deliver

an in depth understanding of the particular roles of each of these magazines played. The

individual interviews cast a light on this issue but the whole study treats the enormous body of

data as one. This is understandable as the study deals with more the 1200 issues. Even with this

number the authors of the study still made a selection of the most iconic issues published

through the years. As a conclusion the data in this research speaks more about the

transformation of the architectural press than about the individual impact of the archived titles.

20
 “Mediating Modernism: Architectural Cultures in Britain” by Andrew Higgott (2006) is a rear

research that studies the history of the British modern architectural discourse through

representation in architectural press. Examining the language and imaginary in press, looking at

the publications Architectural Review, Architectural Design, Arhigram and books from the

Architectural Association, Higgott presents the history of constructing the British modern

discourse in architecture. This study takes for granted that buildings do not speak for themselves,

but rather through the interpretations that are made of them (Higgott 2006, p.1) meaning only

when contextualized architecture gets voice to speak and represent ideas. Higgott’s observation

is that the question of architecture’s representation in the printed media has far more importance

than it has yet been given (Higgott 2006, p.8).

In the article titled as “Discourse as Representation of Design Thinking and Beyond: Considering

the Tripod of Architecture–Media, Education, and Practice” by Ayse Senturer and Cihangir Istek, the

authors explore how discourse is communicated in various representational modes in media,

education and practice. According to Senture and Istek (2000, p.74) discourse is the

representation of design thinking, and is developed through transmission of certain design

thinking among the various participants. Analyzing the role of media, education and practice as

participants and developers of design thinking, media has the most dominant role in establishing

trends and representational models in discourse (Senture and Istek 2000, p.790). Magazines as

curators of architectural production follow practice very closely, while education–design studios–

is seen as the place for experimentations and innovation. Education is the world of ideals, media

the world of dreams/images and practice is the world of realities. As both of the authors come

from the field of education they see education/design studio as the place where the different

worlds of architecture can come together; media for them would never surrender its power of

influence.

21
 “Myth and Media: Constructing Aboriginal Architecture” by Kim Dovey (2000) examines the

establishment of discourse through media representation. The text analyses the media coverage

of the Marika-Alderton house by Glenn Murcutt, completed in 1994. The media presented and

contextualized this building as “archetypical hat and as a prototype for Aboriginal house”(Dovey

2000); Dovey’s article uncovers the almost fabricated discourse developed in press through

cheerfully curated, authorized images and key phrases. Dovey, who personally visited the

building in 1996 and speaks highly about the design, chronologically follows the media coverage

of the building and exposes the narrow path through which the discourse is developed–most of

the writers, had never even visited the building. The owner, Marika (a famous Aboriginal artist),

is also a very satisfied client, but in Dovey’s (2000, p.5) words “she does not Aboriginalize the

building and denies its role as a prototype for Aboriginal housing.” This article exemplifies the

power of the media. The author’s goal is not discrediting Murcutt or the excellence of his work,

but exposing the Western construction of historical narratives.

The researchers who examine the relationship between media and architecture,

particularly of the architectural press,is still relatively small compared to the influence that media

has had in architecture. No doubt Beatriz Colomina’s work is groundbreaking and her two books

are ground zero for understanding the link between architecture and media. Particularly, “Privacy

and Publicity: Modern Architecture as Mass Media” is essential reading that gives understanding of

media as the true site of modern architecture. This research builds upon the line of thought

presented in this chapter. This study accepts the fact that media and particularly the architectural

press had a crucial role in establishing discourses in twentieth century; magazines, as much as

buildings themselves, are architectural artifacts and in tracing their editorials is essential to the

inscribing of architectural history. Understanding how articles curate buildings, reveals how

constructions of meaning are applied to architectural discourse.

22
 This study examines Japan-ness in architecture as a discourse developed in Western

theory, which is read through the representation found in the magazine articles. The focus of the

study is not the mediums and methods used to produce representation, but the emphasis on

representation of architecture as “product” with applied meanings. Looking at the representation

in architectural periodicals, the heart of the analysis is centered on textual representations that

follow and contextualize the visual material of the architectural projects. Discourse in this

context is understood as the representation of design thinking, and is focused on the brood

image that constitutes the Western idea for Japanese design thinking.

2.2 Eurocentrism in Architectural History

This chapter is a critique of the Eurocentric approach to constructing architectural

history. This issue particularly concerns Japanese architectural discourse, as the only leading non-

Western discourse. The term Eurocentrism implies a worldview based from European

perspective, and is associated with decolonization and post-colonial thought. Although the bases

for this chapter are post-colonial studies, in this instance it is more adequate to operate with the

term eurocentrism then the word post-colonial. Japan has been subjected to colonialism and

Orientalized by the West, but also has been colonizer, thus the use of the word eurocentrism

eliminates the confusions that might appear with the term postcolonial. The subject of

eurocentrism in architecture has been discussed as part of postcolonial approach in architecture

mostly in the context of India, Indonesia and other Asian regions. But eurocentricity in

architecture is an issue that affects the field in general.

23
2.2.1 The Field of Architectural History

Architecture with capital A is a Western phenomenon and its history is a Eurocentric

history. The understanding of Architecture as we know it today and its origin lies in the

European Renaissance. All the major, relevant discourses in the field are presented as product of

one lineage of knowledge – Western thought. Modernism, resulting from the extraordinary

intellectual effort in the age of Enlightenment (Harvery 1990, 12), in architectural history also

appears as a European “product” and from there spread around the world as a universal value of

the International Style. From the middle of the 20th century, Japanese Architecture is the only

non-Western discourse that has a consistent history of representation as a relevant and successful

architectural theory and production.

Going through the seminal works of architectural history, it is not difficult to notice that

they all follow the dominant line of European Architectural History. In some of them, as is the

case of Banister Fletcher’s “A History of Architecture” in earlier editions, architecture outside of

Europe has been presented as “non-historical” and architecture that doesn't develop. Other

books that center on the Modern and contemporary period, for example Gideon’s “Space, Time

and Architecture: The Growth of a New Tradition”, are almost exclusively focused on Western

architectural production. Modern architecture outside of the Euro-American sphere usually

appears as a work of the great masters of Modernism, for example Le Corbusier’s work in

Chandigarh or Louis Kahn’s in Dakar. Following this understanding of history, Modernism,

International style and contemporary architecture are products of Western knowledge.

Architecture outside the West, in relation to contemporary context, is most commonly

presented with examples of vernacular architecture. Vernacular architecture came to light in 1964

with Rudolfski’s “Architecture without architects”; the exhibition and later book open new

ground where ‘other’ valuable architectural knowledge is presented from outside the canonized

field. The field of vernacular architecture is mostly examined with examples of non-Western

24
origin. The books focusing on traditional architecture are truly diverse and equally represent all

corners of the world. The problem arising from and criticized by postcolonial thought is that

these histories, the non-European and vernacular, have been “considered as a lesser form of

Western modernism” (Duanfang 2012, 237) and the Eurocentric canon has been “dismissing

their architecture as static, backward, or ‘decadent’” (Hosagrahar 2012, 73). Regarding this,

postcolonial thought challenges “the grand history of Europe” that is presented as “the universal

history of humankind” and its “linear and universal modern originating from Western Europe”

(Hosagrahar 2012, 73). Today this focus has shifted requiring one to no longer speak of a

singular Modernity, but to uncover “multiple modern identities” with fluid and hybrid aspects in

every culture.

2.2.2 towards non-Eurocentric Architectural History

Today, in some respects, Japan can be regarded as a Western country due to its political

ties and economic achievements, but culturally Japan belongs to the East and has often been

subjected to the same treatment as other non-Western cultures. This study already includes the

following essential postcolonial readings—Orientalism by Edvard Said, Modernity At Large, Cultural

Dimensions of Globalization by Arjun Appadurai, and Postcolonial Theory: Contexts, Practices, Politics by

Bart Moore-Gilbert, The Location of Culture by Homi K. Bhabha, Provincializing Europe: Postcolonial

Thought and Historical Difference by Dipesh Chakrabarty—but this part focuses specifically on

postcolonial texts within the field of architecture theory. The SAGE Handbook of Architectural

Theory by C. Greig Crysler, Stephen Cairns and Hilde Heynen (eds.) is a valuable source for

postcolonial text focusing on contemporary architecture and architecture history.

The article “Interrogating Difference: Postcolonial Perspectives in Architecture and

Urbanism” by Jyoti Hosagrahar gives a base for postcolonial understanding of the dominant and

Eurocentric history of architecture and presents the instrumental role of architecture in

25
portraying the national identities of the West European nations (Hosagrahar 2012, p.67).

National architecture becomes a tool used in the colonial architecture to delimit “the enlightened

colonizers and the primitive, decadent, and despotic colonized” (Hosagrahar 2012, p.67).

Eurocentricity in architecture is a product of the imperialist hegemony that overflowed in the

modern period. The success of the International Style additionally complicates this problem;

Modernity is understood as Western achievement and the Modern/International style is always

interpreted from a Western perspective. In her article, Hosagrahar calls for breaking the West

European and North American canonized position in architecture history.

In the same vein, Duanfang Lu in the text “Entangled Modernities” discusses the

position of non-Western Modernities as “lesser” and the necessity to research these histories:

“Research on modern architecture in non-Western societies has been conceptually significant in

overcoming earlier hegemonic assumption which identified the West as the sole yardstick to measure the

beginning and end, success and failure of modernism. It shows how canonic architectural historiography

has universalized experience with modernity that was actually peculiar to the Euro-American context. It

demonstrates instead that there are multiple ways of being modern, which are not imperfect, incomplete

versions of an idolized full-blown modernity, but social forms of processes with their trajectories, discourses,

social institutions, and category of reference.” (Duanfang 2012, p.238)

The text of Lu introduces the concept of entangled knowledge and entangled modernity,

and favors them over the term multiple modernity. The text criticizes not only the Eurocentric

approach to history but also the West-centric epistemology. It calls for a different approach to

learning and gaining architectural knowledge and accepting different understandings for what

architecture is. It also calls for attention that the globalization processes bypass the local

knowledge, and anticipates that architecture will stay in the shadow of Sir Banister Fletcher’s

‘Tree of Architecture’ (Duanfang 2012, p.244).

26
 In line with the previous two texts, the much earlier article, “Architectural History or

Landscape History?” by Dell Upton (1991), proposes instead of a single architecture history,

having a landscape of architecture histories. The author looks into the nineteenth century

creation of architecture history based on aesthetic universalities and “timeless” architecture. This

elitist approach divides architecture into high and low, considering the vernacular as low, and has

a narrow interpretation of what constitutes architecture. The main focus in this early modern

understanding of architecture is the relationship maker: the object. Upton’s concept of landscape

history focuses on “the human experience of its own landscape” (1991, p.198) and asks for

inclusion of as many representations possible, whether they are physical or imagined.

The presented studies discuss the pre-modern and modern history of architecture, but

the problem also extends beyond the contemporary field of architecture. The landscape of the

entire architectural history today is still very much Eurocentric. The Euro-American discourses

still are “the sole yardstick to measure the beginning and end. (Duanfang 2012, p.238). While the

field of architecture has raised attention about the value of local cultures and are sensitive to

regionalist approaches to design, the theoretical debates are still dictated by Western thought.

Architecture media dominates the concept of maker and object, centered on the figures of

starchitects, their image of creative genius and their discourse.

Today, Japanese architecture has a unique historical positioning. More than ever,

Japanese architecture has the attention of the world. Media, particularly from internet sources, is

saturated with designs coming from Japan. What is noticeable is the absence of discursive and

paradigmatic approach in this presentation. Even without clear discourse Japanese architecture

remains distinct, manifesting a unique approach to architecture that doesn’t come from the

Western paradigm. Fifty years ago, Japanese architecture was understood in an entirely different

context. Japanese modernists were subjected to Eurocentrism as their work was considered to be

the product of European influences, and the studies of Japanese traditional architecture were

27
subordinated to modernist agenda. The interest of this study is to examine the shift and re-

contextualizing of Japanese architecture, the creation of difference and “otherness” in the

discourse, what role the media played in this re-contextualizing, and what is its position in

relation to Western architecture.

Representation of Japanese architecture, as this research shows, has been subjected to

eurocentricity; as a result there are cases of misinterpreting or misrepresenting the work of

certain Japanese architects. Western media contextualizes Japanese architecture with Western

understanding of space. Sometimes with limited knowledge of Japanese history, architecture

from Japan is reviewed and imposed meaning based on the ongoing Western discourse. Those

aspects deemed incompatible with Western discourse are just labeled as Japan-ness. As

Duanfang (2012) suggests, it is not only necessary a non-Eurocentric historiography, but also

non-Eurocentric epistemology that will produce a better understanding for the non-European

architectural discourses. This study aims to identify eurocentricity in representation and hopes to

offer a better interpretation based more on a Japanese architectural context

28
3. Japanese Architecture and Its Representation

This chapter briefly covers a brief history of twentieth-century Japanese architecture, and

the essential moments and key architecture figures prominent in the international scene.

Following that is a discussion about the representation of the Japanese architectural discourse

and theoretical framework for Japan-ness in architecture. The chapter concludes with the broad

findings for representation of Japanese architecture in Western architectural periodicals.

3.1 Architecture in Japan

The concept, field, and notion of architecture as we know them today are an inherently

Western phenomena. Historically, not every culture had the same understanding of the buildings

and built environment as a form of art or as high-art. Contemporary constructs of architecture

follows the line of thinking born of the European Renaissance. Traditionally, many cultures,

although highly valuing, have contextualized architecture differently than Europeans. This is true

of traditional Japanese culture.

Until the Meiji era, architecture in Japan was in the domain of crafts and woodworking.

The cultural transformation during the Meiji era is entirely influenced by Western knowledge of

art and science. This period is also the beginning of the dialectic relation between Japan and the

West, where the West becomes “the mirror” and defining “other” for Japan. Modern Japanese

architecture is conceived exactly at this point with carful and in-depth study of Western

architectural tradition and an examination of the Japanese architecture legacy.

The novelty and foreignness of ‘Architecture’ in the Japanese cultural discourse may be

best portrayed with Chuta Ito’s text published in Kenchiku Zasshi in 1894. In the text titled

“Hoping to Change the name of Our Zoka Gakkai by Discussing the Original Meaning of the

Word ‘Architecture’ and Thereby Choosing Its Translation” Ito contests the initial translation of

the word ‘architecture’ into ‘zoka-gaku’ and proposes the use of ‘kenchiku-jutsu’ as a more adequate

29
term (Zenno and Shah 2006 ). The debate of how to translate ‘architecture’ is a debate of what

architecture is at its core. Chuta Ito, who is considered the first architecture historian in Japan,

favors the term ‘kenchiku’ (建築 – building construction) as more vague over the more precise

meaning of the term ‘zoka-gaku’ (造家学-study of house construction). The word ‘kenchiku’

also doesn’t completely convey the actual meaning of the word architecture as its two characters

建 and 築 mean the ‘act of constructing’ and ‘construction’. Ito argues that neither of the terms

gets to the core of architecture, and goes as far as to say that it is not possible to translate

architecture into the Japanese language (Nakatani 2006). In this context the “non-existence” of

the word ‘architecture’ within the Japanese lexicon reveals the historical absence of a conscious

approach to architecture in the understanding of architecture constructed by the West.

The struggles to define “Architecture”, to contextualize architecture in Japan, and to

determine the essence of Japanese architecture, were open-ended debates that lasted well beyond

the Second World War. They included all the leading Japanese figures in the field and led to the

formation of what today is characterized as Japanese architecture. The practice of making

buildings—a once craft-based enterprise dependent solely on the experience and expertise of

carpenters (during the Meiji era, architecture in Japan was dominantly made of wood and timber)

transformed to include a wide range of new materials and new types of buildings, and becoming

an academic discipline in the process. The question was not only how to translate and define

‘architecture’, but also how to reevaluate the already existing architectural legacy in Japan.

Traditional Japanese architecture became subjected to study and analysis that re-contextualized

the knowledge according to a Western understanding of architecture. The West became the

mirror for modeling and evaluating architecture in Japan.

The process of re-contextualization became essential to understanding “the value” of

what Japan owns as architectural legacy but also opens the dialog with the curious Western eye.

The study and re-evaluation of traditional Japanese architecture happened exactly in the midst of

30
the dawn of Modernism. Bruno Taut, Frank Loyd Right and Walter Gropius, who each visited

and worked in Japan, had major influence in this debate. Bruno Taut in particular had a defining

role in history of Japanese architecture. In the beginning of 1930s he visited important

architectural sits in Japan and gave a “verdict” - what are the pinnacles of Japanese architecture

and what are its “low points” (Isozaki 2006, p.257). Villa Katsura and Ise Shrine became the

defining examples of architectural masterpieces, while the elaborately decorated shrines in Nikko

became the “dark” vulgar side of traditional Japanese architecture.

The modernist movement played an important role in establishing the Japanese

architectural discourse. The purist and minimal Sukiya-zukuri ( 数寄屋造り) was widely

welcomed by the masters of Modernism, as it fitted the dogma of the movement. Encouraged by

the fascination of their Western teachers and colleagues, Japanese Modernists studied and

researched traditional Japanese architecture. Their work would define what the world today

understands and sees as Japanese architecture. Kenzo Tange and Noboru Kawazoe’s book “Ise:

Prototype of Japanese Architecture” seal the origin of Japanese architecture and the carefully curated

photographs of Yasuhiro Ishimoto in “Katsura: Tradition and Creation in Japanese Architecture”

becomes a timeless work of art.

It is important to note that during the 1930s and the Second World War period in Japan,

architecture was influenced by the nationalism in the country. In this period parallel to the

modernist influences from Europe, the eclectic style called “Teikan-yoshiki” (Imperial Crown

Style) was developed. In the 1931 Imperial Museum competition, Hitoshi Watanabe won with

eclectic teikan-yoshiki design over Kunio Maekawa's Corbusian design. In 1943 even Kunio

Maekawa entered the Japan-Thailand Cultural Center competition with a design influenced by

the shoin zukuri, style associated with samurai warriors (Yatsuka 2011, p.34). The group called

“Overcoming Modernity” rejected modernism as a Western sensibility and promoted

development of Japanese anesthetization (Yatsuka 2011, p.28). By the end of the war, the

31
esthetics associated with Japanese imperialism gave way to postwar Japanese reconstruction

dominated by modernism and the International Style.

The postwar period is crucial and final phase of Japanese modernization. In this period,

the research made on traditional Japanese architecture received its “final shape.” Tange’s work

results in two books about Ise Shrine and Katsura, that internationally promoted and cemented

these buildings as the pinnacles of Japanese traditional architecture. Meanwhile modern

architecture completely transformed the landscape of Japanese cities. The work of Tange,

Maekawa and Sakakura influenced by the Corbusian and CIAM principles became symbol of the

postwar renewal of the country. Some of these designs, like Hiroshima Memorial and the

Kagawa Prefectural Hall by Kenzo Tange make modernist reference to traditional Japanese

architecture.

At the beginning of 1960s a second generation2 of postwar architects began practicing.

Their work, recognized as Metabolism, became the synonym for Japanese contemporary

architecture. They draw international attention and put Japan on the world architecture map.

Hajime Yatsuka(2011) recognizes Metabolism as the final stage of modernization in Japan, after

this the world view of Japan and its architecture is one of a modern, contemporary nation. The

images coming from Japan in the 1960s the West perceived as bold, progressive and at times

shocking. The architecture was modern, international, and uniquely innovative. The creative

energy that built in the 1960s blossomed in the 1970 Osaka World Expo. This show presented

Japan on the forefront of innovation, technology and creativity in field of architecture, and was

considered the peak of the decade-long Metabolist discourse filled with optimism for the future

of Japanese society.

2Japanese architecture history is marked by different “generation of architects.” Going by decades a system of
master-student is established and lineage of knowledge recognized. In the first generation of Japanese architects
belong names like: Kenzo Tange, Kunio Maekawa, Junzo Sakakura… Second generation: Arata Isozaki, Fumihiko
Maki, Kazuo Shinohara, Kisho Kurokawa, Kionori Kikutake.. Third generation: Tadao Ando, Itsuko Hasegawa,
Tokyo Ito, Hiromi Fujii..

32
 This optimism and trust in technological progress embodied by the Metabolists architects

were products of the economic and social climate in Japan. After the defeat in World War II,

Japan rebuilt itself fast and experienced rapid economic growth. The mission to rebuild the

society was almost complete by the beginning of the 1960s and Japan enters the new decade as

fully modernized nation. The inauguration of the Hiroshima Peace Memorial in 1955 was a

symbolic step and political statement of Japan’s new historical mission to dedicate itself to world

peace. The 1964 Tokyo Olympics were a statement of a modern nation that had fast post war

recovery and economic growth. The Osaka Expo in 1970 showed the world a nation that led in

innovation and success. Each of these three events conveyed their messages through architecture.

Architects and their work became the nation’s alter ego. This heroic post-war period is

represented with even more heroic projects - buildings and paper architecture.

This enormous energy that culminated during the Osaka Expo in 1970 was disrupted in

the following decade. The 1973 oil crisis dramatically changed the landscape of Japanese society.

The bold utopian projects lost their grounding in the new reality hit by the economic crises. The

projects were downsized, and the international activities of Japanese architects halted.

The most interesting production in this period occurred in the housing sector. Kazuo

Shinhara offered a new spacial reality rooted in the Japanese traditional understanding of space.

At the same time Arata Izosaki, drawn to the West, produced brilliant, hybrid Neo-Paladian

architecture, yet it was architect Kurokawa who was probably the most successful architect in

terms of production—a national superstar of the time. His firm had more than 100 employees,

designed over 35 buildings and had monthly appearances on TV (Urban 2012, p.91). In 1977

Charles Jencks published The Language of Postmodern Architecture; the cover of the book is designed

with a photo of the Ni-Ban-Kan building by Minoru Takeyama. The author praises Japanese

architecture as a true example of postmodern architecture – “unlike Westerners [they] have been

able to be modern and traditional without compromising either language,” (Jencks 1977, p.87).

33
In 1978 The Institute for Architecture and Urban Studies in New York organizes an exhibition

titled: “A New Wave of Japanese Architecture” that established the new names of Japanese

architecture in the decade that followed.

The 1970 were the transitional years of Japanese architecture. After the oil shock in

1973Japanese discourse reexamined its positions. As this research will show, for several years the

international communication stopped. Japanese architects began to re-examine and restate their

positions. Some of them, like Shinohara and Kurokawa, began exploring different aspects of

Japanese society and building tradition, while others like Isozaki repositioned their work in

opposition to Western architecture. The 1960's blind dogmatic trust in modernity was abundant

and architects started freely exploring their interests and architectural believes. This are the

formative years of the next third generation of Japanese architects. By the end of the decade a

new entirely transformed is ready to be presented to the world.

The 1980s were one of the most vibrant periods of the Japanese architecture scene.

Starting in 1983, and continuing for the next 10 years, Japan entered the so-called Bubble

Economy period. The huge investments resulted in enormous architectural production which

New Wave architects used to triumph on the international architecture scene. The bold work of

the Japanese architects astonished the world. The third generation of architects - Tadao Ando,

Shin Takamatsu, Itsuko Hhasegawa, Toyo Ito, Hiromu Fujii joined the list of the already

established names like Arata Isozaki, Fumihiko Maki, Kazuo Shinohara and Hiroshi Hara.

Labeled as Modern, Postmodern, Deconstructivist or Neo-Paladian. the plurality of styles, forms

and material was essentially and uniquely Japanese. In late 1980s, Japan also opened the doors

for international architects. Most notable were the events Artpolis in Kumamoto Perfecture and

the Fukuoka housing projects organized by Arata Isozaki. Isozaki’s international connections

lead to hosting the Anywhere conference organized in Yufuin in 1992.

34
 In the early 1990s, the economic bubble burst, and Japan entered a period of recession

after ten years of economic boom. Investments in buildings dramatically declined, particularly in

the cultural and public sector. Regardless, a new generation of architects that built upon the same

architecture liberty of their bubble era predecessors. Although the economic power of the

investors limited the extravagance of the projects, the work of the architects was still identified as

creative and innovative design. Names like Shigeru Ban, Kazuyo Sejima and Kengo Kuma joined

the long list of Japanese architects that fascinated the international audience. In contrast to the

vibrant, visually, materially and spatially “loud” architecture from the bubble era, Japanese

architecture of the late 1990s was sober and grounded in the new economic reality.

Examining Japanese architecture scene during the second half of the twentieth century

shows one of the most vibrant architecture discourses of the century. The rapid development

and the huge economic growth were like no other place in the world. Because the lifespan of

buildings averaged thirty years, the stylistic freedom of and demand for Japanese designers was

unimaginable in Europe and America. The explosion of formal, spatial and material plurality, and

hybridized stylistic language that explored traditional, contemporary, Western and Japanese

elements was the most puzzling feature of Japanese architecture. The architecture that has been

produced in Japan in many parts of the World would be impossible.

The uniqueness of Japanese architecture is undeniable, but what makes it special is its

historical background. One-hundred and twenty years ago in Japan, the concept of architecture

was a completely new thing, and there were debates regarding what words should be used3. By

the middle of twentieth-century, Japan was fully modernized. In a course of few decades Japan

assimilated Modernism and built upon it, its own unique discourse. By doing so, it also

established a dialog and dynamic relationship between its own culture and the West. Today,

contemporary Japanese architecture is a source of inspiration for the whole world.

3Chuta Ito’s text published in Kenchiku Zasshi in 1894 - “Hoping to Change the name of Our Zoka Gakkai by
Discussing the Original Meaning of the Word ‘Architecture’ and Thereby Choosing Its Translation”

35
3.2 Representation of Japanese Architecture

This research looks at the Western representation and contextualization of Japanese

architecture. This chapter will identify the modes of representation of Japanese architecture,

selected parts for analysis, and some aspects that refer to the general representation of Japanese

architecture.

The field of architectural representation is most commonly associated with visual or

physical representation of buildings. For example, the representation of designs through:

renderings, drawings, models, sketches, and photographs or models of already existing buildings.

This study is focused on discourse analysis of Japanese architecture and examines representation

in text. Even though architecture is a primarily visual field and exists in physical reality, only in

text is it truly contextualized in historical or theoretical narratives. According to Rattenbury

(2002, p.xii), one learns to identify and define architecture of any form first by looking at a

representation. These representational drawings, images, renderings and photos are almost

exclusively accompanied by texts that interpret and contextualize them.

Going through the vast amount of information and texts written on Japanese

architecture, texts can be categorized based on the period and topic of representation: texts that

deal with modern and contemporary Japanese architecture, and texts focused on traditional and

vernacular Japanese architecture. For this study, another categorization was made based on the

author and the audience: texts written by Japanese authors intended for a Japanese audience, text

written by Japanese authors accessible in Japanese and foreign languages, and text written by

non-Japanese. If the two divisions are superimposed we get a field of six types of Japanese

architectural representation in text.

The first division based on topic is a rough interpretation made for the purpose of this

study. Particularly, the topics of contemporary Japanese architecture often have been discussed

in relation to traditional architecture. Especially in books, it is difficult to talk about

36
contemporary architecture without mentioning and touching on the specific history of Japan.

But when it comes to magazine articles, which are the primary data for the analysis of this study,

this distinction is very clear and direct. Most of the magazines focus on contemporary Japanese

architecture, and the articles that cover topics of traditional Japanese architecture usually appear

as part of special magazine issues focusing only on Japan.

The second distinction is much clearer. The material that exists only in Japanese language

it is available predominantly to the Japanese audience; these texts are written almost exclusively

by Japanese authors, and have little influence on the Western architecture audience. Only

scholars and researchers have access to most of these books. When it comes to magazines, the

available data is enormous. Japan has several architecture magazines that publish on a monthly

basis, and they target the Japanese audience.

The discourse developed inside Japan is completely different from the discourse of Japanese

architecture produced internationally. In the case of works published by Japanese authors, most

of the texts available are books written by famous Japanese architects or magazine articles that

talk about their work. This means that the Japanese authors are actively involved in shaping the

architecture scene in Japan. Non-Japanese authors on the other hand, are writers or researchers

who passively observe the scene. In many cases, foreign authors do not live in Japan and they are

not deeply informed about the socio-political and economic situation of the country. When it

comes to the magazines articles, many of the writers also do not speak Japanese, preventing

them from accessing information available only in Japanese.

37
 Figure (3.1):
Modes of representation of Japanese architecture

In 1956, the Japanese publisher Shinkenchiku-sha created the magazine Japan Architect

with the main purpose of presenting and promoting Japanese architecture internationally. The

magazine had articles that were specifically designed to explain Japanese architectural culture to

non-Japanese readers (Urban 2012, p.97). At the time, it was widely popular around world and in

many cases, a primary source for information on contemporary Japanese architecture. During the

1970s, the international media paid very little attention to the production of architecture in Japan,

so the magazine was the only source of information. In an interview, Tom Heneghan (2015)

talked about the fascinating covers that Japan Architect had during the 1970s, with their black

and white photographs overlaid with a “threatening color” (lime, orange) being vague but at the

same time confident and tough, as if to say “we believe it will impress you.” Florian Urban (2012,

p.97) states that although the main purpose of the magazine was to explain Japanese architecture,

it never provided a clear definition of what was genuinely Japanese.

38
 As this study aims to discover the Western understanding and contextualizing of

Japanese architecture, the primary focuses in the analysis is made on writings and representation

done by Western, non-Japanese authors.

3.3 Japan-ness in Architecture

This research uses the term Japan-ness and Japanese-ness to signify the broad and open

understanding of Japanese elements/aspects/notions in contemporary and traditional Japanese

architecture. The term is taken from Arata Isozaki’s book “Japan-ness in Architecture” (2006)

which covers the broad spectrum of words having the prefix Japan - Japanese, Japanesque,

Japonica, Japonaiserie and also the translation of the Japanese word 日本的な (Nihonteki). This

study will not focus on the debates for Japan-ness developed inside the Japanese discourse—

meaning the question of nihonteki —but instead on the international, particularly Western

understanding of Japan-ness in architecture and its history of development.

The word Japan-ness appeared internationally only recently with Isozaki’s publication in

2006. But the concept of Japan-ness and Japanese-ness in architecture is a century-long debate.

“The Book of Tea” by Kakuzo Okakura published in 1906 is probably the first publication in

English that speaks about Japanese space. The book is a tea classic but this long essay speaks also

of religion, philosophy, art, flowers and architecture. Okakura, who studied at Tokyo Imperial

University under Harvard-educated Ernest Fenollosa, wrote the book in English. It is a book

directly aimed at a Western audience to present the art and philosophy of Japan expressed

through one of the most sacred Japanese rituals – the tea ceremony. Okakura, who understood

very well Western culture and was highly educated about Asian culture, used the dichotomy

Japan-West to build many of his arguments in the book. In it, he revealed a completely different

system of values and appreciation of art in Japan from the one in the West.

39
 The tea house is in many ways is considered the proto-space of Japanese architecture;

from philosophical and theoretical understanding of the tea room, to the more direct, stylistic

influences on the sukiya-style architecture. Okakura’s book is one of the first writings in English

that directly refers to the special qualities of the tea house:

“The tea-room is made for the tea-master, not the tea-master for the tea-room. It is not intended for

posterity and is therefore ephemeral. The idea that everyone should have a house of his own is based on an

ancient custom of the Japanese race, Shinto superstition ordaining that every dwelling should be evacuated

on the death of its chief occupant.” (Okakura 1964, p.37)

He also addresses the asymmetrical aspects of the space, versus the Western symmetry

regarded as “useless reiteration” in Japan. The tea room offers freedom as ultimately democratic

space, because before a great work of art there is no distinction between daimyo, samurai, and

commoner (Okakura 1964, p.41). This text offered a serious platform for theoretical debate

about Japanese art and the book influenced generations of artists and architects, among

themFrank Lloyd Wright, who red it before his visit to Japan (Isozaki 2006, p.5).

Bruno Taut’s visit to Japan is certainly one of the biggest milestones in Japanese

architecture, and many in depth studies have chronicled its impact. In this particular case, it is

important to mention his two books “Fundamentals of Japanese Architecture” published in 1936 and

“Houses and People of Japan” first published in 1938. The first book is a translation of a lecture

given by Bruno Taut in Tokyo on the 30th of October 1935 at the Society of International

Cultural Relations ( Kokusa Bunka Shinkokai ). As part of the “Lecture Series on Japanese

Culture” organized by the Society, Taut gave a lecture, now legendary, that framed the future of

Japanese architecture. In this lecture he compared Ise Shrine with the Parthenon, and claimed

that the Ise Shrines were “absolutely Japanese, more so then any other thing in Japan” (Taut

1936, p.15). Furthermore, he declared that the Villa Katsura is an “isolated miracle in the

civilized world” and an example of “eternal beauty” (Taut 1936, p.20).

40
 Taut was also blunt about what he did not like in Japanese architecture: “Japan’s arts

could not rise higher than Katsura, nor sink lower the Nikko” (Taut 1936, p.20). The second

book “Houses and People of Japan”, a large cultural, economic, social, biological and historical

observation of Japanese architecture, was based on the three years of research Taut conducted in

Japan. Both of the books had great influence on Western audiences, particularly the Modernists.

These studies framed Japanese architecture in a European perspective and opened the dialogue

between Japan and the West. Taut admired Japanese architecture and saw potential for modern

architecture in Japan, and a source of inspiration for the West.

After World War II, another great modernist, Walter Gropius, visited Japan in 1955.

Gropius’s impressions of Japan can be found in an article published the same year of his visit in

Perspecta: The Yale Architectural Journal. West meets East could have been the subtitle of this article

in which the author essentially re-traces Taut’s findings. Gropius was fascinated by Japanese

culture, and once more Japanese traditional architecture was reconfirmed as a solid basis to

develop Japanese modern discourse. Among the photographs of ancient shrines, temples and

villas were photographs Kenzo Tange’s residence built in 1954 and three houses build by

Kiyoshi Seike.

What followed in this line of international promotion were two books written and edited

by Kenzo Tange: the first,“Katsura Tradition and Creation in Japanese Architecture,” was a

collaboration with Japanese photographer Yasuhiro Ishimoto and Walter Gropius, who wrote a

text published in 1960 by the Yale University Press. The second book, published in 1965 from

MIT Press entitled “Ise Prototype of Japanese Architecture,” was written with architectural journalist

and critic Noboru Kawazoe and featured photography by Yoshio Watanabe. These books

advanced the debate of Japanese architecture further from the position established by Bruno

Taut’s work. Both books were illustrated with photographs that brought the architectural works

a step closer to an international audience. The photographs in the book for Katusra were curated

41
by Tange in a manner that accentuated “the modernist” characteristics of the building and loose

their historical dimension. Looking at them is akin to looking at De Stijl compositions; the

building is eliminated of its surroundings, roof and vegetation…

In the second book about Ise, Tange talks about the two defining forces of Japanese

traditional architecture, Jōmon and Yayoi, as opposition to the European Dionysian and

Apollonian models. Jōmon is the driving vital and heroic force and Yayoi is the aesthetic and

more fragile force. Architecture in Japan is subjected to these forces and belongs to one or the

other ideal. Yet, as Tange states, Ise is something different: “Here at Ise, at the starting point of

the Japanese architectural tradition these two strings [Jōmon and Yayoi] are still insolubly fused”

(Tange 1965, p.16). Ise is the Japanese Parthenon. Aimed at international audience, this book

relies on the dichotomy of Japan –West; Japan is this the West is that. Tange writes: “The

essence of Japanese culture as compared to Western culture, …[is] the contrast between an

animistic attitude of willing adaptation to and absorption in nature and a heroic attitude of

seeking to breast and conquer it” (Tange 1965, p.18). Jonathan Reynolds (2001) defines this

essay as a “modernist construction of tradition” which is “consonant with modernist aesthetic

values.”

During the post war period, Tange was the most prominent figure of the Japanese

architecture scene at home and internationally. As much as he was important as an architect who

has built the most influential, early-postwar buildings in Japan, Tange was also the key figure in

the international promotion of Japan, by developing the discourse of Japan-ness. He took the

work of Taut and elevated it to a recognizable, icon for the Modernist movement. Tange’s

connections with CIAM and TEAM X helped him to launch a discourse with unique values that

did not solely rely on Modernism, but also drew from a long tradition of purist esthetics, which

were deeply connected with the nature of the Japanese islands.

42
 From the 1960s, with the surfacing of the Metabolist movement the international

promotion of Japanese architecture became very devise. The previously mentioned writings were

the base platform upon which the theoretical dialogue of Japan-ness developed in the

international architectural discourse. Afterwards in 1977, Kisho Kurokawa published “Metabolism

in Architecture,” and the following year, Arata Isozaki curated the exhibition in Paris “MA: Space-

Time in Japan.” Ten years after that, in 1987, David Stuart published “The Making of a Modern

Japanese Architecture: 1868 to the Present.” Finally in 1988, Kurokawa published “Rediscovering Japanese

Space.” This study found these four events as the most prominent in the further debate of Japan-

ness in architecture. But this research considers the more direct communication through

magazines as far more influential in the establishing of the Japanese discourse.

After a long line of books written on Japanese architecture, in 2006, one-hundred years

after Okakura’s “The Book of Tea”, Arata Isozaki published “Japan-ness in Architecture.” Today, this

is probably the most important book on Japanese architecture. It is the culmination of Isozaki’s

work for the international promotion of Japanese architecture and summarizes a century-long

debate over the essence of Japanese architecture. The book is collection of essays written by

Isozaki throughout the years, but can be regarded as one, multi-layered summary not only of

Isozaki’s work, but of the quest to answer: “What is the essence of Japanese architecture?” This

is the critical question and not for historical, traditional Japanese architecture, but for the modern

Japanese architectural discourse.

Since the beginning of the Meiji era, Japanese architects are faced with the idea of Japan-

ness in architecture and are challenged to find and redefine it in their architectural production.

As Isozaki notes:

“For Japanese Modernists—and I include myself—it is impossible not to begin with Western concepts.

That is to say, we all begin with a modicum of alienation, but derive a curious satisfaction—as if things

43
 were finally set in order—when Western logic is dismantled and returned to ancient Japanese phonemes.

After this we stop questioning.” (Isozaki 2006, p. 65).

Japanese architects modern or contemporary live on the crossroad between West and

traditional Japanese. The admiration for traditional Japanese architecture created by the

modernists Taut, Gropius, and Tange continues and is relived by every Japanese architect. It is

like there is an invisible coordinate system where one is the axis of the Western discourses and

the second is the axis of traditional Japanese architecture, and each architect finds his placement

according to his preferences.

But what is Japan-ness according to Isozaki? Japanese-ness signifies the broad and open

understanding of Japanese elements/aspects/notions in contemporary design. Exactly this

multiplicity of Japan-ness, the vagueness of what this term denotes and its (non)existence as a

cultural construct of Japan’s interaction with the West, raised the questions about Japanese

architectural representation. Isozaki’s book gives a solid understanding of the two-sided

specificity of the issue – on one side stands the Western curiosity for Japanese architecture, and

on the other are Japanese discussions for contextualizing Japanese architecture history and

creating Modern Japanese discourse in architecture.

One of the major concerns of this study is the relationship between Japan-ness in

architecture and traditional Japanese architecture. As noted, modern Japanese architecture is built

on the idea that traditional Japanese architecture in translated into Modernity. Furthermore, all

the books that deal with Japanese Modern or contemporary architecture, without exception,

touch on some aspects of Japanese tradition. This research looks at the ways in which tradition is

introduced in a contemporary context while representing Japanese architecture in the West. It is

important to understand how tradition is read through contemporary projects and why it is still

playing such an important role.

44
 Texts aimed at an international audience strongly rely on the dichotomy of Japan – West.

Part of the reason is that these writings are aimed at a Western audience, but partially this is a

product of eurocentricity of the architectural field. These presentations that initially were

dialogue between Japan and the West, today have grown into definitions of Japanese culture by

its difference to the West. Japan is what the West is not. This research looks also to identify

these “points of departure.” When and how the West appears while representing Japanese

architecture?

Florian Urban(2012) talks about Japanese ‘Occidentalism’ in architecture through the

example of the Metabolists opposition between Japan and the West—Metabolist architecture

presented as dynamic and the homogenized West presented as stagnant. This relationship was

also promoted and used by Western writers and critics. Charles Jencks, Kenneth Frampton and

others praised the Japanese awareness of tradition and used Japanese architecture as an example

of Critical Regionalism and Postmodernism. This relationship also created a shift of opinion

where being modern was no longer a privilege of the West.

Though being modern was no longer privilege of the West, architecture history was still

predominantly a Western history. Japanese architecture while different from Western history in

the twentieth century was interpreted mostly following the already established Western canons.

Therefore, Metabolists were modernists, the architecture of the 1970s in Japan was Postmodern,

Arata Isozaki was Neo-Paladian, Hiromu Fujii’s work was compared to that of Peter Eisenman’s,

and Hajime Yatsuka’s work was classified as Deconstructivist. This study attempts to avoid this

“trap” of labeling the periods according pre-established moments and discourses. Instead, the

socio-economic changes that influenced architecture in Japan and the data gathered define the

periods.

The work of the Metabolists in many respects has been paralleled with the work of

Archigram and Superstudio, but as Hajime Yatsuka(2011, p.203) describes in his book

45
“Metabolism Nexus” the Europeans were involved in art criticism of a capitalist society, whereas

Metabolists grounded their work in the “realities of the society, hoping to reshape it” and made

an attempt to represent the nations superegos. This was the same for the postmodern period.

Isozaki’s work, for example, has more to do with his personal interest in Western thought than

in actual postmodern agendas. In the interview with Botond Bognar(2015), Isozaki states that a

new approach in reading Japanese architectural history is necessary. For a very long time,

Japanese architectural history was read on the “level of image,” where the image was detached

from the actual reality of the socio-economic transformation of Japanese society. This is

detachment was particularly common in Western media.

3.4 Representation of Japanese Architecture in Western Architectural Periodicals

Primary data in this research is derived from articles published in Western architectural

periodicals that on the architecture produced by Japanese architects and the urban conditions of

Japan. They were treated as historical artifacts to outline the contextualizing narrative of Japanese

architectural discourse created during the 20th century. The huge amount of data found in

magazines helped to provided not only material for qualitative, but also for quantitative analysis.

Although the category Japan-ness by itself is a vague and very broad term, this study also looked

for possible quantifiable, categorical results such as material, typology, form, religion etc.

As a primary source of information during the 20th century, magazines had an immediate

and direct influence in shaping the architectural discourses of the time. This study seeks to

identify the direct impetus that shaped the concept of Japan-ness in architecture. The Japanese

discourse understood as a representation of design thinking (Senturer and Istek, 2000, p.74) was

as much created through magazines as it was established through books and exhibitions. And

while the books offered a purified version of the history, magazines targeted the initial, direct

46
understanding and interpretation of architectural works forming a repository of historical events

in architecture during the twentieth century.

This study examines and derives data from the period between 1955 and 2005. The year

1955 is symbolically chosen as it comes one decade after the end of World War II and the year

when the Hiroshima Peace Memorial by Tange was completed. At that point, Japan had finished

its immediate recoveries from the war, with the Hiroshima Peace Memorial symbolically marking

that moment. The year 1955 also comes five years before the launch of the Metabolist

movement and gives a historical distance to review the period before 1960s. With the year 2005,

this study covers exactly 50 years of press, though the choice was not made purely on symbolical

level. In late 1990s the Internet was commercialized and created a bubble that burst in year 2000,

eventually leading to a more stabilized market. In 1999 the first web-based architecture and

design magazine, Design Boom, was created, and by 2004 it recorded a readership of roughly

17.000 per day, growing to 1.5 million readers per month in 2005 (Design Boom 2015). This

expansion of the digital media was followed by the establishment of Dezeen, Arch Daily, and

other web sites that took the primate from printed media as primary source of information. The

boom in the early 2000s completely repositioned the role of the architectural magazine, making

the magazines secondary source of architectural information. The year 2005 gives also historical

distance of more than 10 years since the bubble economy crush in Japan.

Architecture media, particularly of the second half of the twentieth century, is truly

diverse and offers a lot of material for analysis. The primary criteria for selecting the periodicals

were continuity in print and “internationality” of the magazine. Despite the diversity in press,

very few magazines targeted large audiences and even fewer had a long history of print. The idea

was to select mass mediums that had true power in creating the opinions, and ones that were

able to do that over an extended period of time. The following magazines were initially

considered: Architectural Design, The Architectural Review, Casabella, Domus, L'Architecture

47
d'Aujourd'hui, Progressive Architecture, and Architectural Record; the AA files and Perspecta

were included as two academic magazines. Additionally,the critical approach of all of the

magazines and their involvement in the theoretical debates in the architectural field was

considered. After the initial data collecting from Architectural Design (182 articles) and Casabella

(91 article), it was clear that the amount of data would be excessively large, thus a reassessment

was made in order to have better control over the process of analysis. The decision was made to

limit the analysis data to three magazines: Architectural Design, Casabella and L'Architecture

d'Aujourd'hui.

Architectural Design, the magazine with the most special issues dedicated to Japan was a

clear choice. The connection of many Japanese architects with some of the editors of

Architectural Design was an additional argument for the selection of this magazine. The

historically avant-garde role of Casabella and the unusual patter of data focused on Tadao

Ando’s excessive representation made this magazine the second choice. Having already

Casabella as magazine from Italy, Domus was eliminated after some initial data collection and its

similar editorial politics as Casabella. L'Architecture d'Aujourd'hui was chosen as the third

magazine because it showed a diverse amount of data and heterogeneity in the general

representational politics of the magazine. Progressive Architecture was eliminated because it

ceased publishing in 1996, otherwise it would have been probably selected over one of the

European magazines. The Architectural Review and Architectural Record were the first two

magazines eliminated, based on their weaker editorial politics. Perspecta and AA Files are

magazines published by architecture schools and their publishing history has varied annually,

biannually or quarterly. Due to the low number of articles and limited audience they were not

taken into consideration for the main methods of analysis.

48
 The final number of collected articles totaled more than 600 articles. In the period

between 1955 and year 20054, the research encountered 187 articles in Architectural Design, 147

in Casabella and 311articles in L'Architecture d'Aujourd'hui for a total of 647 articles pertaining

to Japanese Architecture. In the course of 50 years, Architectural Design published eleven issues

dedicated to Japanese architecture, Casaballa published four and L'Architecture d'Aujourd'hui

published seven – for a total of twenty-two issues. Out of these twenty-two issues, two are

dedicated to a single Japanese architect – one for Arata Isozaki published February, 1977 in

Architectural Design, and one for Tadao Ando published February, 1988 in L'Architecture

d'Aujourd'hui. The year 1992 is significant for having two special issues published by

Architectural Design.

During the process of data collecting, observations were made about the media coverage

with special issues for other countries and regions. No data was actually collected but based on

observation in the three magazines Japan is the most represented region with special issues.

Apart from Japan, in the earlier periods around 1960s special issues for Mexican, Scandinavian

countries, USA, Netherlands, France, Israel, North African countries, South Africa were

published. In later years, these issues were found less frequently in Architectural Design and

Casabella. L'Architecture d'Aujourd'hui on the other hand, had still has very heterogeneous

content with issues on Spanish, Portuguese, Dutch, European Union, American and Brazilian

architecture. This observation suggests increased interest in Japanese architecture over other

regions, particularly in the later part of the twentieth century. Another way of interpreting these

findings is that Japanese architecture has been more often distinguished as a unique discourse

with regional qualities, whereas the Euro-American cultural regions had been subjected to a

more unified discourse. This interpretation also suggests the solitary position of the Japanese

4The change of the editorial politic in Architecture Design made the methodology of selecting articles inapplicable
after year 1999. The data collecting for Architecture Design stops with year 1999.

49
discourse as the only “alternative” to Western discourse, over other architectural discourses

occurring in Australian, other Asian, African and South American countries.

After collecting and examining the data, in all of the magazines, a gap was noticed in the

decade of the 1970s(figure 3.2). In this period, very few articles were found, and most of them

were on topics irrelevant to the general architectural discourse. Comparing the data and looking

at the historical circumstances, it was evident that the Oil Shock Crises from 1973 had big impact

in this period. The building industry was enormously affected and with that, the work of the

architects in Japan. The bold, strong and utopian projects could no longer find grounding in the

Japanese society. The architecture production completely changed and very few Japanese

architects continued there international activities. This period was also marked by the

international presence of Japan Architect, and the 1970s are considered among the best years for

this magazine. It is possible that the good coverage provided by this magazine, influenced other

magazines to write less on the topic Japan.

Figure (3.2):
Representation of Japanese architecture in the three periodicals from 1955 until 2005

50
 Figure (3.3):
Special Issues dedicated to Japanese architecture in the three periodicals from 1955 until 2005

The period from 1971 to 1977 has the lowest amount of data (figure 3.3). There are

several years that magazines did not publish articles at all. In the years that few articles were

published, they were on topics that are not very relevant for the general architectural discourse.

Architecture Design published a total of four articles in 1974 and 1975. The 1974 article is a

short round-up for Tsukuba Academic City, discussing the urban conditions and the future plans

of the development, without mentioning anything about the architecture of the city or the

authors of the plan. In 1975, three articles were published: an article on the Tokyo Love hotels

titled “Castle Builders of Japan,” published in in the June issue; “How to Divert the Course of

Architecture into Cartoon Form,” in the July issue; and “Developments in Urban Transport:

Japan,” in the November issue. Out of all, perhaps the most interesting is the second article in

the July issue. Analyzing the strange cartoonish forms in Japanese architecture, the author

explains them as “[the] architect’s escape from the political reality” (Fawcett 1975, p.429). The

only article found in Casabella was in the November issue of 1971. The article titled “Kurokawa

Metamorphosis” presents the work of Kisho Kurokawa–notably in the text is the project for

Nakagin Capsule Hotel. In L'Architecture d'Aujourd'hui, articles were published in 1972, 1972

and 1974. The 1973 article published in the July-August issue presents the commercial center in

Kuzuha built by Takenaka Koomuten (Takenaka Engeeniring) and the article “L’Autoroute Cotiere

51
du Golfe de Tokyo et le Tunnele sous-marine” published in the March-April issue from 1974

talks.

Figure (3.4):
Representation of Japanese architecture from 1971 to 1976

The only departure from the general trend in all the magazines was found in

L'Architecture d'Aujourd'hui’s August-September issue from 1972 (figure 3.3). Dedicated to

individual housing, this issue has a total of seven articles, one article on minka5 and six articles

presenting contemporary housing projects in Japan. The minka article makes a special analysis

and presentation of the traditional dwelling patterns in Japan. The other articles are shorter and

more focused on drawings and photographs of the houses. This issue of L'Architecture

d'Aujourd'hui seems to break the tendency of the period, but in fact, it is continuation of the

previous pattern of the 1960s. The representation of the 1960s which will be more broadly

elaborated in the next chapter is characterized by simultaneous presentation of Japanese modern

and traditional architecture.

5 Japanese rural type traditional house

52
 The general conclusion is that the Osaka Expo in 1970 is the last big event covered by

Western media. Afterwards there was a long silence in the international scene. This period ends

in 1977 with the February issue of Architectural Design (figure 3.4), entirely dedicated to Arata

Isozaki. Symbolically, this can be viewed as a big comeback for Japanese architecture on the

international scene. The same year L'Architecture d'Aujourd'hui (figure 3.6) also published an

article on Kisho Kurokawa with additional text from the architect titled “Media Space or En-

space.” From that year on, the number of articles slowly increased, and in the 1980s Western

magazines had regular coverage of the Japanese architecture scene. Although the number of

articles per magazine fluctuated, they all had stable coverage of the discourse. The peak for

Architectural Design is late 1980s and early 1990s with four issues on Japan published in 1988,

1992, and 1994 (figure 3.4). Casabella continued coverage with several articles per year during the

1980s and 1990s, and peaked in the early 2000s with two issues on Japanese architecture in 2000

and 2002 (figure 3.5). L'Architecture d'Aujourd'hui stands out with its solid coverage in the

1980s and special issues in 1983, 1987 and 1988 (figure 3.6). Another special issue from this

magazine appeared in 2002 following the trend of the early 2000s.

Figure (figure 3.5):

Representation of Japanese architecture in Architectural Design

53
 Figure (figure 3.6):
Special Issues dedicated to Japanese architecture in Architectural Design

Figure (3.7):
Representation of Japanese architecture in Casabella

Figure (3.8):
Special Issues dedicated to Japanese architecture in Casabella

54
 Figure (3.9):
Representation of Japanese architecture in L'Architecture d'Aujourd'hui

Figure (3.6):
Special Issues dedicated to Japanese architecture in L'Architecture d'Aujourd'hui

Having the data gap in the 1970s, it was natural to question the relationship between the

data in the 1960s and the data from 1977 onwards. As this was noticed in the beginning, while

collecting the data from Architectural Design and employing the Grounded Theory approach of

systematizing and analyzing the data during its collection, a choice was made to divide the data

into two periods, and analyze the potential differences in the representation. The logic was that if

55
there were a difference in representation, it should be understood what those differences were

and if there was continuity, the question would be how do these two periods relate. The

following two chapters, chapter four and chapter five, will broadly discuss the findings of these

two different periods.

56
4. Analysis of the Representation and Contextualization of Japanese

Architecture in Architectural Periodicals during the 1960s

The analysis of the 1960s period covers data collected from three architectural

periodicals from the year 1955 to around year 1970. In this period Modernism in architecture

reached its peak, represented through the concept of International Style. Architecture magazines

promoted architecture from all the corners around the globe. These were the debuting years of

the Japanese architectural discourse on the international scene. This chapter investigates the

modes of representations available during these first years of international presence.

The Tokyo Design Conference organized in 1960, symbolically represents the beginning

of the Metabolist movement - the first authentic Japanese modern discourse that grabbed the

attention of the international audience. A few years earlier architects like Kenzo Tange, Kunio

Maekawa and Junzo Sakakura already had an international debut and their work was presented in

several Western magazines. The post-war period in Japan was infused with energy for recovery

and rapid development. In 1955 the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum, designed by Kenzo

Tange, opened the doors to the world. Symbolically, this building represented a new chapter in

Japanese history dedicated to promotion of peace and humanity, and the nation rose from the

ashes of the war and looking towards the future. This positive energy was particularly visible in

the discourse of architecture. From a historian perspective, these were the final years of the

Japanese modernizations in the field of architecture, but at the same time,they were the years

when the Japanese design thinking was established as a serious factor in the international scene.

The aim of this chapter is to give interpretation of how the West introduced and

contextualized Japanese architecture in these initial years of international presence, to understand

the world view of the most important architectural events at the time, and to see how these

presentations correlate with the later presentations of the Japanese architectural discourse.

57
4.1 Japanese architecture in Architectural Design in 1960s

Architectural Design (AD) was published for the first time in 1930 under the name

Architectural Design and Construction. Today it is published by John Wiley & Sons and its chef

editor is Helen Castle. It is a British based journal, one of the most influential in the field that

played prominent role in the Postmodernist debate. The most important role in the history of

this magazine was played by Monica Pidgeon. She took the position of editor in 1946, turning

Architectural Design and Construction into an international journal and platform for the most

progressive debates in the field. Under the 30 years of editorial politics of Pidgeon, Architectural

Design became the “journal you could not afford to miss” (Sharp 2009). The 1960s are the

prime years of Pidgeon’s editorship.

In the period between 1955 and 1970, a total of forty-eight articles were published

relating to Japanese architecture, but the most surprising aspect in this presentation is the

number of special issues dedicated to Japan – six in the course of fifteen years. Observing the

other presentations made by Architectural Design and comparing it with the presentations of

other magazines on any region during this period, signifies a very determined and conscious

focus on Japanese architecture.

The earliest article found in this journal is in the February issue of 1955. The importance

of this article is clearly stated of its inclusion on the magazine cover. The bottom half of the

cover is photography with a “Japanese motif” – black with a photograph of a dragon

sculpture/relief, and the top half has a white background with red kanji characters spelling

Nihon (日本 – Japan). The choice of the cover is remarkable as this issue is not entirely

dedicated to Japanese architecture; only one out of the nine articles in this magazine is dedicated

to Japanese architecture. The article titled “The timber frame tradition” (1955), is a brief and cursory

introduction of Japanese tradition in timber architecture. The text gives information for the long

tradition of wood usage and the dominant role of the timber frame as a structural element in

58
Japanese architecture from ancient times to current day. It also links the modern architecture

with the Buddhist tradition: “The simplicity and restraint shown in the design of house and

garden reflects the spirit of Buddhism” (1955, p.57). The article, followed by photography and

drawings of modern buildings from the magazine Kenchiku Bunka, presents contemporary

Japanese architecture as linked to a long ancient tradition of woodwork that is well translated in

the modern contemporary conditions.

Between 1958 and 1968, a series of five issues dedicated to Japanese architecture

followed (1958, 1961, 1964, 1965 and 1966). One issue contains an article and cover paying

homage to Kunio Maekawa. Ten more articles were published in the in-between years, of which

the article “Whatever Happened to the Metabolism” by Mike Jerome, is most notable (1967,

p.208).

Figure (4.1):
Covers of Architectural Design: April 1958, February 1961, October 1964, May 1965, March 1966 and June 1970

59
1958 issue

The 1958 issue is guest edited by architect Noel Moffett. He personally visited Japan,

wrote the text, and took most of the photographs for the magazine. This issue is an extensive

and in-depth presentation of contemporary Japanese architecture, with a well-structured review

of traditional Japanese architecture. The cover of the magazine reflects the content and the main

leitmotif of this issue. There is a photo of a young girl in modern dress and an older lady in

traditional Japanese kimono; text on Brutalism from Kenchiku Bunka, written in Japanese,

covers the whole page with Japan written in a designed, modern typography. The cover is a

statement of the editor’s intention to present Japan as “place where the old and the new

stand side by side” (Moffett 1958, p.131).

Figure (4.2):
Cover and pages from Architectural Design April 1958

The introduction text is the most important part of this issue and takes the central part

of the editorial. This text not only uncovers the state of architecture in Japan, but it goes much

deeper in revealing the culture and history of the country. Presented as a “culture of coexisting

contrasts”, this text puts a clear division between the traditional and modern architecture in

60
Japan. These is the most important aspect of Moffett’s text - the clear explicit statement that the

new modern aspects in architecture are an not extension of the traditional architecture in Japan:

“In Japan the new has NOT evolved from the old; rather the two exist side by side” (Moffett 1958,

p.131). Later in the text Moffett states, “in Japan the new is new and the old is old and remains so..”

(Moffett 1958, p.131), following with “what is true of life in Japan today is also true of architecture. The

new architecture has not evolved from the old; the two exist, side by side, tolerant of one another…”(Moffett

1958, p.132).

Moffett unambiguously presents Japanese architects as Modernists who look up to the

European architectural achievements: “he [the architect in Japan] considers his job to create

architecture owning allegiance primary to the aesthetic discoveries of European

artists…”(Moffett 1958, p.132). He doesn’t deny the influence of tradition, particularly in the use

of material and interior decoration, but Moffett is clear about Japanese Modernism as a product

of the European influence, “There is no doubt that Europe has been the source of inspiration”

(Moffett 1958, p.138). The part of historic overview of Japanese traditional architecture is

focused on wood, carpentry and, standardization and modulation achieved with the tatami mat.

He says that Japanese traditional architecture is “essentially ‘modern’ in form and character”

(Moffett 1958, p.132). In this presentation, Villa Katsura is an unavoidable subject described as

“beautifully proportioned and starkly simple, is astonishingly modern in atmosphere and

treatment” (Moffett 1958, p.136).

The second part of the presentation is the work of the leading architects at the time and

includes Sutemi Huoriguchi, Antonin Raymond, Kunio Maekawa, Junzo Sakakura, Kenzo Tange,

Hiroshi Oe, Ken Ichiura, Kioshi Seike, Kazuo Shinohara and buildings of Shimizu Construction

Company. This is one of the rare occasions when the work of Kazuo Shinohara is presented in

AD, yet AD on several occasions has represented Antonin Raymond as a Japanese architect.

61
 This issue of AD sets the course of representation that will follow in the other special

issues. Japanese architecture is observed from two stand points: firstly that of modern

architecture, and secondly that of traditional architecture. Although related, they are seen as

separate entities–first is product of and heavily influenced by Europe and mildly shaped by

tradition, while the other is elegant and beautifully proportioned—the result of centuries of

accumulated wisdom, resulting in pure patristic “modern” form.

1961 issue

The 1961 issue, edited by Alison and Peter Smithson, focused on contemporary Japanese

architecture only; there was no interest covering traditional Japanese architecture. The

introductory text written by the editors titled “The Rebirth of Japanese Architecture,” suggests

that the revival of Japanese modern architecture is the direct result of Le Corbusier’s work in

India (Smithsons 1961, p.55). For the Smithsons, Le Corbusier’s work in Chandigarh “has given

an understanding of the nature of architecture and feeling of hope to all the postwar generations

of Japanese architects.” The contemporary architecture work in Japan and its esthetics is the

product of Corbusier’s influences according to the text. Antonin Raymond, with his Readers

Digest Building, placed Japanese architecture on a world map and Tange sustained this position.

Figure (4.3):
Cover and pages from Architectural Design February 1961

62
 The issue has two parts, the first where the editors present Le Corbusier’s work in India,

and the second part, is a presentation of Japanese architecture. The work of Le Corbusier in this

presentation is of secondary importance, and its presence in the magazine is to testify its

influence in Japan. The primary focus of the presentation is the newly “revived” Modern

Japanese architecture that is presented through the work of Antonin Raymond, Kenzo Tange

and Kunio Maekawa, and two texts titled “Short History of Modern Japanese Architecture” and

“Technology and Humanity,” Tange’s presentation at the World Design Conference in Tokyo.

Antonin Raymond's position in this context is particularly interesting. He is not Japanese but

belongs to Japan, having “brought Corbusian Modernism” to Japan. At the beginning of the

issue there is an interview with Raymond made by Tange, where again Raymond represents the

Western eye on Japan, the eye that discovers and infuses energy. It is important to note that

Frank Lloyd Wright is also mentioned in this issue, but in a context that only solidifies

Corbusier’s influence in Japan. His work in Japan is characterized as “individualistic”, and on the

basis that is difficult to “imitate,” Prone to maintenance problems, the authors of the text argue

that Wright’s work went “out of fashion.”

The presentation can be characterized as completely Eurocentric. The entire discourse of

Japanese Modern architecture is presented through a Western perspective, meaning that Japanese

architecture is discussed through the influence that Corbusier and European Modernism had on

Japan. The changes in the discourse are labeled “rebirth” as if something has died and has been

resurrected by Le Corbusier’s work in India and Antonin Raymond’s Readers Digest Building.

The choice of Kuno Maekawa as ex-student of Le Corbusier is another argument on this line.

And yet, the authors fail to recognize the presence of Japanese traditional architecture reflected

in the Kagawa Prefectural Office by Kenzo Tange. This is a presentation in the spirit of

Modernism and the International style that looks for unifying elements and universalities.

63
1964 and 1965 issues

These two issues are perhaps the best representations of the architectural discourse in

Japan during the 1960s. Both issues focus on contemporary Japanese architecture at that

moment. The first issue covers the 1964 Olympics in Tokyo and the work of the Metabolists,

while the second issue presents Japan through the work of Junzo Sakakura, Kunio Maekawa and

Kenzo Tange. These presentations speak about the enormous positive energy flowing through

Japan, the changes in Japanese society, and the cities and the architecture in the country. They

both present a modern society on the go. Apart from Peters Smithson’s critical approach to

Kenzo Tange’s 1960 Tokyo Plan, that raises questions and certain concerns about the plan, the

remaining texts enthusiastic and express fascination for the work of the Japanese architects.

Figure (4.4):
Cover and pages from Architectural Design October 1964

Gunter Nitschke who is very familiar and well informed, covers the main texts from

the1964 issue. The twenty-eight pages of the“Tokyo 1964 Olympic Planning versus Dream Planning”

article are impressive, elaborate, full of facts , and illustrated with numerous photos and diagrams

to capture the “enormous constructive energy” (Nitschke 1964, p.428) that existed in Tokyo.

The dream planning is presented with theoretical and conceptual plans for Tokyo. Although the

64
article is titled Olympic versus Dream planning, the article does not really contrast the two,

rather presents two sides of a same reality. The first part, the Olympic planning, represents the

physical transformation of Tokyo as a city and the second, the so called “Dream planning,”

presents the transformation of the architectural thought in Japan.

In the second text, “The Metabolists of Japan,” Nitschke presents the work of the

Metabolists and includes Tange and Isozaki’s work. The introduction presents Japanese culture,

Shinto religion and Zen Buddhism, the deep connection of Japanese people with nature, and

continues transformation on all levels.

“There is no such thing as Nature as an isolate, abstract thing, corresponding to a noun. Things are

always only the end points, or rather, the intersecting points of events, the intermediate stages of processes,

comparable to snapshots.” (Nitschke 1964, p.509)

The introduction is set as a scenography on which the work of the Metabolists should be

presented. Although radical on a formal and rational level, the work of these architects is shown

as a continuum of the same rational line of Modernism. The “different” in their work comes

from their cultural background, and suggests why they see the world as a “living process” and

create “active ‘metabolic’” designs.

“The pioneering spirit of modern architecture—the initiative in moving forward to new solutions in

architecture and urban design—seems to have moved out from the source Europe.”(Dodd 1965, p.218)

This is how Jeremy Dodd begins his essay titled “Japanese Architecture Today” in the

1965 issue. This text praises the rapid development of Japan, but its main point is that Japanese

architecture progresses the architecture knowledge assimilated from Western Europe. For Dodd,

Japanese architecture is “forward looking and vigorous.” The text highlights a connection

between traditional and modern Japanese architecture, but the main emphasis is on modernity.

Modernity is the main driving force of the new Japanese architecture and contextualized as such.

65
In the same issue, the most important text is “Thoughts on civilization and architecture, ” by

Kunio Maekawa. The author identifies humanism as a core value of early European Modernism

and sees Japan as a “source of influence contributing to the further development of Western

civilization.” According to Maekawa, exactly this humanistic approach is what makes Japanese

architecture different then the Western.

Figure (4.5):
Cover and pages from Architectural Design May 1965

Both of the issues present new, modern and advanced Japanese architecture, architecture

that is bold, inspiring and innovative. They present a nation on the rise. But there is no doubt

where this architecture belongs – this architecture is the product of Modernistic thought,

influenced and provoked by the West. Japanese sensibilities and tradition is the layer that enabled

a new and different outlook of the already established discourse.

1966 issue

The 1966 issue is completely dedicated to traditional Japanese architecture. Titled Ma-The

Japanese Sense of Place, the issue is unique for the AD journal as something like this was not found

in the period of 1960. AD exclusively focused on contemporary architecture. Written by Gunter

Nitschke, this issue makes a comprehensive presentation of the traditional Japanese principles of

66
place-making, urbanity and space. As it is stated in the introduction Nitschke makes an

important contribution to “further understanding of the Eastern art, which has hitherto been on

a purely formal level.” The essays provide thorough historic presentations from the earliest

periods in Japanese analysis of geometric order, accounts of Chinese and Buddhists influences,

and discussion about symbols and sophisticated order. It analyzes Japanese urban principals and

the place-making of religious complexes like Shinto shrines and Buddhist temples. The final

essay analyzes spatial compositions in modern Japan. Here, Nitschke identifies three phases: the

first, form making influenced by the West; the second, space making influenced by Le

Corbusier's work; and third, place-making, presenting as examples Tange’s Tokyo and Skopje

plan and some other Metabolist work.

Figure (4.6):
Cover and pages from Architectural Design March 1966

1970 issue

The 1970 issue is the final and most provocative issue in a series of presentation of Japan.

If the 1964 and 1965 issues presented a rising, bold architecture scene, the 1970 issue presents an

innovative and progressive fully-formed architecture scene. Architecture that challenges, it is on

par and even more interesting than the Western. This issue covers the 1970 Expo in Osaka, but

it is in fact a presentation of Japan, as other national pavilions are not presented.

67
 Figure (4.7):
Pages from Architectural Design June 1970

The cover, an image of two robots making love, is a provocative invitation in the world

of Japan, where R is reserved for robots. The first article in the issue titled “EXPO” gives an A

to Z presentation of the events, uncovering the wonders of the distant land Japan. “Nine

Japanese Pavilions and Their Guts” uncovers the most magnificent, most advanced, most

surprising, most ambitious, most grandiloquent, most integrated, most cumbersome, most

delightful and most disappointing pavilion of the EXPO. The whole presentation is aimed to

fascinate the reader, and present Japan as an advanced, future-oriented country. The issue is an

informative facts full presentation that intrigues and provokes, but also transforms the reader’s

opinion. After a decade of presentations, the 1970 issue describes a Japan that is not anymore a

country in development and transformation, but a country that leads the way to the future.

68
4.2 Japanese architecture in Casabella in 1960s

Casabella was first published in 1928 under the name La Casa Bella. From 1954 until

1965, edited by Ernesto Nathan Rogers, the magazine was called Casabella-Continuità, and from

1965 to 1970, Gian Antonio Bernasconi took the editorial position and changed the name into

Casabella. During these fifteen years during two different editors published total of seventeen

articles related to Japan. Of those seventeen articles, ten were published in the 1963 special issue

on Japan, six articles covered topics related to Japanese architecture and one article covered the

Skopje’s Master Plan competition won by Kenzo Tange.

Compared to the other magazines in this period, Casabella had less interest in Japanese

architecture. With only seventeen articles over a course of fifteen years the magazine had less

coverage of the Japanese discourse than other publications; in this case we can hardly speak

about following the Japanese discourse. The articles exhibited depth in analysis and a similar

pattern of representation as the ones seen in the other magazines. The presentations can be

divided into two categories: modern Japanese architecture and traditional Japanese architecture.

Under the editorship of Ernesto Nathan Rogers, the magazine published a special issue

in 1963 and two articles, one in 1956 and one in 1961. In 1960, Casabella-Continuità published

an article by Rogers titled “Memory and Invention in Design” that was a lecture prepared for the

World Design Conference in Japan. This indicates that he probably visited the country and had

the chance to see Japanese architecture in person.

The article Crisi del gesto in Giappone was written by the French architect and designer

Charlotte Perriand(1956, p.54). She personally visited Japan and made thorough presentations on

the state of architecture in Japan. The author was fascinated by traditional Japanese architecture,

for being modern before even Modernism existed, and expressed concerns that Japanese people

were losing their instinctive design inspiration in favor of a mere copy of Western modernism.

Perriand talked about hybridization of the architecture in Japan, and while aware that this was

69
something that historically was not new to Japan, she felt that Western modernism and

traditional Japanese architecture were in collision to the potential detriment of traditional

Japanese architecture. She observes how young Japanese architects were attracted more by

Western modernism than traditional Japanese architecture, seen as a form of academism.

Giorgio Grassi’s article A Plan for Tokyo, 1960, by the Kenzo Tange Team (1961, p.4) is

another comprehensive presentation worth mentioning. In nineteen pages, Casabella shows all

the details and parts of this anthological project. Grassi was well aware of the utopian aspects of

the project saying that the feasibility of the project is of minor importance but its “integral

construction in town-planning” (Grassi 1961, p.4) is the actual value of the project. The project

was published in its entirety to be studied and not interpreted and criticized because this

proposal “gives reasons to hope” (Grassi 1961, p.4) and Modernist dreaming. What followed

were pages of textual analysis and concepts proposed by Tange’s team.

Figure (4.8):
Covers of Casabella-continuità/Casabella: December 1961, March 1963 and July 1966

70
1963 issue

Titled Japanese Architecture and Urbanism, the 1963 issue overviews Japanese architectural

and urban history and has balanced short presentations of contemporary events. In nine articles,

this issue concisely covers the all the important aspects of the discourse. This issue is one of the

best found in this decade with most elaborate and historically accurate presentations. It is,

equally covering the architecture as well as urban aspects in Japan—the editors clearly state that

the issue does not have a critical approach but uses a more presentational and informative tone

(1963, p.6). The presentation is opened with an article by political commentator, Giampaolo

Calchi Novati, titled “Japan since the War,” that is a broad socio-political survey of Japan. The

piece describes in elaborate detail the political system of Japan and the Japanese-American

relations after the war. It speaks about the technological progress of Japan but also reports on

social stagnation as a result of the instability in the country. This is a rare case of an architectural

presentation about Japan to be accompanied by in-depth socio-political analysis.

Figure (4.9):
Cover and pages of Casabella-continuità/Casabella March 1963

What followed were three presentations that elaborated the process of modernization in

Japan: the Meiji period article written by Eizo Inagaki, an article covering the period between the

71
two World Wars, and an article covering the Western influences in Japan. Next is the segment

for urbanism: an article for the historical town-planning in Japan by Manabu Tajima, a young

Japanese architect that at the time studied in Italy; and an article that analyzed the changes in the

Japanese urban environment as a result of the new, modern architecture. Another article focuses

on the work of the Metabolists and their utopian projects. The presentation finishes with two

articles, Civilization of Japan and A Picture of the Japanese Architecture. The first focuses on the

relationship of life in Japan and architecture, having a more social and cultural approach. The

second is an overview of the latest architectural production, focusing not only on design, but also

the clients who invest in these developments.

The whole presentation is set with a tone that does not approach the material critically,

but creates a monograph of Japan. The goal of the issue is educational and therefore it is

centered around the subject of Japan, and not on the production of specific architects. The parts

covering the Modern movement in Japan and Japanese urbanism are the most valuable

architectural lessons in the issue. These presentations have a good historical understanding of

Japan. The architectural part of the presentation is the weaker part; the architecture production

in Japan is presented in general, without a focus. Even the article on the Metabolists is neutral,

without accent. This is the down side of the non-critical, but informative approach in this

presentation. A positive aspect in this presentation is that this issue constitutes one of the less

eurocentric issues dedicated to Japan.

After this issue, in the second half of the decade, Casabella published few more articles

mainly focused on the Metabolists. One of the articles published 1967 is by the professor and art

historian, Udo Kultermann. Kultermann published a book in 1961 called “New Japanese

Architecture,” and later in 1970 he published a book on Kenzo Tange’s work. The other four

articles were written by Italian architect Paolo Riani. Riani was based in Tokyo at the time of

72
writing the articles, and worked at Kenzo Tange's office in addition to teaching at Tokyo

University. The articles are predominantly focused on urban issues and the work of the

Metabolists.

Kultermann's article focuses on the Metabolists: Masato Otaka, Fumihiko Maki,

Kiyonori Kikutake, Arata Isozaki and Kisho Kurokawa. He gives a comprehensive synthesis

about the group’s contribution to urban planning and architecture. Riani’s first article focuses on

the evolution of Japanese cities. He talks about the difference of Western and Japanese cities, the

first based on permanence of beauty and the latter having a reverse approach. He talks about the

change that Japanese cities go through in modern age, particularly with the use of new materials.

His second article in the same issue focuses on Kyoto, seeing its urban future endangered by

modernity. Another article by Riani titled “The Town as a Biological Evolution” is focused on the

urban planning of Kisho Kurokawa. The author praises Kurokawa’s work and his biological

analogies and influences from traditional Japanese culture that are not “established through

images bound to contingent situations, but through methods which can be generalized with

critical reflection” (Riani 1968, p.10). The last article from Riani titled “Experiments from Japan”

starts with the dichotomy Japan – West representing the differences in spatial understanding of

the two cultures. He is fascinated by the reinterpretation of tradition in a Japanese context:

“Tradition doesn’t consist in certain spatial continuities of temples and gardens, or the constructivism in

pagodas, but in the way that one understands all this things in their meaning of “essence” and in their perfect

coherence of their form with what generated them. The problem thus passes from the field of aesthetics to that of

ethics, and this is the most important fact.” (Riani 1969, p.4)

The article also talks about the conditions of the Japanese architecture scene. It criticizes

the “uncritical copies” of modern buildings comparing them with nineteenth-century academism

and commands the examples of the “cultural elite” in which the author includes the work of

Otaka, Kurokawa and Maki. Paolo Riani’s articles have a maturity of one who really understands

73
Japanese architecture and its architecture scene. It is clear that he has first-hand information and

the articles take a critical stand unlike other articles that only report the situation in Japan.

The last article found in this period was published in November 1971. Without a signed

author, the article “Kurokawa metamorphosis” presents prefabricated designs by Kurokawa.

Following this, for the next eleven years Casabella does not publish articles covering Japanese

architecture with the exception of two short segments presenting Hiromi Fujii and Takefumi

Aida’s projects published in 1976, two. These spreads were taken from presented in the news

section of The Japan Architect. Having only an informative character and being borrowed from JA,

they were not taken into consideration in these analyses.

74
4.3 Japanese architecture in L'Architecture d'Aujourd'hui in 1960s

L'Architecture d'Aujourd'hui(AA) was created in 1930 by the French sculptor, architect

and publisher Andre Bloc. This is the oldest and most famous French magazine for architecture.

Edited by Bloc, who was early on influenced by Le Corbusier, this magazine quickly established

itself as a progressive medium advocating for Modernism. Between 1955 and 1970, Junzo

Sakakura was the Japanese corresponded for the magazine, and both he and the editor were

Corbusian modernists.

Unlike the other two magazines, with dozen of articles per issue, L'Architecture

d'Aujourd'hui in this period had editorial politics producing issues containing much shorter yet

more numerous articles, occasionally exceeding forty to fifty articles per issue. The magazine has

well-balanced, international representation, especially in its early years; the magazine with thirty-

six correspondence from different countries and continents literally covers all the corners of the

world. Japan in this period was represented with three special issues and more than two-hundred

articles6. Although the work of Junzo Sakakura and Kenzo Tange, had been most represented,

other names like Yoshinobu Ashihara, Kisho Kurokawa, Kionori Kikutake, Arata Isozaki,

Fumihiko Maki were also often published. Lessor known architects like Yoshitaka Akui,

Hayahiko Takase, Isoyu Yoshida, Yoshitaku Akui and Hideo Yanagi that today are unknown in

the West also had their work represented.

L'Architecture d'Aujourd'hui had deep editorial politic based on thematic issues. In the

early periods, topics were often based on typology, region and materials. The typology issues

were always covering diverse regions with as many examples. The magazine served as a display

for the latest fashion and achievements of modernist architecture. The pages of L'Architecture

6 To have a better overview of the data for the number of articles in the 3 special issues is taken the number of
topics discussed in the magazine or the number of architects represented in the issue. The issue from 1956 has
almost 50 articles divided in 9 categories, the issue from 1961 has almost 40 articles but presents 22 architects and
the issue from 1966 has 40 articles divided in 9 categories. The total number of found articles was 212 but for better
understanding of the data and comparison with the other two magazines the number was lowered to 131 with the
already elaborated method.

75
d'Aujourd'hui were a true embodiment of the International Style, celebrating modern

architecture from all corners of the world. The coverage of Japanese architecture on these pages

was not any different than the coverage of Moroccan, Mexican or Yugoslavian architecture. All

the architects fit in the same esthetic. For example, in an issue from 1958 covering individual

housing projects, a house designed by Richard Neutra in Los Angeles was presented with the

equal importance with Toshiro Yamashita’s design in Tokyo; in an issue of 1959 a hospital in

Padua by Daniele Calabi is presented in a same way as a dispensary in Tokyo designed by Kiyosi

Seke, and in 1964, a Prefectural Cultural Center in Okayama by Yoshinobu Ashihara has the

same treatment as a cultural center in Wolfsburg by Alvar Aalto. As a promoter of Modernism,

everything that was published in this magazine can be contextualized in the broad narrative of

the International Style. The only more critical approach was offered through the national

presentations in single issues. For Japan, those happened in 1956, 1961 and 1966 (figure 4.4).

Figure (4.10):
Covers of L'Architecture d'Aujourd'hui: May 1956, October-November 1961 and September 1966

76
1956 issue

Edited by Andre Bloc and Juzno Sakakura as correspondent from Japan, the 1956 issue

is foreword by the Japanese ambassador to France, Kumao Nishimura. Involving the

ambassador of the country shows the importance of this presentation. But including the highest

representatives of the country it is not something exclusive for the presentation of Japan. The

year before, 1955, the presentation of Mexico involved the Mexican ambassador. This shows the

dedication of AA to create truly comprehensive issues. The 1956 issue has fifty presentations

divided in eight categories and an introduction by the ambassador. Additionally, in the segment

of bibliography there are recommendations for books on Japanese architecture. The cover of the

magazine features black and white photography of bamboos covered with the red sun of the

Japanese flag; its opening page is a wide angle shot of the Ryoan-ji garden in Kyoto (figure 4.5).

Figure (4.11):
Pages from L'Architecture d'Aujourd'hui May 1956: pahe III, page XXXIV and page 7

The eight segments of the issue are: Traditional Architecture, Habitats, Public Buildings,

School Buildings, Public Health in Japan, Diverse Buildings, Multiple Usage Buildings and

Industrial Buildings. The title of the segments are self-explanatory and apart from the first,

dedicated to traditional architecture, the rest of the segments present the buildings without

77
deeper critical approach. The pages are filled with Modernist architecture buildings of all kinds,

promoting the modern architecture of Japan. The textual explanations are limited to materials,

composition, structure, typology and usage but do not critically approach the buildings. The part

of selection was the critical point of in this issue, the rest is promotional presentation. But this is

characteristic for all the AA issues in this period. The introductory part sets the course of the

presentation and whatever else is presented aesthetically fits the Modern dogma.

The part of traditional Japanese architecture is the most interesting part of the

whole presentation. It starts with a text about the Ise Shrine and Shōsō-in in Nara. Curiously, the

plan of Ise is represented only with the drawing of one shrine, in contrast to depicting both of

the lots, one empty and the other filled with the shrine’s plan. The second text is presenting the

Kyoto Imperial Palace followed by a text for Villa Katsura. The importance of Villa Katsura is

clear as this presentation is much more elaborate than the other presentations. A full

photography page made into a Mondrian like collage “testifies” the modernity of Katsura. The

text Living Traditional covers the specificities of the daily habits of Japanese traditional life. There

is a photo presentation from a ryokan in Kinuyama showing dining, sleeping on the floor and

taking a bath in an onsen. The final two texts in this part are Evolution of Architecture with Western

Influences and Standardization in Japan.

1961 issue

Titled “Japan 2,” the 1962 issue is a continuation of the 1956 issue. Edited in a different

manner, it is a much better presentation of the Japanese architectural discourse then the one

made in 1956. The issue is not divided by building typologies, has fewer articles, and is

concentrated on important buildings by the leading architects in Japan. The issue contains thirty-

nine articles divided in three parts: two introductory articles, a section covering Japanese

architects and their work, and a final part with articles covering seven individual houses.

78
 The introduction is made with two articles, one by Yoshinobu Ashihara “Notes sur

L'Architecture au Japon” [Notes on architecture in Japan] and the other by Lucian Herve “Japon:

parallèles et divergences” [Japan: parallels and differences]. Ahihara’s article is focused on the state of

architecture in Japan. He talks about the consulting firms and state work, training and status of

architect in Japan, the building boom in the country, and differences of design in Japan and the

West. Herve’s article is focused on traditional Japanese architecture and its esthetical translation

into the modern period. The text and photography in the article compares traditional and

modern architecture in Japan, their similarities, and the changes established with modernism.

Figure (4.12):
Cover and pages of L'Architecture d'Aujourd'hui October-November 1961

The part entitled Architects, opens with Le Corbusier and his Museum of Western Art in

Ueno. It directly implies the importance and influence he had in the Japanese architectural

discourse by mentioning that Maekawa, Sakakura and Yoshizaka were his students. Architecture

presented in these pages was strongly influenced by Le Corbusier’s esthetic, orin the case of the

annex of Miyako hotel in Kyoto designed by Togo Murano, the influence comes directly from

the Japanese sukiya-style. The most dominant position in this presentation leans on Kenzo

Tange’s Tokyo plan. In a ten page article, the plan is explained in detail, and the author

79
Alexandre Persitz (1961, p.98) states: “with the scale and novelty of his [Tange’s] project for

Tokyo, he joined the great visionaries such as Sant'elia, Wright, Le Corbusier, [that are a]

generation or more ahead of their age.” Circulation diagrams, photographs of models, and plans

capture a vision that exceeds the usual presentations. This extraordinary project clearly presents a

new vision never seen before. If the other presentations follow the already established path of

the Modernism, this work stands out and speaks for a new way of doing things.

The third part, reserved for individual housing, presents several projects that are in the

line of modernism and the interpretation of traditional architecture in a modern context.

1966 issue

Figure (4.13):
Cover and pages of L'Architecture d'Aujourd'hui September 1966

The 1966 issue returns to the format of representation made in 1956, and has one

introductory article and nine parts based on the typology of buildings. It covers: Socio-Cultural

Buildings, Educational, Sport, Tourism, Commercial Buildings, Individual Housing, Gardens,

and Urbanism. The whole issue covers forty articles of well selected work from famous Japanese

architects. Additionally, the news segment covers buildings from Japan from less known

Japanese architects. Compared with the two previous issues this is a less successful presentation.

80
The projects published here are definitely more powerful than the ones in the issue from 1956,

but taking into account that these was the most productive period of the Metabolists and that

this issue is published after the 1964 Tokyo Olympics, this is a weak issue. AA publishes several

articles in other issues that make much stronger impact then the articles published here. This

issue instead of having well focused presentation showed the devise hipper-production of the

Japanese architecture scene.

The introductory article, The Historical Origins of Modern Japanese Architecture, is based on a

paper by Teijiro Muramatsu published in The Japan Architect in 1965. It makes an overview of

the genesis of modern Japanese architecture. Besides this text, the article for contemporary

Japanese gardens, and the article for Kenzo Tange’s Skopje plan are the most interesting

presentations in this issue. The article covering gardens presents the differences between the

Western and Eastern concept of nature. The first sees nature and man as “distinct

wholes,”(Hatashita 1966, p.cvx) opposing each other and therefore nature is treated as clay in

sculptors’ hand, while in Japan, man is part of the cosmos and obeys the laws of nature,

therefore in Japanese gardens one feels “intimately linked with nature” (Hatashita 1966, p.cvx).

It’s a short but well balanced presentation explaining the Zen Buddhist influences in the

contemporary design of Japanese gardens. The article for Skopje plan on the other hand reviews

Tange’s plan as “powerful and radical” extending the idea of the Tokyo plan (1966, p98).

Other articles

One thing noticeable in AA, is the absence or underrepresentation of the younger

generation of Japanese architects. Although the work of Kurokawa, Kikutake and Isozaki can be

found on the pages of this magazine, the intensity and the importance given is much less than

that of Architectural Design. Even in Casabella, where Japan is completely underrepresented, the

Metabolist movement appears as an entity, whereas in AA the Metabolists do not appear as

81
movement. This can interpreted more as the result of the magazine’s advocacy of dogmatic

Modernism.

Even with this policy there are several interesting presentations that give a glimpse of a

more vibrant and interesting architectural scene than the banal presentations made in the special

issues:

- In the April-May issue from 1962, on the topic new cities and urban centers, there is a six

page presentation of Kisho Kurokawa’s helix city projects. The article gives broad

explanation of the Metabolist principals of Kurokawa’s work.

- The February-March issue from 1968 contains a rare, early presentation of Kazuo

Shinohara and his theory for residential architecture.

- The same year, 1968, the September issue titled Tendencies features Kurokawa, Tange and

Kikutake alongsideRobert Venturi, Archigram, Cederic Price, Bruce Goff, Yona Fridman

and others. Kurokawa presents “Two Systems of Metabolism.” Tange’s text, “From

Architecture to Urban Design,” presents his thoughts on function, structure, and symbol.

Kikutake presents his Sado Grand Hotel.

- The October-November 1970 issue on Expo Osaka is perhaps most interesting, with an

introductory text by Kenzo Tange titled “Progress and Harmony for Mankind”

These four presentations speak about truly progressive and innovative Japanese architecture.

They reveal a new, fresh side of Modern architecture and urbanism. On the other hand, the

presentation of Kikutake’s Miyakonojo City Hall, in the January issue from December 1967, is a

failed opportunity; it is a dull presentation, filled with facts about the building but no actual

critical content that discusses the architectural qualities of this project. The same can be said for

Arata Isozaki's Shibuya Project: City in the Air, presented in the November 1964 issue.

82
 In conclusion, L'Architecture d'Aujourd'hui rigorously presented Japanese architecture

during the decade of the 1960s. During this period, more than two -hundred buildings and

projects had been featured in the magazine, but these presentations touched only the surface of

what Japanese architecture was. This had much to do with the editorial politics of the magazine,

which was a strong supporter of the Modernist movement. Junzo Sakakura as correspondent

also had a significant role in what was the outlook of Japanese architecture.

Looking at presentations from elsewhere in the world, not much difference can be made

between the architecture produced in Japan or anywhere else. Except in few cases when the

regional specificity of Japanese architecture came to light, the rest of the presentations were

reflections of the International style. The Japanese exception to these cases showed a nation of

creativity that exceeds the Modernist esthetic, especially through the work of Tange and

Kurokawa. The presentation of Shinohara’s early work and several presentations on traditional

Japanese architecture were also surprising as this magazine is heavily focused on Modernism and

Shinohara was still relatively unknown outside Japan.

83
4.4 Discussion of the representation and contextualization of Japanese

architecture during the 1960s

While the editorial politics of the three analyzed magazines are different, similarities were

noticed in representation contextualizing narratives. Of the three magazines, Casabella has the

fewest articles, and it is hard to speak about how the discourse was developed in this magazine,

but the presentations published are among the best found in this period. The representation

developed in Architectural Design is the most serious and elaborate. The editorials are dedicated

not only to presentation but also to contextualizing of the discourse. With six special issues on

Japan, more than any other country, AD shows firm commitment and interest to bring Japanese

architecture closer to its readers. L'Architecture d'Aujourd'hui is the magazine that has the

biggest amount of presented projects, but the work presented in this magazine is very one-

dimensional. Unlike the other two magazines, AA presents a wide range of projects built in Japan,

but the presentations are limited to the visual aspect of the projects. The works are rarely

approached with a critical text that evaluates or properly contextualizes them.

A general conclusion about the presentations made in this period is that Japanese

architecture was seen as an integral part of the International Modernist movement. Although

many of the presentations spoke about the local specificities, differences in approach, and

designing, the Japanese discourse is perceived as an extension of the modernity that was

conceived in Europe. Even the Metabolism movement, as an original Japanese movement, was

subjected and understood through these same lenses. The eurocentricity is not equally noticeable

in all of the presentations, but the modernity of Japanese architecture is clearly understood as a

product of European influences. Many articles in each magazine discuss the modernization of

Japan during the Meiji and post-Meiji period, and the influence of European culture in this

process. There is no doubt that the first generation of post-war Japanese architects was heavily

influenced by European Modernists, but already in 1960s the traces of independent Japanese

84
discourse appear with the Metabolist movement and the Western media begins to recognize the

difference of the Japanese discourse as unique to the country.

L'Architecture d'Aujourd'hui has the most rigid position in presentation. As an avid

promoter of Modern architecture, the pages of this magazine catalog the developing events of

the International style. Juzo Sakakura was the Japanese correspondent, and the selections made

for the magazine celebrated the spirit of modernity. The most problematic issue in this magazine

was the under-representation of the Metabolists. This is a result of AA’s focus on already built

projects and its blind believe in Modernism. Even when Metabolist work appeared, it was not

properly contextualized. But this bias is not exclusive to the Metabolists, and other forms of

architecture appeared in the magazine only when it conformed with Modernist principles. Louis

Kahn, one of the biggest names of the late-modern architecture period, is the only architect that

had issues dedicated to his work by AA during the 1960s–one published in 1962 and the other in

1969. The positive aspect in these presentations is that AA presented a wide variety of work

produced in Japan. It was not limited to few names like in the case of Architectural Design.

The presentations made in Casabella show a solid understanding of the situation in Japan.

The texts in this magazine always came from first hand sources including Charlotte Perriand,

Giampaolo Calchi Novati, Eizo Inagaki, Manabu Tajima, Udo Kultermann and Paolo Riani, who

all either lived in Japan or had researched Japan. Most of the texts do not have a heavy analytical

approach, but few take a serious, critical stand. Charlotte Perriand's article is clear of the

potential damages that Western modernity can produce in the Japanese context regarding the

traditional Japanese architecture, and Paolo Riani makes the distinction between the uncritical

acceptance of Modernity and modern Japanese architecture that keeps the “essence” of Japanese

space.

The work presented in Architectural Design is heavily focused on Kenzo Tange, the

Metabolist movement, and traditional Japanese architecture. If there are signs and traces of

85
Japan-ness in this period, they can be found on the pages of this magazine. Paradoxically, one of

the most Eurocentric presentations is also found as a special issue published in this magazine.

The February issue of 1961, edited by Alison and Peter Smithson, directly tied Japanese

architecture to Le Corbusier’s work in India. AD’s editorial politics presented the most grounded

and comprehensive review of the Japanese discourse in the 1960s. All the major events

happening in Japan were well covered. The Metabolist movement was well represented with a

proper understanding of its significance on a local and global scale, and there is awareness of the

socio-economic factors that played an important part in the changing of Japanese architecture.

Additionally there are several articles that openly criticized some of the projects produced in

Japan. Finally, the publication presented traditional architecture not only as a history of Japanese

architecture, but as something that had continuing influence in Japanese Modernism.

One noticeable characteristic of the articles from this period was the presence of

traditional Japanese architecture and Japanese architectural history. These presentations often

followed the writings on modern Japanese architecture, but there were several that were

published independently. Parts of these writings, particularly in the special issues, were written

for educational purposes; in this period, European and international audience knew very little

about the history of Japanese architecture. But beside this informative approach, there was

another type of presentation of traditional Japanese architecture that was in direct relation to

modern architecture. Traditional Japanese architecture was often seen as “modern before

modernity,” and admired for its simple purist esthetic. This approach was a continuation of the

early-Modern period fascination with traditional Japanese architecture and most of the

presentations focused on the already famous architectural examples, such as Ise, Katsura and the

temples in Nara. Notably in these writings, there was no direct reference to Bruno Taut and his

significance in this context.

86
 In conclusion, the discourse developed in Japan during the 1960s was perceived by

Western media as an integral part of the Modernist movement. Though differences and

specificities are recognized, sometimes even differences in theory like in the work of the

Metabolists, the idea that Japanese contemporary architecture at the time was something

completely different than in the Western did not exist. Modernism appropriated everything that

was designed in Japan. Japan-ness existed in the realm of traditional Japanese architecture, and

the magazines recognized the specificity of Japanese architectural history. There are many

examples of articles that identify the influence of tradition in Japanese modern architecture, but

these articles do not distinguish the work in Japan as a unique discourse. Metabolism was the

first original modern movement in Japan recognized for its different voice and new progressive

avant-garde ideas; this work was often interpreted in relation to the Japanese cultural background,

but it was still seen within the boundaries of Modernity.

These findings indicate that Japan-ness in contemporary Japanese architecture was not

conceived within the Metabolist movement. As the next chapter will show, the early 1980s was

the beginning of a new contextualization of Japanese architecture in the Western architectural

discourse. Japanese architecture was significantly restructured beginning in the 1970s, but only in

the late 1970s did Western media become aware of this shift. Prior to the shift, the work of

Japanese architects was often wrongfully contextualized as post-modern, but from today’s

perspective, as the analysis will show, this work belongs to a different discourse that is deeply

rooted in the Japanese cultural context.

87
5. Analysis of the Representation and Contextualization of Japanese

Architecture in Architectural Periodicals from the late 1970s until the 2000s

The analysis of this period includes data collected from three architectural periodicals

from the year 1977 until year 20057. Quantitative analyses were made on all the data; as for

qualitative discourse analysis, the focus was more on the special issues and articles published

during the 1980s and early 1990s. As the analysis in this chapter will show, the 1980s are the

critical years for forming the international Japanese discourse. Japanese architecture in the 1980s

established itself as independent, unique and culturally different from that of the Western world.

While earlier in the 1970s some of the work produced in Japan was placed in a Postmodern

context, in the 1980s this discourse would gradually separate and create a discourse of its own.

The 1970s were a long and economically turbulent period in Japan. The heroic

enthusiasm and experiments of the 1960s were completing abandoned in the next decade. The

economic crisis affected architecture production, and architects started working on projects that

were grounded more in the everyday reality. The most provocative projects were done in the

housing sector. By the end of the decade, a new generation of architects was born. In 1978, The

Institute for Architecture and Urban Studies in New York organized an exhibition curated by

Arata Isozaki under the title “A New Wave of Japanese Architecture.” With introductory text by

Kenneth Frampton, the exhibition presented 11 Japanese architects and their work. This was the

start of a long period of international promotion of Japanese architecture that has lasted until

today. After a decade almost without international promotion, the 1980s opened a new chapter

for the Japanese architectural discourse.

This chapter investigates the modes of representation during the 1980s and 1990s. Going

through the three selected magazines, the study investigates what the West finds most fascinating

7The change of the editorial politic in Architecture Design made the methodology of selecting articles inapplicable
after year 1999. The data collecting for Architecture Design stops with year 1999.

88
about Japanese architecture, and how this “New Wave” of architects are understood and

contextualized. The quantitative analyses look at numbers to uncover the most frequent

“elements” and names in these presentations, and with qualitative analysis this study tries to

understand what Japan-ness in architecture is.

5.1 Japanese architecture in Architectural Design from 1977 until 1999

This part examines a total of 135 articles published in Architectural Design (AD) in the

period between 1977 and 1999. The study of the data includes quantitative and qualitative

discourse analysis. In a period of 22 years, Architectural Design published 4 special issues

covering Japanese architecture and one issue dedicated to a Japanese architect. This vast amount

of data in Architectural Design allows one to follow how Japanese architecture got out of the

shadow of the Post-Modern movement, detached from the Western contextualizing narrative,

and established an independent discourse.

In 1977, Andreas Papadakis bought Architectural Design and published Charles Jencks’

book “Language of Post-Modern Architecture and Architectural Design.” Then in 1979, he took over the

editor’s position at AD and produced its first issue on Post-Modernism (The History n.d.). From

that moment, AD became a prominent magazine in the architecture debate, supporting the Post-

Modern movement. As the analysis in this chapter will show, during Papadakis’ editorship, AD

had a strong interest in Japanese architecture. In 1991, the magazine was sold from Academy

Edition, Papadakis’ publishing company, to VCH, a German scientific publisher; John Wiley &

Sons then acquired VCH in 1997, and this company publishes the journal today. The editorship

changed twice during the 1990s: Papadakis left the position to Maggie Toy in 1993, and then

Helen Castle, the current editor, took the position in 1999.

89
 The year 1977 also marks the big come back of Japanese architecture in the pages of

Architectural Design. The first issue of the year is entirely dedicated to Arata Isozaki, and is the

first in a series of issues presenting the work of famous architects, titled AD Profile (Editorial

1977, p.4). It was Arata Isozaki’s provocative presentation at the Art Net Rally in 1976,

organized by Peter Cook, which led to this issue of AD (Editorial 1977, p.4) Always drawn to

Western culture, he was one of the rare Japanese architects who had kept international contacts

during the turbulent years of 1970s. This issue also had an unusual feature, something that hadn’t

been done in other European magazines before: short summaries of the articles in the Japanese

language; this practice continued in all the other issues published in the same year.

In this magazine, the most important articles are those published in the late 1980s and

early 1990s, during the highest peak of the bubble economy and the period right after the crash.

There are four special issues published in these years and they perfectly capture the enormous

energy that exists in Japan in that moment. In the years before, AD, as one of the main

promoters of the Post-Modern movement, presents many Japanese architects in a Post-

Modernist context. In the post-bubble era, Japanese architecture is still present on the pages of

the magazine, but these articles speak more to the individuality of each Japanese architect.

Quantitative analysis

This part looks at the quantitative analysis made in KH Coder. The data processed was

extracted from the 135 articles published in AD between 1977 and 1999. Searches were run for

the most represented architect, typology and material. Text mining was also run on the data

collected for the topic of Japan-ness, and Co-occurrence Network and Multi-Dimensional

Scaling diagrams were constructed. The diagram of co-occurrence presents the potential

relationships in the textual representation, and multi-dimensional scaling presents the level of

similarity for the most repetitive word constructions in the text.

90
 Looking at the number of published articles (figure 5.1), Arata Isozaki is the most

represented Japanese architect in this magazine, with 14 articles. In this case, number of articles

does not mean number of published buildings, as articles sometimes cover more than one. Also,

this does not include mentions or representations of designs in articles that talk about the general

Japanese discourse. With Arata Isozaki, these are the 5 most represented architects in the course

of 22 years: Tadao Ando (12 published articles), Itsuko Hasegawa (9), Kisho Kurokawa (7), and

Toyo Ito (7). The articles for Isozaki were mostly published from 1977 to 1992, and Ito’s work

appears mostly during the 1990s. Ando and Kurokawa are spread over the course of all 22 years,

while Hasegawa’s work is presented in the shortest period – six to seven years in the late 1980s

and early 1990s.

Figure (5.1):
Most represented architects in Architectural Design between 1977 and 1999

When it comes to typology (figure 5.2), out of 149 buildings identified in this part of the

study, houses are the most represented typology, with 37 appearances. If one includes the multi-

family housing typology, this number rises to 47. This is almost one third of the total number of

buildings presented. Museums are the second most frequent typology, with 27 published

buildings; this number does not include galleries and art-centers. Cultural facilities in general –

91
museums, galleries, cultural centers, libraries, theaters and community centers – represent the

next third of the all buildings presented. The last third is composed of highly diverse building

typologies: port terminals, sports facilities, schools, city-halls, commercial buildings, mixed-use

buildings, offices, governmental facilities etc. It is important to mention that, although houses

are dominant in the overall typology numbers, cultural facilities in fact seem to be more

dominant throughout the 22-year span. Between 1980 and 1983, in the course of 3 years, 16

houses were presented; additionally, 4 houses were presented in a single year in 1999. In contrast,

museums have a more consistent line of representation.

Figure (5.2):
Most represented typology in Architectural Design between 1977 and 1999

When it comes to materials (figure 5.3), the study of AD exhibits a wide range of

materials used in the buildings presented. Notes on materials were made only in cases where

materiality was explicitly mentioned. A slight inclination was noticed towards metals. Metal was

popular among many architects during the 1980s. Aluminum was Itsuko Hasegawa’s favorite

material and, as she is one of the most represented architects, this influenced the presence of this

92
material. So, in respect to material, it can’t be said that a certain material is seen as

characteristically Japanese. Traditional Japanese architecture was almost exclusively built in wood.

With excellent craftsmanship, wood as a material has been strongly associated with Japan, but in

this case, the numbers show something different. The number of articles that mention concrete

is exactly the same as the number of articles that mention wood. When it comes to

contemporary Japanese architecture, at least in this magazine, the material doesn’t play a very

important role. Only the special issues from 1988 and 1992 focus on material to certain extent.

There the writers focus on the openness of Japanese architects to experiment with new materials,

and the use of these materials in innovative way.

Figure (5.3):
Frequency of mentioning materials in Architectural Design between 1977 and 1999

When it comes to form, space, composition or style, Japanese architecture has been

presented in a wide variety. There is no specific formal, compositional or stylistic approach that

has been observed as dominant. Particularly when it comes to form, Japanese architecture

exhibits bold choices. Many of the texts describe complex formal and compositional

93
arrangements in the buildings, using cubes, cylinders, spheres and even pyramid shapes. Perhaps

the bold and daring choices in formal compositions are one of the characteristics of Japanese

architecture. Furthermore, these compositions are usually made with pure geometric forms.

Minimalism in space is something that has often been tied with Japanese architecture. This

notion has been imposed from the sukiya style architecture and, to certain extent, has translated

into contemporary Japanese architecture, particularly in interior spaces. When it comes to

discussions of Japanese space, it has often been observed and understood as ether multilayered

or/and minimalistic space.

The quantitative analysis in the category of history and tradition found that there are very

few direct or specific references. When it comes to history, the most referred to moments are the

Meiji period and the Metabolist movement. The references for tradition or traditional

architecture are more frequent, though most of the time very general. They mention traditional

gardens, techniques, space, and invisible tradition but rarely with exact and specific examples.

The phrase “traditional Japanese architecture” covers a wide range of styles and architecture

work. For example minka and sukiya style houses are two completely different entities, yet they

both belong to traditional Japanese architecture. The concept of traditional architecture is

presented with general terms and rarely specified other than through Zen gardens or sukiya style.

The socio-economic and cultural analyses, unlike in the other two magazines, are seldom

mentioned here. Buddhism or Zen Buddhism and sometimes Shinto appear as factors that

influence Japanese architects and their designs. This is often connected with the influences of

traditional Japanese architecture. The representation of Japanese architecture has hardly ever

been discussed in the context of the socio-economic environment in Japan. Only the

presentations that are focused on the general Japanese discourse mention these factors.

The co-occurrence diagram generated in KH Coder from the texts coded as Japan-ness

reveals a strong centrality on urbanity (figure 5.4). Urban reality is the main subject in many

94
presentations made in AD; Japanese architecture is understood as a product of the reality in

Japanese cities. The articles feature an image portraying impermanence, an ever-changing world

that influences the way of life and architecture (blue, figure 5.5); other topics explored in these

presentations are: relationships with nature and the natural (red), contemporary technology

(purple), landscape and new urban landscape (orange), traditional environment (pink), and

Japanese cities and Tokyo (blue and green). Although they are broken down into different topics,

each essentially reduces to the subject of urbanity and urban reality.

Figure (5.4):
Co-occurrence network diagram focused on centrality, generated from the Japan-ness code of the AD articles

95
 Figure (5.5):
Co-occurrence network diagram generated from the Japan-ness code of the AD articles

Applying higher parameters for word and document frequency makes the co-occurrence

diagram even clearer (figure 5.6). The topic of the Japanese city and urbanity, the immediate

environment, is a central theme in Japanese architecture, and all the other terms– landscape,

nature, humans, materials and tradition – are of secondary importance. These other topics are

the solutions, or ways of reacting, to the already existing urban conditions.

96
 Figure (5.6):
Co-occurrence network diagram generated from the Japan-ness code of the AD articles

After testing different options and applying a different set of conditions in KH coder, a

co-occurrence diagram of adjectives was created (figure 5.7). The co-occurrence of adjectives

was tested also in Casabella and L'Architecture d'Aujourd'hui, but the codes did not produce

diagrams with substantially insightful information. In this case, the diagram shows one big pool

of adjectives (yellow) centered on the words “technological” and “high-tech”. On one side of the

pool are words like: industrial, contemporary, technological, fragmented, common and new; on

97
the other side are words like: primitive, ephemeral, possible, dynamic and invisible. The

symbiosis of these words creates a hipper reality that, contrasting the usual Western

understanding of “technological” and “high-tech,” is very material and permanent. Another

secondary layer that enhances the divergences in the main pool of adjectives is created by word

like: symbolic, vernacular, small, natural and ambiguous. The “technological” and “high-tech” in

the Japanese context is a product of a new set of symbols and relationships that are uncommon

in the Western understanding of “technological.”

Figure (5.7):
Co-occurrence network diagram generated from the Japan-ness code of the AD articles

98
 The multi-dimensional scaling diagram (figure 5.8) shows a close connection between the

elements found in the co-occurrence diagrams. Architecture and building are tied with Japanese

nature and environment and belong to the same set; they are closely connected with another

dominant set of words: contemporary, urban, reality, city and Tokyo. New in this diagram,

something that the co-occurrence diagram didn’t show, are a few tangential topics: light, time,

garden, design, meaning...

Figure (5.8):
Multi-Dimensional Scaling diagram generated from Japan-ness code of the AD articles

99
Qualitative analysis

The interrupted reporting of Japanese architecture during the 1970s is most noticeable

on the pages of Architectural Design. This magazine followed Japanese architecture closely

during the 1960s, and had six special issues. All of a sudden, after the last issue on the Osaka

Expo in 1970, there are almost no traces of Japanese architecture until 1977. In this period, the

magazine itself experienced changes. The transformation8 of AD coincided with the return of

Japanese architecture.

The material collected in this period can be tentatively divided in three periods: the first

period from 1977 to 1988, the second from 1988 to 1994, and the third from 1994 onward. The

first period is the height of the Post-modern movement, the second is the highest point of the

bubble economy in Japan, and the third period is the epilogue.

The start of the postmodern period is marked with an issue on Arata Isozaki. He is also

the most prominent figure from Japan in this magazine. The issue dedicated to him has a new

outlook on his work; it’s a presentation of a creative and eclectic genius whose multilayered work

has many cultural references and was influenced by the West. His work and approach is

compared to that of Hans Hollein. Peter Cook’s article reveals the complex personality of

Isozaki whose work is filled with “ambiguity and irony” and was preoccupied with neo-

Classicism (Cook 1977); he is someone who “wants to bridge the distance between Japan and the

West” and his circle of friends included the artistic avant-garde of Europe and New York. The

eclecticism and formalism of Isozaki’s work seem to be the most astonishing aspect. It is as if

Europeans are caught by surprise that his work that is filled with so many cultural references.

Charles Jencks, who published “The Language of Post-Post Modern Architecture” and edited the April

issue of AD titled Post-Modernism in the same year, wrote an article in the issue about Isozaki

8 In 1977 Architectural Design was bought by Andreas Papadakis

100
titled “Isozaki and Radical Eclecticism.” In it, Jencks focuses more on defining the term “radical

eclecticism” than talking about Isozaki’s work. Jencks sees this “multivalent, rich in meanings”

eclecticism, which is interrelating instead of totally integrating as a constant package (1977, p.46),

in the work of Isozaki. It is more than obvious that Jencks uses Isozaki’s work as platform to

push his Post-Modern agenda.

Figure (5.9):
Cover and pages from Architectural Design January 1977

The issue dedicated to Arata Isozaki is not only a presentation of the architect and his

work, but also through him a presentation of a newly re-defined Japanese architecture scene. In

fact, one of the articles is entirely dedicated to Japan. “Japan between Expos” by Jennifer Taylor9

speaks about buildings that have become “increasingly elegant and individualistic” and buildings

that return to the tradition “sensitive to the surroundings” (Taylor 1977, p.22). Taylor finds these

new buildings to be highly imaginative and superbly crafted and, most importantly, they “owe

little stylistically to contemporary Western architecture.” These are the first signs that the

architecture scene in Japan slowly parts from that of Europe.

9 Jennifer Evelyn Taylor (born 1935) is an Australian architect, professor, critic and author who has made a
significant contribution to writing on contemporary Australian, Japanese and South Pacific architecture. She is
recipient of Japan Foundation Professional Fellowship in 1975 and during her stay in Japan was mentored by
Fumihiko Maki. (Wikipedia)

101
 Although the Japanese architecture scene by the late 1970s is completely diversified and

already has parted its ways with the West, many of the articles in AD contextualize Japanese

architects within the Western discourses. Charles Jencks interpreted the hybridity language,

eclecticism, and play with cultural references produced in Japanese architecture as Post-

Modernism. In fact, he saw the origins of Post-modernity in Japan. The issue on Postmodernism

published in April 1977 in AD on its cover has Minoru Takeyama’s Ni-Ban-Kahn, a building that

at the time became Jencks’ symbol of postmodernity. Seen from Jencks’ perspective, Japanese

architecture is indeed eclectic, plays with historical and cultural references and, on the surface,

certainly reads as postmodern. But what is different and separates Japanese architecture from

that of the West are the reasons for using this hybridized language. If Post-Modernism in the

West was a reaction to the crises of the Modern movement – the stylistic and content exhaustion

of modernity leading to a reexamination and appropriation of the language of the past – in the

case of Japan the appropriation of Western and symbolic cultural language is a result of Japan’s

curiosity and common practice of appropriating new and different cultural knowledge. In

Isozaki’s words:

“I am especially interested in rectangular solids and cylinders precisely because they have no historical

tradition in Japanese architecture and because the heterogeneous elements they introduce – their very

inappropriateness – is needed in the architecture of our country” (Isozaki 1980, p.80)

As Isozaki said in a recent interview, his work is postmodern but it doesn’t belong to Post-

Modernism as movement (Isozaki 2015). In this context postmodernity is understood as a design

approach that has moved beyond the modernist understanding of architecture: postmodern as

beyond modern, not Post-Modernist as a movement with a revivalist and eclectic esthetic.

102
 Figure (5.10):
Cover and pages from Architectural Design May/June 1980

Besides Arata Isozaki, the names of architects Takefumi Aida, Toyokazu Watanabe,

Minoru Takeyama and Monta Mozuna also appear in the presentations of Post-Modern

architecture. In the following issues: “Post-Modern Classicism” from April/May 1980, “Free-Style

Classicism” from January/February 1982, “Abstract Representation” from July/August 1983 and

“The Architecture of Democracy” from September/October 1987, all edited by Charles Jencks, the

buildings of the mentioned architects are represented as Post-Modernist. Their work is shown as

mixture of not only a variety of Western elements, but also traditional Japanese ones with Shinto

and Buddhist influences. And although they are wrongly understood as Post-Modern, one text in

all of the writings gives a perfect explanation of the discourse in Japan. Minoru Takeyama’s text

“Koten and/or Klassik” (1983), gives the essence of the pluralism in the Japanese architectural

language. Koten refers to Japanese classicism and looking up to the masters of the past, and

Klassik refers to the Western Classicism. Classicism was introduced to Japan with Western

influences during the Meiji Restoration; in this period, Japanese architecture was transformed by

these influences. In Takeyama’s understanding, the hybridization language of Japanese

architecture and hybridity as a Japanese essence open a radical new position where Koten also

103
includes Klassik. This means that the elements which are read as Klassik are not exclusively

Western but Japanese as well; once they are introduced in the culture they become part of it.

This understanding follows in the same vein as Isozaki’s claim that his work might be

postmodern but is not intended to be Post-Modernist. Jencks’ systematization of Japanese

architecture is made purely on a visual level. This might be one of the reasons that in his later

editions he is much less vocal about Japanese Post-Modernism.

Figure (5.11):
Cover and pages from Architectural Design July/August 1983

Apart from the already mentioned presentations focused on postmodernism, there are

several others issues of AD that publish Japanese architects in a less contextualized framework.

These articles are not linked in-between. As an internationally acclaimed architect, Isozaki and

his work can be found most frequently; but of all the presentations, I would focus on one that is

published in 1981 about the work of Tadao Ando. The issue “Romantic Houses,” published in May

of 1981, contains an essay from Botond Bognar and 8 houses designed by Tadao Ando between

1975 and 1979. This early presentation by Bognar echoes a new type of presentation that will be

developed in the issues from the late 1980s.

104
 Figure (5.12):
Cover and pages from Architectural Design May 1981

“Tadao Ando – A Redefinition of Space, Time and Existence” by Botond Bognar (1981) offers

a new way of reading Japanese architecture. The article does not use Europe as a referent point

to measure the work of the architect. It speaks about new climate on Japanese soil, where Kenzo

Tange is already in the background and Kurokawa and Isozaki are the main players. Bognar

presents a multifarious scene with various tendencies in which Ando’s work is one of many.

Ando’s language is hybrid, but hybridity is not the topic of the essay. The article is focused on

the meanings in Ando’s work produced by spatial expression and ordering. His work is

presented in relation to Japanese tradition, Zen philosophy, light, environment and other Japanese

architects. It talks about the personal approach of Ando in creating and defining new relationships

between “man and substance, man and space as well man and man” (Bognar 1981, p.26). Finally,

there is no discourse. The work is not clearly contextualized; it is part of the “new wave” but that

wave has no clear boundaries. Ando is positioned in relation to the work of other Japanese

architects and his personal stand on architecture, but does not belong to a particular theoretical

discourse that unites him with other architects.

105
 More than decade after the issue on Arata Isozaki, Architectural Design published an

entire issue dedicated to Japanese architecture in May 1988. The issue was guest-edited by

Botond Bognar and has 6 introductory essays and presentations of 14 Japanese architects. With

this issue, a new style of presenting Japanese architecture begins. 1988 was the height of the

bubble economy in Japan, building production was prodigious, and the architects of that

generation were at their prime. This issue presents the explosion of creative energy on Japanese

soil. The absence of Arata Isozaki is noticeable in this presentation, possibly as a result of his

previous frequent appearance in AD. Isozaki at this point was an international superstar and

worked all over the world. This issue was focused on production in Japan and showed the work

of architects less familiar to the Western audience.

Figure (5.13):
Cover and pages from Architectural Design May/June 1988

Diversity, heterogeneity, multiplicity, fragmentation, “floating sea of signs” are the key

words that describe the Japanese architecture in this issue. The introductory essays written by

Botond Bognar, Hajime Yatsuka, Fumihiko Maki, Lynne Breslin and Koji Taki present a vibrant

architecture scene as a product of the cultural and urban reality in Japan. Hajime Yatuska’s

historical essay gives a chronological presentation of the main actors of the three generations of

106
post-war Japanese architects. His text reviles an interconnected network of designers that

influence each other’s work and address issues in relation with their predecessors. Bognar’s essay

titled “Archeology of a Fragmented Landscape” presents the complexity and fragmentation of the

Japanese urban environment, the mix of traditional and modern, Japanese and Western elements

that produce “radical heterogeneity” in the city (1988, p16); influenced by that, architects

produce even more diverse designs because their work relates on different level for different

aspects of the urban and cultural context. The first two essays present a complex architecture

scene where it is impossible to find a common denominator. The only common ground is the

freedom of expression in relation to the urban and cultural context.

Figure (5.14):
Pages from Architectural Design May/June 1988

Fumihiko Maki’s article “Progress and Tradition in Japanese Architecture” is a short statement

on the state of Japanese architecture. For Maki, architecture in Japan is a symbol of

modernization and, historically, progress has been associated with Westernization (1988, p.26).

But the contemporary architecture scene (in this context, 1980s architecture in Japan) has

redefined progress; tradition on a “semantic or metaphysical level” became a progressive

contemporary issue in the Japanese architectural context.

107
 Lynne Breslin’s text follows the work of Shinohara, Hara, Ito and finishes with a

reference to Yasumitsu Matsunaga. Titled “From the Savage to the Nomad” (1988) Breslin’s article

presents the cultural influences and Western philosophical concepts that dominate in the work of

these architects: the savagery of the Shinohara’s architecture influenced by traditional Japanese

Zen elements, Roland Barthes and Levi-Strauss writings; Hara’s “clouds” and bricolages

developed by his research on African and Turkish settlements; and Ito’s nomadism borrowed

from Deleuza and Guattari. All three of them bond their work with nature and the organic, and

deeply connect with the Japanese urban context. Including Matsunaga, these four architects

fascinate with their exploration of an anti-formal approach, which is at the same time influenced

by Japanese tradition and its connection with the organic and also “alien” with abstract concepts

influenced from the West.

The most provocative text in the 1988 issue is probably Koji Taki’s essay “Fragments and

Noise.” Through the work and philosophy of Kazuo Shinohara and Toyo Ito, Taki gives a

perspective on Japanese architecture that demystifies the concept of Japan-ness. At the beginning

of the article he clearly states that he is not interested in discussing the “unique Japan-ness” and

that “architecture in Japan hardly derives from ‘things Japanese’ alone” (Taki 1988, p.32). For

Taki, Japanese architecture is not free of the Japanese architectural tradition or Western

architectural history, but that’s not the essential aspect of the contemporary Japanese work.

Comparing Shinohara and Ito’s work, he presents two distinctive approaches that come together

on the level of urbanity. Both of the architects adopt the fragmented heterogeneous environment

as given, and do not perceive it as chaos but ‘noise’ into which they fit. The distinctiveness of

“the Japanese approach” is that architecture in Japan is not hierarchical, and is not expected to

be symbolic or appreciated in spacious surrounding. Buildings are but one of the many parts of

the city, fragments that add up as pieces in a puzzle do. Most importantly, Taki does not see this

108
as a quintessentially Japanese sensibility, but he thinks that this attitude can address the issue of

the contemporary world.

What all of the articles present is an architecture scene that is not strictly defined by

theoretical and discursive frameworks, particularly Western architectural theory; it has an

independent attitude towards what is created and how that is theorized. Japanese architecture is

the result of the Japanese urban and cultural context. Form, materiality, and aesthetic are the

direct results of the multilayered, heterogeneous urban context. Cultural references and

influences can be Western but also traditionally Japanese. Each architect creates their own relation

with the city and immediate environment, and explores personal theoretical stands on architectural

space. The fragmented urban environment also translates into fragmented theoretical positions,

because multilayered contexts offer freedom and options for different responses. Tradition plays

an important role in this presentation, but not as an aesthetic or nostalgic category, rather as

knowledge of theoretical value. Innovation and progress is seen through materials and

compositional experiments.

The diversity and designer innovation is illustrated in the second part of the issue with

the presentation of 14 Japanese architects and 20 of their projects. It is an explosion of different

approaches on composition and form, materials and cultural references: Kazuo Shinohara’s

Centennial Hall in Tokyo Institute of Technology, a massive volumetric building in a low-rise

Tokyo neighborhood pursuing the concept of “progressive anarchy”; Hiroshi Hara’s Yamato

International Building with an aluminum façade that reflects the surroundings and its changes,

representing the concept of transience and ephemerality; Hiromi Fujii’s Ushimado International

Arts Festival deconstructed storehouse with fragmentary differentiation; Fumihiko Maki’s Spiral

building in Tokyo, with a façade that is a material and translucent collage reflecting the dynamic

and fragmented environment of Tokyo; Tadao Ando’s Kidosaki Residence in Tokyo, with

simple geometric and material output and a small garden providing nature to create a solitary

109
environment for its inhabitants from the busy Tokyo streets; Itsuko Hasegawa’s house in Nerima,

with industrial perforated aluminum screens that create “soft” boundaries between interior and

exterior and ever-changing light that includes the effects of time and nature; Toyo Ito’s

restaurant bar “Nomad,” a temporary metal structure; Shin Takamatsu’s Week Building with a

machine like aesthetic; and several other buildings that have a completely disconnected approach.

Altogether they give an image of an architecture scene that is not afraid to experiment and

explore new ways of creating architectural space.

The late 1980s are the last years of the Post-Modern paradigm in architecture, and also

the beginning of the Deconstructivist movement. In 1991, Charles Jencks edited the issue “Post-

Modernism on Trial” and, between 1988 and 1992, AD published three issues entitled

“Deconstruction I, II and III”; AD also published several issues that debate Modern architecture and

Modernist positions in that moment. Kisho Kurokawa appears in Jencks’ issue and Hiromi Fujii

in 1989 in “Deconstruction II.” These two architects, as well as Arata Isozaki, Tadao Ando and

Itsuko Hasegawa, have a few more articles before the next issue completely dedicated to

Japanese architecture. Besides architecture designed by Japanese architects, the first buildings and

comparisons made in Japan by non-Japanese architects appear in this year: Philippe Starck’s

Asahi building in Tokyo, Aldo Rossi’s Il Palazzo in Fukuoka, Kyoto Station Competition…

From all of the articles, one presentation was selected for further discussion in this part.

The March/April issue from 1991, entitled “Aspects of Modern Architecture,” presents the

work of Itsuko Hasegawa. Hasegawa herself wrote the opening article of the presentation. Titled

“Architecture as Another Nature,” the text presents Hasegawa’s philosophical standpoint on the

relationships between architecture, nature, and the urban environment. The dualism between

technology and nature for Hasegawa is not a contemporary problem but part of the history of

humankind, and she has no doubts in embracing technology. What is radical in her work is that

she believes that new buildings ought to “commemorate the nature that had to be destroyed

110
because of it” and they should serve as means to communicate with nature (Hasegawa 1991,

p.14). Hasegawa understands that humans are born to live in a “relationship of independence

with nature”(1991, p.15), therefore she sees her architecture as a different, second nature for

humans. That’s why her buildings try to catch or introduce the factors of time and weather into

the environment that they create.

In the same issue from 1991, Botond Bognar’s text “Architecture, Nature and A New

Technological Landscape” gives a more elaborate and critical presentation of Hasegawa’s theory and

work. At the very beginning, he praises her Shonandai Cultural Center as building on an urban

scale, which is powerful technological man-made structure with allusion to nature made with

formal element and symbolically through reflections of nature on the buildings materiality

(Bognar 1991, p.33). The text speaks about the technological, environmental and vernacular

aspects of Hasegawa’s work. The author talks about new technological materiality in relation to

the ambiguous allusions to nature with light, sound, and wind. Furthermore, this reality is not

embedded in the formal or symbolic architectural language, but comes from the multi-layered

Japanese urban landscape. The second half of the article looks into historical aspects, pointing

out that the new architecture in Japan does not have the same technological stand as the

Modernists did. Hasegawa’s approach is not focused on standardization, mega-structures,

machines and the trust that technology can change the society and save the world. For Bognar,

the new Japanese architecture has a “soft” approach to technology, creates nature- and

environment-sensitive, ‘industrial vernacular’ buildings, or is highly theatrical and only simulates

technology. The latter argument refers to Shin Takamatsu’s work. Although focused on

Hasegawa, the text covers Japanese architecture in general and reveals a side that is far removed

from the Post-Modern, Deconstructivist or Modernist understanding of space and architecture.

This approach to technology in relation to environment and urbanity is new and unknown to the

111
West and Europe – in particular, the “industrial vernacular” that comes directly as a result of the

unique cultural setting in Japan and its heterogeneous urban environments.

That same year (1991), a text by Kisho Kurokawa was published in the November/

December issue of AD. His text, titled “From Metabolism to Symbiosis,” worked on a different line

than the fresh presentation of Hasegawa’s work. The article blends Kurokawa’s ideas of organic

Metabolism in architecture, the Buddhist philosophy of impermanence, and ideas about

traditional Japanese architecture, and presents a concept of symbiosis in architecture. What is

important to point out is that Kurokawa also talks about the relationship between architecture and

its environment as a producer of new meanings; in this interrelationship the concept of

symbiosis is the key word (Kurokawa 1991, p22).

Before continuing to the issues published in 1992, a short reference is needed to Hiromi

Fujii’s text “Dispersed, Multi-Layered Space,” published in the 1989 January/February issue

“Deconstruction II”. In it, Fujii (1989) talks about the rejection of compositional principals that he

sees embedded in the Western approach of design and suggests a multi-layered approach to

space. The text is focused on the philosophical understanding of multilayered space, and doesn't

explicitly discuss the relationship with urbanity. Fujii’s work is not concerned with materiality as

other Japanese architects work is; but on theoretical level, his work expresses the same affinity

towards relational organization of space.

In 1992, Architectural Design published two issues focused on Japanese architecture.

The first issue in March/April and the second in September/October, together with the

January/February issue from 1994, form a trilogy of issues focused on the topic of Japanese

architecture.

112
 Figure (5.15):
Covers of Architectural Design: March/April 1992, September/October 1992 and January/February 1994

The first, March/April 1992, is not entirely dedicated to Japan and is a 23-page long

essay, a pretext for the issue in preparation, published later that year. The article was written by

Botond Bognar, the guest editor for the later issue, and is titled “Critical Intentions in Pluralistic

Japanese Architecture.” The text is a continuation of the same line of thought as the 1988 issue on

Japanese architecture, and the 1991 essay on Itsuko Hasegawa’s work. It presents the

architecture of the most prominent names in the Japanese architecture scene and makes a

theoretical contextualization of their work. As with all the issues from this period, this essay also

underlines the tremendous diversity of the architecture scene in Japan. Bognar sees this broad

spectrum as a result of the economic boom, of technological and informational progress of

Japan, and of the qualities of the urban space in Japan. In architecture this results in “both

continuous and discontinuous” connection with the city and society, and a sense of realism and

fiction at the same time (Bognar 1992, p.73). The strategies of the architects result in a plurality

of architectural languages and approaches, of which Bognar sublimates the following:

reinterpretation of nature in relation to the city; underlining the city as topography; the tendency

towards a new primitivism; the urban nomad; the application of new technology and the

113
evolution of the industrial vernacular; acknowledging the urban theater of the city (Bognar 1992,

p.73). The architects he selects are as follows: Tadao Ando, Itsuko Hasegawa, Riken Yamamoto,

Toyo Ito, Kazuo Shinohara, Fumihiko Maki, Arata Isozaki, Kazuyo Sejima, Shin Takamatsu.

Through examples of their work, Bognar presents distinct approaches of design thinking in the

Japanese discourse. And again, if the common characteristics had to be summarized for all of

these architects, it would be virtually impossible. Their architectural languages are very similar

and correlate to one another, but they never address the same issues in the way a discourse does.

Each architect is an island of their own; it is almost as if the fragmented urban landscape is

mirrored in the Japanese architecture scene. They are all loosely connected, but not closely

enough to create a discourse. In summation, this presentation gives an open-ended position of

what Japanese architecture is: it is mostly understood as open-ended relationships of architecture

with nature, the city/urban environment and vernacular/traditional aspects. This is why the

architectural output varies from impermanent, ephemeral and non-formal to extremely theatrical

and form-driven. In rare cases, like with the work of Ando, driven by a traditional aesthetic, the

final design is extremely purist with monumental formality.

Figure (5.17):
Pages from Architectural Design March/April 1992

114
 The issue published in September/October 1992 follows the same format as the one

published in 1988 and guest-edited by Bognar. This time the issue has 4 introductory articles and

presents 17 Japanese architects, with a total of 22 architectural works. In the non-editorial part of

the issue, a transcript of a lecture given by Itsuko Hasegawa was also published, titled “A Search

for New Concepts through Filtering my Life in Tokyo.”

“Tradition and the New in Japanese Architecture” is the first article in the issue, written by

Andreas Papadakis and Kenneth Powell. It is a short presentation that makes a sharp section of

the Japanese discourse. Architecture in Japan is divided into monumentalists – architects like

Takamatsu, Hara, Shinohara and Ando – and architecture of change and impermanence, which is

represented by Ito, Hasegawa, Fujii and Mozuna. Although Architectural Design had not

particularly favored the work of Ando, Papadakis and Powell are well aware that his work is the

face of Japanese architecture as it “embodies typically Japanese values” with his allusive use of

traditional metaphors (1992, p.6). In conclusion, the authors define impermanence as the essence

of Japanese architecture, striving to redefine the relationship between the natural and manmade

world.

Figure (5.18):
Pages from Architectural Design September/October 1992

115
 Botond Bognar’s text “Between Reality and Fiction – Japanese Architecture in the 1990s or the

New Fin de Siècle” is another extensive presentation from this author, and the last one found in

this magazine. The article has a solid introduction presenting the social and economic climate in

Japan; the perpetual changes produced by the economic and technological boom result in a state

of impermanence. Unlike other presentations, this one does not over-mystify the concept of

impermanence that is also embedded in the traditional cultural background in Japan. Further, he

focuses on the large-scale investments and developments in Japan, and transitions into a

discussion of the international presence of Japanese architects. After giving an extensive

presentation on the socio-economic condition in Japan and the activities of the Japanese

architects, Bognar opens discussion of the “essence” of Japanese design.

According to this text, Japanese architecture is divided into two lines: one that is

monumentalist, and another that is preoccupied with nature and ephemerality. The first is

“mysterious”(Tange), “precision-crafted”, “nihilist” (Takamatsu), “techno-

monumental”(Shinohara), “suspended-monumentality”(Isozaki), “urban monument”

(Takeyama), “minimalist monumentality” (Ando); the ephemeral line interprets technology in its

own individual way creating “industrial vernacular” and/or has a nomadic approach emphasizing

novel tectonics. The latter approach is anti-monumental by default, as the architecture has non-

formal aspirations. The article gives an extensive report on the innovative approach of using

materials by all the architects. In conclusion, Bognar focuses on the ephemeral nomadic

philosophy that mirrors the “accelerated and simulated environment” of the Japanese

city/Tokyo; he questions how far this simulation of reality can go, how far before abandoning

architecture. The author suggests that a gap should exist between the architect’s reality of the

ephemeral and the simulated one at large in society.

Toyo Ito’s text “Vortex and Current – on Architecture as Phenomenalism” (1991) has a

manifesto approach in presenting his personal architectural positions. The text is embedded with

116
several cultural references from Japan that embody the idea of impermanence, instability and

ephemerality. It starts by talking about cherry-blossom viewing parties and the

primitive/fundamental architecture created with the carpets and trees; the connection with

nature through light, wind and sound embodies extremely transient architectural aspects. Ito also

finds the anxiety of the actor’s body in Noh theater and the unstable posture of kendo masters an

advantage that creates tension and generates a vortex of events. He sees the contemporary urban

environment as a chessboard, where every move is temporary and provides the potential for

future events.

The final essay also focuses on the topic of impermanence and the Japanese urban

environment. Vladimir Krstic’s text “Stillness of Hyperreality – The In(de)finite City” critically looks at

the chaotic, impermanent state of Japanese cities; the rate at which they change reduces them to

images and dissolves the time factor. For Krstic (1992, p.25), architecture in Japan is a fragment

in a hybrid body where texture is created through images that simulate reality, materiality and

form. Like in the previous texts in this issue, he also identifies two positions, first in which the

reality is rendered through objects, and another radical one that understands reality (certainty)

only as an event. Krstic finds the first position in Ando’s and Takamatsu’s work. Ando has an

autonomous approach by rejecting the city, and Takamatsu accelerates the urban conditions.

Krstic finds the second position, architecture as an event, in the work of Hara and Ito, and

although these two architects have different theoretical stands, he considers that they address the

same issue. For him, Hara and Ito simulate the hyperreality of the city and, by doing so they take

a political stand against the corporate totalitarianism.

After the articles follows a presentation of projects by Japanese architects. The texts that

accompany the designs do not take a significant critical stand. Similar to the issue from 1988, this

part is more of a catalog and does not provide a strong contextualizing position for the buildings.

Most of them give facts about the size, material, composition, typology, program and the setting

117
of the buildings. Some of the presentations tangentially mention the environmental, urban and

topographical influences in the design; several talk about connections with nature, while others

speak about traditional elements in the design.

Before continuing to the last issue from this period, I would summarize the issues edited

by Botond Bognar. Bognar, who studied architecture at Tokyo Institute of Technology during

the 1970s, is someone who knew the architecture scene in Japan very well. He was in touch with

the architects about whom he wrote. Coming from Europe and living in Japan for several years,

particularly the critical years of late 1970s, Bognar was well aware of the critical shift in Japanese

architecture. He understood that the Western and Japanese approaches in design have a different

positions, and that Japanese architecture should be read primarily through the reference of the

Japanese society. In a recent interview (2015) discussing his first article in AD, “Tadao Ando – A

Redefinition of Space, Time and Existence”, Bognar stated that through Shozo Baba, the editor of JA

magazine, he got to know Ando personally; he had several visits to Ando’s buildings together

with the architect before he wrote his fist articles in Architectural Design and Architectural

Review. This position of direct contact with Japanese architecture at the time was still the

privilege of very few individuals.

Between the three issues, the one in 1988 and the two in 1992, there are several gradual

differences and evolutions in thought, but essentially they capture the same idea that Japanese

architecture is a product of the unique Japanese reality. In the beginning, the presentation is

focused on the fragmentary and heterogeneous aspects of the urban environment, and later the

focus moves towards the impermanent and ever-changing aspects of that environment. The

issue from 1988 reinforces the fragmentary aspects by also presenting the architects more

individualistically, highlighting their unique theoretical positions. This results in an extremely

heterogeneous image for the Japanese architecture scene. The first presentation in 1992 keeps

the heterogeneity as a platform, but gives certain indications towards sorting and possible

118
common theoretical stands. Nature, the environment/urbanity and tradition/technology are the

three topics coming out of this issue. In the second presentation in 1992, the direction is more

towards sorting and presenting the similarities between the individual approaches, resulting in

two streams – “monumentalist” and “ephemeral.” The ephemeral/nomadic line was seen as the

one that would continue leading the theoretical discourse in Japan. Knowing the outcome10 from

today’s perspective this is true.

So what is uniquely Japanese in the architecture presented in these issues? The diverse

stylistic, formal and material language that all Japanese architects presented at that moment

creates problems that prevent easy systematization, particularly for those who are very familiar

with the Japanese architectural scene. The several common threads between all of them are: the

influence of the Japanese urban environment, nature, and impermanence or a theatrical approach.

The most important theme for each architect seems to be the relationship he establishes in the

place where he builds. The formal language is as diverse and heterogeneous as Tokyo’s urbanity;

there is no compositional, spatial or material rule. The awareness for place, nature and the

spectacle of the city is what connects all of the architects presented in Bognar’s issues. And most

importantly, in these issues they are all referenced to the unique Japanese setting. There is very

little suggestion about how Japanese architecture is different than the Western or European work

at the time, but that is far less dominant.

In 1993 Maggie Toy took the position of chief editor from Andreas Papadakis, and was

the editor of the third issue on Japanese architecture published in 1994. The editorial is a bit

different than the previous issues. It includes: a transcript of the Academy International Forum

organized on the topic “Learning from Tokyo”, an article from Yoshinobu Ashihara, text by Hajime

Yatsuka presenting Kumamoto ArtPolis followed by a presentation of 16 projects from ArtPolis,

and 6 presentations focusing on the work of Kisho Kurokawa, Shin Takamatsu, Tadao Ando,

10For example the work of Toyo Ito has had much bigger impact the work of Shin Takamatsu in the general
Japanese discourse. The first has ephemeral approach and the second monumentalist.

119
Minoru Takeyama, Itsuko Hasegawa and Toyo Ito. Toy envisions this issue as continuation of

the previous two editions from 1992 but, unlike Bognar, she has never been actively involved in

the Japanese architecture scene. Her editorial choice is surprising; the representation of Japan is

done through 2 very particular positions: Tokyo and Kumamoto ArtPolis.

The first article is a transcript from a forum organized at The Royal Academy of Arts in

London in June 1993, titled Learning from Tokyo. Kisho Kurokawa was the only Japanese

presenter at this discussion. Among the panelists were critics Paul Finch and Charles Jencks,

architects Peter Cook and Rem Koolhaas, journalist Peter Popham, filmmakers Benjamin

Wooley and Martin Davidson, and others. The opening arguments were made by Kisho

Kurokawa and Peter Poham. Poham is journalist who has lived in Japan for 11 years, and wrote

the book “Tokyo City at the End of the World.” Kurokawa’s discussion is structured around the

concept of invisible tradition, and he underlines this as the “hidden flavor” of Japanese cities.

Kurokawa argues that no matter how Tokyo changes, grows, densifies and imports culture, there

is still an element of an invisible Japanese tradition and philosophy that will always be part of the

city. He is not very specific, but part of this invisible tradition includes, for example, Buddhist

philosophy, Japanese aesthetics, incorporating the changing seasons into the human lifestyle; all

of them abstract categories that are difficult to define. Poham’s is the Westerners view on Tokyo;

he focused on the randomness of Tokyo’s landscape and the freedom that the city allows. One

of his remarks is that architects need to shout at the top of their voice in order to be heard in

Tokyo (Popham 1994, p12). Unlike Kurokawa, Popham is not so positive, in his final remarks he

stresses how Tokyo lost its beauty by damaging the environment with huge developments and

finished his argument criticizing the idea of invisible tradition – “the invisible may remain, but

invisible it surely is” (Popham 1994, p12).

After the opening arguments of Kurokawa and Popham, the discussion continues with

other panelist but the debate does not lead to any particular conclusion. As with most forums of

120
this kind, the panelists offer open-ended views. What is interesting for this research is that this

debate is entirely led by and structured around a Western view of Tokyo. Yes, Kurokawa is part

of the debate, but the whole debate is constructed around the concept of how different and

unique Tokyo is compared to Western cities. Most of the arguments are generic, or at least by

now have become generic, and are common for these kinds of debates: a city without a center,

no hierarchy, chaotic, small spaces, and public/private space. These comments are followed

simultaneously with judgment, fascination and admiration for the wonder called Tokyo.

After the debate follows a text by Yoshinobu Ashihara titled “The Hidden Order - Tokyo

through the 20th Century.” Ashihara belongs to the first generation of post-war architects. He is a

modernist and many of his buildings have been published in the early 1950s and 1960s

presentations of Japanese architecture. This article is a presentation of Tokyo and, through it,

Japanese cities. It is an article built on the dichotomy of Japan and the West. The first part of the

text argues that asymmetry is an integral part of Japanese culture, and randomness and

amorphous shape come from the resistance to give up freedom of movement (Ashihara 1994,

p.22), whereas Western cities have little freedom to differ from an already established formal

language. The second part of the text is focused on the amoeba form of the city, and discusses

historical aspects of the condition, coming to the idea of a hidden order that is based on the local

organic recombination and re-formation of the physical structure. Ashihara’s last chapter talks

specifically about the articulation of Tokyo’s morphology. For him, architectural space is built

either by subtraction or addition. First, with examples, he focuses on the “subtractive” approach

characteristic of Western thought, where a composition is subordinated to the overall formal

appearance, and then presents the Japanese “additive method.” The additive approach, or the

concept of a “sub-whole” as Ashihara calls it, comes from the cultural and philosophic

background of Japan, based on Buddhism.

121
 What is noticeable about these two presentations is that the debate about Japan,

previously centered on Japan and its internal conditions, is now set on the dichotomy of Japan

versus the West. In this debate, the West is conflated with order, symmetry, structured

composition, hierarchy, whole over part; Japan is chaotic, asymmetrical, organic composition,

non-hierarchical, parts constructing the whole. These differences are presented as part of the

cultural background of the two distinct cultures. The influences of the economic and social

transformations in Japan are seen as a factor, but only as additive, accelerating the already

established rules of the game. Bognar’s editorials, on the other hand, explore how the socio-

economic transformations in Japan change the understanding of urban and architectural space.

Figure (5.19):
Pages from Architectural Design January/February 1994

Hajime Yatsuka’s “Introduction to ArtPolis” presents the background of the project inspired

by several European projects like the International Building Exhibition in Berlin, the Grand

Projects in Paris under the direction of President Mitterrand, and EuroLille in Lille… Yatsuka

presents ArtPolis as having a different approach of redeveloping city that is not based on a

gigantic, Promethian approach. Yatuska states that in Japan there are already huge developments

that match the European reconstructions. Instead, ArtPolis is on a much smaller scale and has

122
no master plan, but buildings appear in different places and aspire to create a nodal network that

will spark changes in the urban environment. This non-hierarchical approach is strengthened by

selecting predominantly young architects – each with an entirely different aesthetic, connecting

and relating in unique ways with the immediate environment. Yatsuka states that in Japan there is

an aspiration to create an overall order in the city, but solutions are brought case by case

(Yatsuka 1994, p.37).

The architecture in this issue, as in the previous issues11, is presented with short texts that

are not critically focused on the individual designs. They are presented as they are, mainly

focusing on the program, materiality or some compositional aspects. What is characteristic for all

four issues12 is a non-hierarchical presentation of the architectural production. The reader is

offered multiple design voices, each as different as the one before. Each of these voices is

embedded in the reality of the Japanese urban environment, but none has more or less right to

be there. And although a slight inclination towards the work of architects like Itsuko Hasegawa,

Toyo Ito, and Tadao Ando is noticeable, the amount of work presented from other architects

provides a balanced position. This way of presenting strengthens the idea of heterogeneity,

fragmentation and, ultimately, chaos in the Japanese architecture scene.

The most important achievement of these four issues from 1988, 1992, and 1994, and

the other articles published in this period, is the shift of the paradigm of Japanese architecture.

Starting from the late 1970s with the 1977 issue for Arata Isozaki, Architectural Design indicates

that the architecture developed in Japan is different than the one in the West. But, although

aware of the differences, under the wave of Post-Modernism and Charles Jencks’ theorizing,

Japanese architecture was contextualized based on a European understanding of architecture.

The issue from 1988 is the first one that entirely focuses on Japan from within the Japanese

context. Also, this issue did not go back historically to retrace the history of Japanese

11 the issue from May1988 and the issue from September/October 1992
12 including the April/May issue from 1992

123
modernization, but was written from the contemporary point. In the course of the next 6-7 years,

on the pages of this magazine, Japanese architecture is imposed as a new paradigm in

architecture, produced entirely in the cultural setting of Japan.

The issue from 1994 is the last number entirely dedicated to Japanese architecture in this

magazine. At that moment Japan was already in economic recession, and the 1990s were not as

fruitful for architecture production as the decade before. The 1990s are known as the lost decade

of the Japanese economy. Although the architecture production was dramatically downsized in

this period, many projects from Japan still appeared on the pages of Architectural Design. The

second half of the 1990s in Architectural Design is more focused on individual presentations of

Japanese architects.

During Maggie Toy’s editorship, after the January/February issue from 1994 to until

1999, 28 articles covering Japanese architects were published in the course of 5 years. This

period’s most prominent names in the magazine are the architects Toyo Ito, Tadao Ando,

Shigeru Ban, Shoei Yoh and Shuhei Endo. Articles about the work of famous Japanese architects

Maki, Isozaki, Hara, Hasegawa and Kuma are also found. Most of the articles from this period

are more focused on the visual and graphic presentation and have a less critical and

contextualizing approach to the architectural work. In this part, the research will look closely at

one article and discuss this period overall.

Vladimir Krstic wrote the article Ephemeral/Portable Architecture for the September/

October issue from 1998. “Constructing the Ephemeral – The Notions of Building and Portability in

Japanese Architecture” is a historical presentation of the concept of ephemerality in traditional

Japanese architecture and how this concept translated to Toyo Ito’s work in the 1980s. Along

124
with this article there are two more articles by Krstic critically analyzing Toyo Ito’s ITM building

and the Shimosuwa Municipal Museum.

In the article “Constructing the Ephemeral,” Krstic (1998) gives an elaborate presentation on

the concept of Shimenawa, a Shinto ritual of tying rope around an object in order to demarcate

the location of a divine spirit. Krstic presents this act/ritual as an archetypical model of

construction. Shimenawa, for Krstic (1998, p.11), is the act of creating temporariness; on the one

hand, the act of binding is done to signify the temporality of the tied object, but also the tying

itself, the rope, is there for a temporary period. The author stresses that only the choosing of a

place is the unique and always different aspect of the ritual. From there on, he continues

discussing traditional Japanese space and architecture in relation to Shimenawa: the repetitiveness

of the universal beam structure vis-à-vis the repetitiveness of rope tying; the impermanence of

these structures; the uniqueness of place-choosing and space-making in Japanese tradition as part

of the ephemeral philosophy of Shinto religion and Japanese traditional culture. In the final part

of the text, the author talks about the contemporary reemergence of ephemerality in Japanese

architecture. He elaborates on the concept of the “primitive hut”, the idea of urbanity as a

“second nature” for humans, and architecture as tool to demarcate the place. For Krstic (1998,

p.15), in Ito’s work, form does not exist outside of the material that produces it; it serves only to

demarcate the place and the formal manifestation comes into being depending on the place of

building. Ito’s architecture, with its temporal qualities, relates to the ancient ritual of Shime. The

articles that follow build on this text and present the ephemeral qualities of Ito’s architecture.

The second half of the 1990s, Architectural Design focused on a more individualistic

approach of presenting architecture. The magazine was not preoccupied with particular

discourses or paradigms, but explored general architectural topics. For example: minimalist

architecture, skyscrapers, architecture of transportation, architecture and water, architecture and

light, artists and architects etc. Therefore, the work of all Japanese architects was not presented

125
in relation to one another, but each production is presented separately. The discussion for this

period is based on the coding made on the articles published between 1994 and 1999. Reference

for the codes can be found in Appendix I, the table for Architectural Design, and Appendix III,

table 1.

The analyses of the coded material sublimate 4 topics: nature/environment,

ephemeral/impermanent, tradition and abstract categories. The relation of the buildings with

nature and the immediate environment is the most reoccurring characteristic discussed. Tradition

is commonly connected with Buddhist, Zen and Shinto elements of the Japanese culture. This is

particularly evident in the case of Tadao Ando’s buildings. The many sacral buildings presented

by this architect additionally strengthen this mode. Light is also a dominant topic in the buildings

of many Japanese architects. But most notable in the short presentations are abstract categories

that describe the buildings. Meditative and intuitive spaces, tranquil state of balance, womb-like

worlds, harmonize with the surrounding environment, complete harmony and other phrases in

this manner commonly appear in text presenting the buildings. These lyrical languages give space

and buildings irrational attributes. Combined with writing about light, transparency and

materiality, architecture becomes only a phenomenological category.

Japan-ness in this last period in Architectural Design, the second half of the 1990s,

became an intangible category. The phenomenological aspect of “Japanese spaces” with

associative writing about tradition, connection with environment and minimalism becomes more

frequent and, towards the end of the decade, created a mystified idea about Japanese space. To a

certain extent, this is an essentializing practice and leads towards Orientalization of Japanese

architecture. What is noticeable as a positive approach in presenting is the absence of the Japan –

West dichotomy. This might be due to the short presentations that do not allow more elaborate

critical approaches, but also, because the distinctiveness of Japanese architecture as established

discourse does not require comparisons with the West.

126
 Finally the presentation made in Architectural Design in the course of 22 years between

1977 and 1999 can be understood through 3 different periods: the first is marked with the period

of Post-Modernism from 1977 until 1988, the second period is the late bubble-economy from

1988 until 1994, and the third period being the post-bubble period from 1994 until 1999. The

Post-Modern period mostly contextualized Japanese architecture within the movement, but in

this period the first signs of difference and otherness of Japanese architecture also appear. The

most common feature of Japanese architecture is hybridity of the design language based on

different cultural references, most commonly taken from Japanese traditional architecture, but

also from Western Classicism. The late bubble period is marked by the big presentations of the

Japanese discourse. These issues create the idea of Japanese architecture and Japan-ness as

something radically different than the West. Japan-ness is the unique relationship that architects

create with the fragmented, heterogeneous, urban environment, is the nature that these buildings

create. The ephemerality that comes from the unique aspects of Japanese life built on a long

tradition of ever-changing environment. It is the technological and economic advancement in a

country that created a “floating world” and the spectacle of a perpetually changing world. The

post-bubble Japanese architecture is lyrical and understood through phenomenological categories

built on a relationship with nature, tradition and ephemerality.

127
5.2 Japanese architecture in Casabella from 1982 until 2005

This part examines a total of 128 articles published in Casabella in the period between

1982 and 2005, and includes both quantitative and qualitative discourse analysis. In a period of

23 years, Casabella published 3 special issues covering Japanese architecture: one in 1994, and

two others in the early 2000s. The data in Casabella, compared to both Architectural Design and

L'Architecture d'Aujourd'hui, is not as diverse. This magazine focuses strongly on household

architectural names, and projects a limited view of the Japanese architectural discourse. The only

exception of this trend is the issue published in 1994.

The 1970s were a turbulent period for Casabella: in a period of 10 years, the magazine

went through 3 editors and, in 1977, ownership transferred to Domus, part of Gruppo Editoriale

Electa (Magazine History n.a.). Alessando Mendini was editor from 1970 to 1976, then Bruno

Alfieri replaced him in 1976, and finally Tomás Maldonado served from January 1977 until

December 1981. During this whole decade, this research was able to find only one article from

1971. In 1982, Vittorio Gregotti became the editor of Casabella and run the magazine for the

next 14 years. The current editor in chief Francesco Dal Co has been running the magazine since

1996.

In the same year that Vittorio Gregotti became editor, 1982, Tadao Ando’s project was

on the cover of the October issue. This was the first article on Japanese architecture after 11

years, and the start of more stable representation of Japanese architecture in Casabella. This

course is even more supported by the next editor, Francesco Dal Co, and culminated in the years

2000 and 2002 when Casabella published special issues on Japanese architecture. In 2010 this

relationship with Japan reached a new level and the magazine started publishing an edition in

Japanese language.

128
Quantitative analysis

The quantitative analyses made in KH Coder covers 110 articles published in Casabella

between 1982 and 2005; it excludes the articles published in the special issue from 199413. As

with Architectural Design, the analysis looked at: the most represented architect, typology and

material; analyzed the compositional and special aspect code, history and tradition code, and

cultural and socio-economic factors code; and finally text mining of the material collected in the

category of History/Tradition and Japan-ness.

With 29 articles, Tadao Ando is the most published Japanese architect in Casabella

(figure 5.20). But what is astonishing is that he has twice as many articles as Arata Isozaki, who is

second on this list. After these two architects, the list is as follows: Toyo Ito, Kengo Kuma,

Kazuyo Sejima, Satoshi Okada and Fumihiko Maki. It is incredible that during Vittorio

Gregotti’s directorship Tadao Ando was almost exclusively published every year. Out of 20

articles on Japanese architecture published during Gregotti’s time, only 7 are dedicated to other

architects: 4 articles on Fumihiko Maki, 2 articles on Arata Isozaki, and one on Riken

Yamamoto’s work. It was only after Francesco Dal Co became editor that Casabella diversified

its representation of Japanese architecture. This is the reason why many of the architects from

the older generations are not present on this list. Isozaki’s work became more relevant during the

late 1990s. Andrea Maffei, associate in Isozaki’s office and in charge of his Italian projects, wrote

and presented their work in Casabella; this explains why Isozaki had so many articles in these

magazines. The real culmination of Japanese architecture in Casabella happened after the year

2000. Satoshi Okada’s work, for example, has been not published in many international

magazines, but is frequently presented in Casabella. Dal Co’s interest in Japanese architecture

and his relationships with Japanese architects led to the publishing of a Japanese language edition

of the magazine in 2010.

13The specificity of this issue, being focused on the Japanese discourse in general without individual presentations
of architects and with this differing from the general trend of representation in Casabella, it was decided the issue to
be included in the qualitative analysis only.

129
 Figure (5.20):
Most represented architects in Casabella between 1982 and 2005

Figure (5.21):
Most represented typology in Casabella between 1982 and 2005

In 110 articles, presentations of 106 buildings were identified. The most dominant

building typology was museum, with 27 buildings, and houses come next, with 22 buildings

130
(figure 5.21). After that follow galleries and art centers, cultural centers, and commercial and

religious buildings. The numbers of these other buildings are much smaller. And while the list of

presented architects is not as long as in other magazines, Casabella surprises with a diversity of

typologies. The variety in typology might actually be a result of the limited number of architects

being presented with their diverse production.

Materiality was not mentioned or observed in all of the 110 articles. Materials were

identified in only 24 articles (figure 5.22). Similar to the other magazines, when it comes to

material, Japanese architecture exhibits a wide range and variety of materials used. Concrete is

understandably one of the most mentioned materials, because of Tadao Ando, but again, it

seems that the total of metallic materials is much larger than the rest of the materials.

Figure (5.22):
Frequency of mentioning materials in Casabella between 1982 and 2005

The observations of formal characteristics in Casabella focus mostly on the pure

geometric aspects of the compositions. In an interview with Botond Bognar (2015, 23 February),

he interprets this as a result of the North Italian rationalist school that is drawn to puristic spatial

and geometric compositions. In terms of socio-economic and cultural factors, the presentations

131
in Casabella focus only on the influences of religion. Buddhist and Shinto influences are

mentioned in the context of tradition and the philosophy of understanding life. Discussions on

the influence of tradition are common in Casabella articles, but that is not the case with history.

History appears only with a very few direct references to the Katsura Villa in Kyoto and Todai-ji

in Nara.

Figure (5.23):
Co-occurrence network diagram generated from History/Tradition code of the Casabella articles

132
 Tradition is referenced in several topics (figure 5.23). From the co-occurrence network

diagram, it is clear that one general reference is to traditional space, traditional Japanese

architecture, interior and buildings connected to nature (in the diagram with purple color). Other

references are more direct and explicit like the traditional wooden constructions (green), the

temples of Nara (red), and rock gardens (yellow). Still others are very vague and ambiguous, such

as “wisdom” and “house” / “place” (blue). In the context of tradition, Ando is also referenced;

he is always seen as someone who interprets tradition in modern way.

Figure (5.24):
Co-occurrence network diagram focused on centrality, generated from Japan-ness code of the Casabella articles

133
 Figure (5.25):
Co-occurrence network diagram generated from Japan-ness code of the Casabella articles

The text mining of the general code of Japan-ness reveals the strong centrality of

tradition and nature (figure 5.24). The community betweenness diagram (figure 5.25)

reveals three large pools of topics: one is focused on the relationship with tradition, the

134
Japanese city, form, material and time (blue-green); the second topic is nature, sense and

creation of place, movement, walls and humans (yellow); the third topic is a product of

Ando’s work and relates spatial experience, light, and landscape (purple). Environment,

nature (natural), and light appear as universal topics in these presentations. Casabella’s

articles focused on Japanese architecture discuss the works very much from a

phenomenological perspective, on a level of experience, relationship with space,

environment, material and senses.

Figure (5.26):
Co-occurrence network diagram focused on centrality, generated from Japan-ness code of the Casabella articles

135
 Applying a higher word and document frequency filter, the co-concurrence diagram

reveals the phenomenological nature of the presentations in Casabella. The centrality also shifts

from tradition to Ando and nature (figure 5.26). This means that the work of Ando, as the most

represented architect, has a stronger influence on the overall outcome of the representation of

Japanese architecture. Everything sublimates into two topics: nature-time and relationship-

tradition-material-form (figure 5.27).

Figure (5.27):
Co-occurrence network diagram generated from Japan-ness code of the Casabella articles

136
 Figure (5.28):
Multi-Dimensional Scaling diagram generated from Japan-ness code of the Casabella articles

The multi-dimensional scaling diagram confirms the findings in the co-occurrence

network, but the categories are in a more limited range and the topics more dispersed than in the

case of Architectural Design (figure 5.28). Presenting the level of similarity of individual data sets,

this diagram shows that the topics appearing in the texts of Casabella are more disconnected

than in the case of Architectural Design. Relationships to tradition and time-space are the most

dominant. There is no strong coherence between the discussed topics, but instead many

137
tangential themes. For example, the topic of Tokyo appears but is far removed from topics like

landscape, city and design.

Qualitative analysis

The overall presentation of Japanese architecture in Casabella is a non-discursive

presentation. In this magazine, Japanese architecture was represented through architects and

their work, and there are few presentations that focused on the general discourse in Japan.

Except the 1994 issue dedicated to Japanese architecture, Casabella’s editorial politics until the

2000s focused on selected architects and, through them, developed the idea and image of what

Japanese architecture is. These select names were frequently presented on the pages of the

magazine, and this offers a unique possibility to follow the opus of the architects. What is

problematic in this case is the narrowly constructed image of Japanese architecture. As the

research will show, certain periods in Casabella have a tendency of essentializing and

Orientalizing Japanese architecture.

Figure (5.29):
Number of articles in Casabella between 19882 and 2005

138
 The observed period of 23 years, from 1982 to 2005, can best be understood in terms of

representation modes if it is divided into periods based on the editors of the magazine (figure

5.29). The first period is from 1982 to 1995, and edited by Vittorio Gregotti; the second is from

1996 to 2005, and edited by Francesco Dal Co. The Vittorio Gregotti period was characterized

by a low frequency of presentations. Until publishing the special issue in 1994, the average

frequency of presentations dedicated to Japanese architects in Casabella was just 1.5 articles per

year, and more than a half of these articles were dedicated to Tadao Ando. In the Francesco Dal

Co period, there was a sudden change of course and the number of articles per year grew rapidly.

With 2 special issues published in the early 2000s, the average was 9 articles per year. Dal Co’s

presentation of Japanese architecture showed a border spectrum of work produced in Japan, but

still had a tendency to focus on several well-established architects.

During Vittorio Gregotti’s editorship of Casabella, the publication was heavily focused

on Tadao Ando’s work. Apart from Ando, only three more architects had the chance to present

their work in the magazine: Fumihiko Maki, Arata Isozaki and Rikken Yamamoto. The most

particular presentation of Japan was produced in 1994 when Casabella published an entire issue

dedicated to Japan that did not have articles for individual architects and their work, but rather

presented the state of Japanese architecture and urbanism. This was radically different from an

entire decade focused on the work of Ando and a few other names. This is how the following

analysis is structured as well: first, a presentation of the findings based on the individual

presentations of architects, and then a presentation of the special issue published in 1994.

Casabella returned to Japanese architecture relatively late compared to other magazines.

Unlike many Western magazines that had presentations in the late 1970s, Casabella had its first

presentation in 1982, eleven years after the previous one, published in 1971. This might be the

result of the turbulent years inside the magazine during the 1970s. Vittorio Gregotti started the

139
presentations with the October issue from 1992, the same issue that had Tadao Ando on the

cover of the magazine. The cover is a cross-section drawing of the Rokko housing project that

cuts through the hillside. The article has many sketches and drawing, presenting all 9 typologies

of housing units, axonometric views, and photos of models and the construction process.

Gregotti, who personally met Ando in Osaka a few years before this article, presents Ando’s

design as a “logical answer” with a radical reduction of elements to the chaotic heterogeneous

urban environment of the city (Greggotti 1982, p.2). The text talks about the simple geometry of

the building, the delicate connection with the slope, and the precision of building and detailing

on such a complicated site. But the most prominent features of the design are accentuated: the

introduction of light inside the building, creating a “personal point of equilibrium”, and the deep

connection of Ando’s design with nature.

Figure (5.30):
Covers of Casabella: October 1982, July/August 1987, June 1989

Nature is the main topic presented in all of Ando’s work. The sober, monumental

minimalism of this architect dominates the entire decade of 1980s on the pages of Casabella. The

cold concrete buildings are deeply associated with the ascetic tradition of minimalism and

sobriety coming from Shintoism and Zen Buddhism. The play of light and shadows, voids that

140
introduce nature, sky, landscape, fluidity, harmony, tranquility and time are some of the most

prominent categories that were used to describe Ando’s buildings. The presentations are focused

on the phenomenological aspects, which are essential in Ando’s designs; the most important

qualities of his work belong in the phenomenological realm. It is important to note, in this case,

that the qualities of this phenomenology of Ando’s work are unambiguously presented as

influenced by and essentially coming from Japanese tradition.

The work of the other architects is also presented in relation to tradition. Fumihiko

Maki’s work is described as a balance between traditionalism and internationalism, and his

careful use of materials as influenced by the best Japanese tradition (Polini 1985, p.4). Riken

Yamamoto’s building is presented as a reflection and reinterpretation of the Japanese housing

tradition (Zardini 1987, p.4). Their work also creates a relationship and reflects the multi-layered

urban context. Only the text written about Isozaki’s work (Morton 1994) discusses the relation

of Japanese architecture to the West, and mentions the “unique hybrid” forms that are a product

of Western and Japanese influences.

What is noticeable in Casabella’s presentations, more so than in the other two magazines,

is the use of abstract and ambiguous language to describe Japanese architectural space. Often

these phrases and sentences do not convey any actual meaning, but express associative feelings

and relate to the idea of Japanese spirituality. Altogether, the presentation of Japanese

architecture during Gregotti’s editorship expresses Japan-ness in architecture through the idea of

tradition and relationship with nature, landscape and urban context. The architectural work is

represented as an art form, often eliminating any socio-economic context. If we consider that

1980s and early 1990s Japanese architecture presents an explosion of diverse formal language,

Casabella in this period presented only a tiny portion, focusing only on the rational and purist

modernist esthetic of Ando and Maki’s buildings. This is a clear curatorial choice, as the January

141
issue from 1994 showed that Casabella’s editors were well aware of the actual conditions in Japan.

They chose to portray only one side of it.

The special issue from 1994 titled “Japan: a dis-oriented modernity” largely echoed

Casabella’s issue on Japan published in 1963. It was an extensive, well-structured presentation

that did not focus on individual presentations but presented the general discourse of Japanese

architecture and the changes of the urban environment in the country. This issue, like the one in

1963, was probably one of the best in this decade, with great analysis written by Japanese and

foreign researchers of Japan. Gregotti, who worked at Casabella in 1963, must have gleaned

some wisdom from the editorial style of the 1963 issue. In this issue the magazine gave great

context for the work produced in Japan, and presented a discourse that had parted ways with the

Western influences. Japan was a place with internal urban and architectural rules. The issue has 2

introductory texts by Vittorio Gregotti and Chiara Baglione, and 16 articles divided into 4

chapters: Theoretical Spaces, Decentralized Identities, From Design to Construction and The

Order of Chaos.

Figure (5.31):
Cover and pages from Casabella January/February 1994

142
 In the introductory text “A dis-oriented modernity”, Gregotti presented the concept behind

the issue. He was well aware that most of the time Casabella presented morphological and

technical qualities of Japanese architecture, but that with these articles it was virtually impossible

to portray the complex image of the Japanese society where this architecture is created. He laid

out some of the issues: the technological advancement of Japan, an urban landscape developed

with overlapping and stratification, the lack of public policy in the field of housing, and

urbanization of the countryside (Gregotti 1994) – issues that influenced the architectural

outcome in Japan. The idea behind the presentation was to construct an image, which may have

been incomplete, but would give a background for understanding Japanese architecture.

“A Stroll Through the Context” by Chiara Baglione (1994, p.4) supported Gregotti’s

arguments by underlining that, quite often, Japanese architecture in magazines was stripped of

context and “appears to be a laboratory open to all experiments.” She argued that by strolling in

the streets of Tokyo and Osaka, the complexity of Japanese architecture could be understood. It

was not necessary to rationalize, but architecture could be intuitively understood as Japanese

architects adapted to the site. For Baglione, Japanese architecture had become a sort of fashion

and propaganda that constantly produced new images to attract an audience. By making a parallel

with the Japanese language and its ambiguity that is always clarified within conversational context,

she directly implied that Japanese architecture could be only understood within its urban context.

The article finished by stating the complex social and economic transformations in Japan after

the burst of the bubble, and the conscious approach to focus only on the physical, cultural and

productive context and not on the work of specific architect.

The first part of the issues, Theoretical spaces, has 3 articles and presented some of the main

paradigmatic concepts in Japan. The first article, “The Japanese City – The Use of an Image” written

by Augustin Berque was a critical review of the new approach of reading Tokyo’s urban history.

Berque presented the shift from a negative to a positive understanding of Tokyo’s urban

143
environment. The socio-economic success of Japan gave architects a chance to redefine Tokyo’s

positions. The 1970s ugliness of the city was no longer read and understood as a lack of planning

strategies. A new paradigmatic approach was presented in the 1980s – the heterogeneity of

Tokyo’s landscape was a continuation of the heterogeneous urbanity of Edo. The Edo-Tokyo

metaphor became a leading way of understanding the chaos of Japanese cities. Teruyuki

Monnai’s “Glossary of Spatial Concepts” presented some of the key spatial concepts in Japanese

tradition and their reinterpretation in contemporary Japan. Monnai talks about: the coexistence

of traditional Japanese space with nature; asymmetry (hitaisho) and the juxtaposition of

heterogeneous elements and their interpretation in Fumihiko Maki’s work; the ambiguity of

boundaries and the use of transitional spaces that appear also in the work of Hiroshi Hara,

Hiromi Fujii and Takefumi Aida; the concept of Ma; Oku and Maki’s interpretation of Oku;

Utsuroi, the transformation of nature and the moment that captures that change; Miegakure,

composition that cannot be visually perceived all at one moment, and Ando’s use of this

approach in the Mount Rokko church; Mitate, expressing things through archetypical models,

and seeing Itsuko Hasegawa’s concept of “second nature” as mitate; Yohaku, Wabi, and Sabi as

concepts that influence minimalism; and finally, a topological structure of urban elements that

produces heterogeneity – urban space was not understood as a composition or urban tissue, but

as elements connected in a flexible relation. The last article in this part, “The Architect’s Imagination.

An Anthology”, is in fact a collection of 5 texts written by Arata Isozaki, Kazuyo Shinohara,

Fumihiko Maki, Toyo Ito and Tada Ando. These essays reflect these architects’ long time

interests. Isozaki’s text is on the topic city as a ruin; Shinohara’s text is about the beauty of chaos;

Maki’s text explains oku; Ito’s text is about ephemerality, temporality and simulation in

contemporary Japanese city; Ando’s is about the connection between architecture and nature.

This first part focused on spatial concepts in Japan presents a connection between

traditional and contemporary Japanese architecture and urbanity. Unlike the first article that gives

144
a wider background presenting how the conceptualization of Edo-Tokyo discourse was created,

the second article “Glossary of Spatial Concepts” makes direct, uncritical connections between

the work of Japanese architects and traditional concepts. The outcome of these three

presentations is a better understanding of spatial concepts that are influenced by the traditional

understanding of space, and influences from an urban environment that are also based on the

traditional conception of urbanity.

The second part, Decentralized Identities, presented the attempts of Japan to decentralize

the attention from the big metropolitan areas of Tokyo and Osaka. The first article “The Era of

the Provinces” by Claire Gillian, focused on the progress of the Japanese provincial regions. Gillian

revealed that during the period of rapid growth between 1960 and 1975, in fact Japan developed

mostly the Tokyo and Kansai regions. For a long time, its provincial regions stayed relatively

underdeveloped and disconnected from the capital. This article presented the programs and

projects developed in late 1980s and early 1990s as hope to rebalance the inequality. The projects

on Kyushu Island in Kumamoto, Kitakyushu and Fukuoka were chosen as the most successful

development. “Public Architecture, Local Monument” by Takashi Yanai further discussed the topic

opened by Gillian. Unlike Gillian, Yanai had a more critical approach for the investments made

by the local governments in Japan. His presentation showed that most of the projects were

focused on cultural buildings – museums, cultural centers, sports arenas or multi-purpose halls –

that so far had shown only partial success. According to him (Yanai 1994), these symbolic

projects with unorthodox designs had become the fashion and style of revitalizing the provincial

regions of Japan, but apart from their short-lived, immediate fame provided by the media

coverage, the projects failed to produce significant change in the long run. Hajime Yatsuka’s text,

“Ecology of the New Suburbs of Tokyo. Tama New Town”, gave a wonderful portrait of the specificity

of the urban conditions in Japan. Through the case of Tama New Town, he presented the

heterogeneity of the Tokyo’s Western suburbs created with the development of private railways.

145
The urban conditions in these places were not like in typical suburbs. These places situated along

the train stations grew like typical cities, with many public buildings and a diverse program to

support citizens living nearby. But what prevented them from being cities was their dependence

on Tokyo for employment of their inhabitants. Most of the people living in these places worked

in Tokyo. The last article in this section, written by Ichiro Suzuki and Scott M. Gold, was

focused on the development of public housing in Japan. The authors were aware that the image

of the house in Japan was portrayed only with private housing projects. With this article they

demonstrated the sterile and almost mechanical approach in designing collective housing in

Japan, and showed some of the newer attempts to change the situation in this field.

This second segment of articles revealed a complicated side of urban Japan: the struggle

to decentralize the country that was focused only on two centers, Tokyo and the Kansai region.

On one side, we see a huge initiative with many projects of revitalization, but with an approach

that always involved building cultural institution that are not viable in the long run. Yatsuka’s text,

on the other hand, showed a somewhat successful story that is entirely driven by economic

factors. Tokyo’s suburbs are presented as a playground for testing and importing urban and

cultural models that produce a true dystopian heterogeneity.

The third section, From Design to Construction, is focused on construction and the

relationship between the construction and design sectors in Japan. The first article, “Clouds and

Clocks. Design Practice in Japan” by Paolo Tombesi, explained the differences in the building

industry between Japan and the West. It explained the significant role of the contractor

companies in the transition between the design and construction phases, and the involvement of

the construction companies in the detailed design phase. The article “New Components, Ancient

Assemblages” by William H. Coaldrake made a parallel between traditional and contemporary

construction practices in Japan. He started by explaining the traditional Japanese methods of

timber-frame construction: its special joinery connections, modular coordination based on ken

146
and tatami, selection of timber, and its prefabrication. In the second part of the article, Coaldrake

presented the contemporary prefabrication in Japan that also used a frame system with no load-

bearing walls, with modular coordination and efficient assembly methods. Francesco Montanan’s

presented the “big five” construction companies in Japan – Shimizu, Obayashi, Kajima, Taisei

and Takenaka. These companies that hold the majority of the construction work of Japan were

also a source of innovation, testing and experimenting with new approaches in the building

industry. Often they were behind innovative projects like Umeda City in Osaka by Hiroshi Hara

or Century Tower in Tokyo by Norman Foster. Masao Noguchi’s text talked about the

educational system in Japan and its close connections with the “technical-pragmatic” approach in

design. A majority of the architecture work produced in Japan belongs in this category, and

architecture in Japan belongs in the field of utilitarian and engineering practices. Hiroshi

Watanabe revealed the media side in Japan, presenting a field dominated by household names

that, once established, get a noncritical free pass in the architectural magazines.

This part of the presentation was focused on the business side of the architectural field.

It presented one of the biggest industries of Japan and its domains controlled by huge

corporations. The bold unique designs from Japan were a tiny segment in a multibillion-yen field

controlled by corporations and big design firms. Architects, particularly the biggest names in the

field, were part of this business and often their innovative designs relied on the innovations

provided by the big corporations.

The last segment of the presentation, The Order of the Chaos, was entirely focused on

Tokyo’s urban development during the 20th century. The first article “Opportunism at the

Service of the City - Public and Private in Metropolitan Development” by Marc Bourdier talked

about the domination of the private sector in the development of Tokyo. Bourdier (1994, p.124)

explicitly said that “urban planning [in Tokyo] is in the hands of the private sector.” The

dynamic character of the city was reflection of the city’s economy. The Hidenobu Jinnai text

147
looked at the loss and rediscovery of the historical Edo in present day Tokyo. Through the brief

urban history of the twentieth century, he presented how some of the most characteristic

features of Edo were lost. The post-bubble era in Tokyo revived an awareness and retracing of

the “invisible history” of Edo. Naomichi Kurata talked about the urban development of Tokyo

that was based on the private railway companies. Besides the development of the suburbs, Kurat

also presented the economy behind the three biggest train stations in Tokyo: Shinjuku,

Ikebukuro and Shibuya. The last text, written by Atsuhiko Takeuchi, showed the dynamic nature

of industrial development in Tokyo through the twentieth century; a zone that in the 1970s was

50km in radius from the city center was already 100km at the time when Takeuchi wrote the text,

including regions of Kanagawa, Saitama and Chiba.

This last part of the presentation uncovered the massiveness of Tokyo’s urbanity, its

huge economic and infrastructural investment. The chaos and amoeba called Tokyo, in this

presentation was the giant Tokyo with an enormous driving force behind it. Its urbanism,

entirely driven by economic logic, had produced a situation unique only to Japan.

This entire issue of Casabella was an exceptional, one-of-a-kind presentation of Japan. It

was not about Japanese architecture, but presented and unveiled more knowledge than any other

issue dedicated to Japanese architecture. This was an issue of numbers, facts and history. The

theory of Japanese architecture was expressed through the logic of the socio-economic

conditions in the country. It revealed a world driven by rules and history completely different

than the ones in Europe and America. It did not mystify and theorize, but presented data and

facts that complete the long missing picture. After reading this issue, one understands Japan and

its own internal logic and rules that are entirely different from Europe and America. Inevitably

these different rules produced a different architecture, characteristic only of Japan.

148
 The 632nd issue of Casabella, published in March 1996, was the first issue with Francesco

Dal Co as chief editor. Dal Co, who published a book about Tadao Ando in 1994, was well-

familiar with Japanese architecture. Under his editorship for the next 10 years, the magazine

increased the number of articles covering Japanese architecture, and also diversified its choice of

architects. Arata Isozaki became featured frequently as Andrea Maffei, who worked for Isozaki,

also wrote for Casabella. Dal Co immediately showed an interest in the younger generation of

Japanese architects and, by 1997, had already published the work of architects Hiroyuki Arima

and Yasushi Horibe. By the early 2000s, Kazuyo Sejima, Toyo Ito and Shigeru Ban had been

published, and soon after Kengo Kuma and Satoshi Okada became presented frequently on the

pages of this magazine. From the older generations of Japanese architects, the work of Fumihiko

Maki and Yoshio Taniguchi was also noticeable. With no surprise, yet again Tadao Ando was the

most represented architect.

Figure (5.32):
Covers of Casabella: April 1996, March 1997, June 1998

The work featured in the magazine presented a rationalist modern esthetic, clear

volumetric compositions and a minimalist approach. These presentations, as most presentations

towards the end of 1990s, were less critical, less discursive and focused more on the formal and

149
esthetic aspects of the buildings. Tradition and the relationship with nature were again the two

main topics presented in the texts. Most noticeable are the accents on the connection between

the buildings’ interior and exterior achieved with transparent or translucent openings.

Figure (5.32):
Pages from Casabella July/August 1999

In the July/August issue of 1999, Marco Biraghi wrote the text “The City as Ritual

Practice.” The author looked into Tokyo’s urban landscape as an external observer, and tried to

codify the city’s internal relationships. With an Orientalist approach, Biraghi mystified Tokyo and

explained it through the idea of the repetition, which he saw as the ancient practice of the

continuous replacement of elements, a part of the Japanese philosophy of life. He went so far as

to mystify the codified 50cm detachment among neighboring buildings and presented it as a

form of individualism where each building as a separate island tries to become a reference point

in the city without address. The text was based on a heavy dualism between Japan and the West,

and presented Tokyo as the outcome of Japanese tradition and culture. The article is completely

eliminated historical, social and economic narrative. A few references were given, only to

demonstrate “how tradition works.”

150
 In March of 2000, Casabella published an issue entirely dedicated to Japan. This issue

was focused on individual architects and their work. The introduction of the issue was made with

two historical texts: “New Architecture in Japan” by Bruno Taut published in L'Architecture

d’Aujourd’hui in 1935 and “Architecture in Japan” by Robert Mallet-Stevens published in 1911.

Additionally two other texts: “Bruno Taut: My Point of View on Japanese Architecture” by Manfred

Speidel and “Robert Mallet-Stevens and Japanese Architecture” by Cristiana Volpi explained the work

and connections with Japan of the previous authors. The architects chosen for the issue were:

Tadao Ando, Kazuyo Sejima and Ryue Nishizawa, Kengo Kuma, Terunobu Fujimori, Toyo Ito,

Kei’ichi Irie, Kojima+Koizumi and Arata Isozaki. The issue closed with Arata Isozaki’s interview

titled “Japan Today” and Ugo Rosa’s text “Hojoki. Existenzminimum,on housing at sunset.”

Figure (5.33):
Cover of Casabella March 2000

This issue was unique in that there wasn’t any text directly informing and contextualizing

the architects presented. The work was accompanied by texts written by the authors, but

otherwise left to speak for itself. The introduction, based on historical texts, treated historical

topics and unambiguously tied contemporary Japanese architecture to traditional. The choice of

architects was also a group of names that had been discussed in relation to traditional

architecture, particularly Ando, Kuma and Fujimori. The last text on hojoki also went deep into

151
history and discussed traditional Japanese concepts. The only direct contemporary input was the

interview with Arata Isozaki. Together with Andrea Maffei (2000, p.74), Isozaki discussed the

post-bubble period in Japan. They found the contemporary scene more unified and based on a

fashion of simple forms and translucency. Isozaki was critical towards the idea of “traditional”

and says that in a contemporary context one can only speak for “simulation” of tradition but not

about actual tradition. In his opinion, architecture can no longer be divided by nations.

In the July/August issue of 2002, Casabella once again returned to Japanese architecture,

this time with a shorter presentation of 7 articles. Instead of an introduction, there was a text by

Yashuhiro Ishimoto – “The Imperial Palace of Katsura. Interpretation of a Monument.” In it, the famous

photographer talked about his personal experience of photographing Katsura, and the meaning

of this building not only as a Japanese national treasure, but also as the “aesthetic resonance of

the source of modernist architecture” (Ishimoto 2002). The selected six architects, Satoshi

Okada, Shuhei Endo, Katsufumi Kubota, Riken Yamamoto, Tadao Ando and Kengo Kuma,

once again presented ideas about Japanese architecture based on tradition, rationalism, and a

minimalistic esthetic achieved with simple forms and spatial compositions. In this issue, Satoshi

Okada’s house in Matsubara in particular was the subject of analysis in relation to tradition.

To summarize Francesco Dal Co’s editorship, he may have diversified the architectural

presentation, but he continued to stratify and essentialize Japanese architecture. With his

presentation, the idea of Japanese architecture was furthered and applied to more architects. If

Gregotti presented Japanese architecture through the face of one architect, Dal Co presented

one face of Japanese architecture through several architects.

152
5.3 Japanese architecture in L'Architecture d'Aujourd'hui from 1977 until 2005

This part examines 169 articles published in L'Architecture d'Aujourd'hui (AA) in the

period between 1977 and 2005. The study of the data includes quantitative and qualitative

discourse analysis. In a period of 28 years, L'Architecture d'Aujourd'hui published 3 special

issues covering Japanese architecture and one issue dedicated to the architect Tadao Ando. This

vast amount of data in AA covers many themes and different architects; the material is the most

diverse out of the three magazines covered with this research; besides following the mainstream

Japanese architecture, AA quite often published topics and architects that gave a different

outlook on Japan. The editorial politics of the period covered was created by four different

editors: Marc Emery, from 1974 to 1987; François Chaslin, from 1987 to 1994; Jean-Paul Robert,

until the year 2000; and finally, Axel Sowa, who held the position until 2007.

In 1977, the same year that Architectural Design published the issue for Arata Isozaki,

L'Architecture d'Aujourd'hui published 2 articles covering the work of Kisho Kurokawa and

Team Zoo. The 1970s break in AA was shorter than the other two magazines, as the previous

presentation published in AA was in 1972. The change of editors in 1974 resulted in reducing the

number of articles and establishing a comprehensive and focused critique. And although the

number shrank, it still remained much larger than in Casabella and Architectural Design. In 1978

AA published 6 articles covering the Japanese architects Tadao Ando, Kazumasa Yamashita,

Fumihiko Maki, Kiso Kurokawa, Team Zoo and Mozuna Monta. For the next 25 years, the

presentations in AA oscillated between high and low intensity, and there was not any particular

period that was marked by Japanese architecture; Japanese architecture was always present in

some form, with more or less attention. Even the special issues were scattered; one was

published in 1983, one in 1987 and one in 2002. The only decrease in attention is noticeable

around 1994, and was a result of the change in editorial politics at AA and the change of the

economic climate in Japan. Even with “reduced interest,” AA kept on following the situation in

153
Japan. In the October issue from 1995 there was an extensive article covering the Kobe

earthquake.

In the 1970s, L'Architecture d'Aujourd'hui transformed from a magazine that was

exclusively dedicated to modernist architecture into a magazine with a wide-open range of topics,

critically absorbing everything that was new but not necessarily mainstream. Regarding Japanese

architecture, AA showed an openness and interest in presenting the latest architectural

achievements. On a few occasions, “personal favorites” were noticeable, but the magazine came

across more balanced than the editions previously analyzed.

Quantitative analysis

This part covers quantitative analyses made on the data collected from 148 articles

published in L'Architecture d'Aujourd'hui between 1977 and 2005. As in the other magazines,

the analyses were made in KH Coder and the study: looked for the most represented architect,

typology and material; did a quantitative study of the compositional and special aspect code,

history and tradition code, and cultural and socio-economic factors code; and finally, did a text

mining of the material collected in the category of Japan-ness.

In the category of architects, Tadao Ando was the most represented architect (figure

5.34). With 32 articles, he had almost three times as many as Toyo Ito, who had second place,

with 12 articles. And although Ando’s work was overwhelmingly dominant in the statistics, the

qualitative impression in AA is much different compared to the case of Casabella. Ando’s articles

in AA were one fifth of the total number of articles, whereas in Casabella it was a quarter of the

total number. The special issue on Ando had 14 articles, meaning that half of his articles were

published in this issue, which is why the number of articles in other years didn’t dominate as

much. Furthermore, Ando was the only architect that was overrepresented; the other architects

154
appeared more balanced, with several articles per architect. AA’s presentations covered 62

different names, whereas AD had fewer than 50 and Casabella only 28 architects. The last fact is

important as it speaks to the diversity of representation in AA. Another interesting fact to

mention from this list is that Team Zoo got the attention they deserved in the early 1980s; unlike

in the other magazines that failed to recognize their work, AA published dozens of their projects

in 8 articles.

Figure (5.34):
Most represented architects in L'Architecture d'Aujourd'hui between 1977 and 2005

The typology part follows the trend of the other two magazines (5.20). Houses, with 66

projects presented, are by far the most represented typology. But, it is important to mention that

this unproportional domination of houses as a typology is partialy because of the special issue

published in 1983, dedicated to Japanese houses. More than one third of these houses, 25

projects, were published in that issue. But even without these projects, with 41 houses, this

typology is by far the most dominant. Museums follow as second most represented, with only 12

projects.

155
 Figure (5.35):
Most represented typology in L'Architecture d'Aujourd'hui between 1977 and 2005

Material was mentioned in 40 of 148 articles. The most directly referenced material was

concrete, and this is understandable, as Tadao Ando was the most represented architect (figure

5.21). Wood was dominant as well. Metals were the dominant group of materials, apearing in 22

articles, comprising mentioned usages of steel, aluminium and metal.

Figure (5.36):
Frequency of mentioning materials in L'Architecture d'Aujourd'hui between 1977 and 2005

156
 The quantitative search in the code of spatial and compositional aspects did not notice

any visible pattern. The diverse architectural production presented in AA did not produce any

visible quantitative pattern. The appearance of the West as the opposite of Japan is also least

visible in this magazine. Most of the articles addressing this topic are articles that speak about the

wider Japanese discourse. The socio-economic and cultural factors, similar to the other

magazines, are not much present. What is noticeable and different from Casabella and

Architectural Design is that religion is not as present as in the other magazines. The special issue

from 2002 addresses a wide range of socio-economic and cultural factors.

Tradition and history are well addressed in the special issues covering Japanese architecture. In

the individual presentations, this code appears in more recent years. Besides the well-referenced

parts of the Japanese architectural history, the co-occurrence diagram generated with KH Coder

(figure 5.37) revealed the following repetitive topics: simplicity in architectural tradition that

connects to the work of Ando; contemporary culture and space relating to the Japanese

traditional house and aesthetic; place-making and the tea ceremony; gardens, architectural

elements and approach; time and Japan. In this code, similarities with Casabella are more visible,

and this is probably influenced by Tadao Ando’s work, which is strongly related to Japanese

tradition. The centrality of this diagram (appendix II) is on traditional Japanese space and the

simplicity of the architecture tradition.

157
 Figure (5.37):
Co-occurrence network diagram generated from History/Tradition code in L'Architecture d'Aujourd'hui

The text mining of the Japan-ness code (figure 5.38) revealed several topics recurring in

all of the magazines, and some that are specific only to L'Architecture d'Aujourd'hui. Nature and

natural are topics that have been dominantly present in all three magazines. Here, the word

nature is connected to element, site, architect (red) and the word natural to place, light and

building (orange). Ando’s work is dominantly discussed in the context of interior, wall, light and

shadow (purple). In this diagram, these new concepts appear: order-chaos (pink), city and new

158
memory (green), simple architectural relationship (dark blue), simplicity in relation to Japan and

Japanese space (yellow). The most dominant group (light blue) is a mixture of new and old,

abstract and general categories like presence, limit, time, reality, image, transparency, form,

material and time. From the three journals, this diagram is probably the most complex; the real

understanding of some of the categories come into understanding with the qualitative analysis.

Figure (5.38):
Co-occurrence network diagram generated from Japan-ness code of the L'Architecture d'Aujourd'hui articles

159
 Applying stronger filters on the code of Japan-ness resulted in three groups with more

universal meanings (figure 5.39): one that is focused on creating Japanese space in relation to

surface and form; a second on relationships with architecture, buildings, elements, places,

material, light and nature; and a third on house and light. The categories on this diagram are

mostly universal and appear in the other magazines as well.

Figure (5.39):
Co-occurrence network diagram generated from Japan-ness code of the L'Architecture d'Aujourd'hui articles

160
 The co-occurrence diagram based on the adjectives apearing in the Japan-ness code

reveals a strong centrality around the words light and urban (appendix II). The problem with KH

Coder as quantitative word mining tool is the possibility for a mixture between the word light as

noun and adjective, so that is why the centrality of the diagram will not be taken into account.

The focus here is on the pool of adjectives that is in line with the other magazines (figure 5.40).

It is no surprise to see words like abstract, ephemeral, simple, urban, spatial, and natural.

Figure (5.40):
Co-occurrence network diagram generated from the Japan-ness code of the L'Architecture d'Aujourd'hui articles

161
 The multi-dimensional scaling diagram (figure 5.41) generated from the Japan-ness code

has the highest range out of the three magazines. In Casabella, the range is between -1 and 1, in

Architectural Design, between -1.5 and 1.5, and here it runs between -7 and 7. Representing the

level of proximity or similarity in a data set, this diagram shows more distant relations between

the terms appearing in this magazine. The reason for this is the diversity of the data presented in

the magazine. As already mentioned, AA did not show a strong focus on any particular issue,

architect or discourse.

Figure (5.41):
Multi-Dimensional Scaling diagram generated from Japan-ness code of the L'Architecture d'Aujourd'hui articles

162
Qualitative analyisis

L'Architecture d'Aujourd'hui (AA), as already mentioned, has the most balanced and

diverse representation of Japanese architecture. The interrupted period of the 1970s is least

visible in this magazine as the news sections sometimes featured buildings from Japan. In the late

1970s and early 1980s AA immediately showed an interest in Japanese architecture, publishing

several articles a year and, unlike the other magazines, here the Japanese discourse can be traced

very early. Also, while the other magazines followed more established names, AA always

managed to present lesser-known architects.

The 28-year period analyzed in this magazine was divided into 3 parts based on the mode

of representation and contextualization. This division corresponds to both the changes in

magazine editors and the socio-economic conditions in Japan, and is similar to the divisions

made for Architectural Design. The first interval covers the period with Marc Emery as editor,

starting from around 1977 and finishing in the beginning of 1987. The second period had

François Chaslin as editor, between 1987 and 1994. The third period, between 1994 and 2005,

covers two editors, Jean-Paul Robert and Axel Sowa, but the contextualizing narrative is very

similar and therefore they are reviewed together. Unlike Architectural Design, where the modes

of contextualizing are very clear and sharp, L'Architecture d'Aujourd'hui presents a more

balanced approach towards Japanese architecture. The architecture presented is analyzed in the

context of Japan, but that context was never shown as extremely as it was in the other two

magazines. The dichotomy between Japan and the West, and the concept of Japan-ness exist, but,

though they are always respectfully recognized, they are not as amplified.

From the earliest period, edited by Marc Emery, L'Architecture d'Aujourd'hui showed an

awareness of the differences and specificities of the Japanese architectural discourse. The initial

interest, apart from Kisho Kurokawa as an already-established name from the Metabolist period,

163
included new, at-the-time-young architects Tadao Ando, Itsuko Hasegawa, Shin Takamatsu and

Team Zoo. Team Zoo, with their unique practice and eclectic style, became favorites of AA in

this early period of the 1980s. Under Marc Emery’s editorship, they were the favorite Japanese

practice. Team Zoo was praised for their “anti-hierarchical and anti-ideological” position,

without theoretical and aesthetical agenda. Their work, based on empirical knowledge, was site

specific, and the involvement of the users in the design process was seen as a revolutionary, fresh

take on architecture. Itsuko Hasegawa got attention for her innovative use of materials and for

establishing a relationship with the city on the surface level with her buildings. Shin Takamatsu’s

work and expressionism, although completely different from the Japanese traditional formal

language, was seen as corresponding to a vision of Japan as a place where things are made for

“mere aesthetic satisfaction” (Goulet 1982). These first publications of young Japanese architects

were made in 1981 and 1982.

Figure (5.42):
Cover and pages from L'Architecture d'Aujourd'hui September 1982

In April 1983, L'Architecture d'Aujourd'hui published an entire issue dedicated to Japan

titled “Japanese houses.” In it were included 3 essays presenting Japanese architecture and 14

Japanese architects with 25 designs of houses. The long list of architects included famous names

164
like Takefumi Aida, Tadao Ando, Itsuko Hasegawa, and Toyo Ito, but also architects less known

to the European audience like Kazuhiko Namba, Kazunari Sakamoto, and Toyokazu Watanabe.

In this presentation, the already established names like Arata Isozaki, Kisho Kurokawa and

Fumihiko Maki were missing. One of the possible reasons is that at this time, these architects

were not designing houses anymore; their work consisted mostly of big public projects.

Figure (5.43):
Cover and pages from L'Architecture d'Aujourd'hui April 1983

To best understand this issue, one may read the editor’s introductory essay “Japan: 30

controversive [sic] houses.” In the opening, Marc Emery discussed the Japanese relationship with

temporality and Japanese houses as a product of that philosophy, understood as a temporary

resting place. Emery addressed this issue of the historical fascination by the West with Japanese

traditional architecture, and the Modernist fetishizing of the sukiya-style based on pre-conceptions.

In his understanding, the new generation of Japanese architects no longer exploited a “formal

duplication” of Japanese tradition, but were interested in the “spirit or the content of the model”

(Emery 1983, p.2). He expressed a broad optimism for this new generation of architects; their

designs for houses were seen as “formal and spatial laboratories” that created “new oriental

languages” (Emery 1983, p.2). Finally, these houses for Emery were “work[s] of art,” and he

165
compared the new generation of Japanese architects with the architects of the early Modern

Movement.

The other two articles, “A Question of Context” by Patrice Goulet and “Aesthetic

Without Ideology” by Kzutoshi Morita, discussed the Japanese context and design methods.

Morita talked about the empirical approach of Japanese architects that was not based on

abstraction and theory, but rather practice and materiality. He also stated that Japanese houses

have less defined limits between interior and exterior and that nature is an integral part of the

living space. Japanese architecture hybridized with the influence of modernity and Corbusier’s

free plan in Japan resulted in a stylistic freedom, particularly when it came to the plan. Goulet’s

text, on the other hand, talked about the unrealistic representation of Japanese architecture

eliminated from its context. He also stated that Japanese architects succeeded in materializing the

paper architecture of the West, and that “no new trend has gone so far in its strive to achieve an

absolute, autonomous and free architecture” (Goulet 1983, p.4).

Figure (5.44):
Pages from L'Architecture d'Aujourd'hui April 1983

In the same issue, an essay written by the architect Kazuo Shinohara was published,

along with his projects, stating his theoretical positions. Shinohara presented his understanding

166
of Tokyo’s urban anarchy and the concept of progressive anarchy as a constant changing of

structure that allowed urban and formal freedom in order to sustain the vitality of the system. In

this anarchy, Shinohara implanted his zero-degree machines – machines stripped of any symbolic

meaning.

Although focused only on houses, this issue of AA presented a new context for the

whole Japanese discourse. The rich formal architectural language of the houses portrayed the

heterogeneity and stylistic freedom of the Japanese scene. Choosing lesser-known architects, AA

wanted to illustrate a discourse that had eliminated the Western theoretical influences. Emery

and Goulet14 were well aware of the changes in the scene, and that the heterogeneity of Japanese

architecture was not product of Modern and Post-modern influences, but rather the uniqueness

of the Japanese context. They wanted to present a discourse that offered a new understanding of

formal language freed from the burden of the European theoretical framework.

The issues following, up until 1987, featured several more buildings from Shinohara,

Takamatsu, Hasegawa and Ando. This early period, edited by Emery, expressed and presented a

new creative energy that departed from the European positions. This architecture was presented

as fresh and modern, but its language was specific only to Japan. There was little

conceptualization of the Japanese discourse as a totality, but as would be seen later, AA never

fully categorized the Japanese discourse, only highlighting its specific characteristics.

In 1987 François Chaslin became the chief editor of L'Architecture d'Aujourd'hui. At the

begging of his editorship, he published two big issues dedicated to Japan. The April issue of 1987,

titled “Japan Deconstruction or New Synthesis,” was published in Chaslin’s first months as

editor, and the issue dedicated to Tadao Ando was published a year later in February 1988. These

14 Patrice Goulet as writer of L'Architecture d'Aujourd'hui was in charge of following Japanese architecture.

167
two issues established a firm position for Japanese architecture; they rounded up the previous

period of representation and clarified the idea that the work produced in Japan was an

architectural thought independent from the one conceived of in the West.

Figure (5.45):
Cover and pages from L'Architecture d'Aujourd'hui April 1987

The 1987 issue is mostly edited by Serge Salat and Françoise Labbe who, one year earlier

in 1986, had published the book “Createurs du Japon: Le pont flottant des songes” (Designers of Japan:

The floating bridge of dreams). Salat, who was theoretically influenced by Jacques Derrida, saw

Japanese architecture as a deconstruction of Western thought, recombined and fused with

Japanese references. Apart from the introductory text that explained the fragmented synthesis of

Western and Japanese references, Salat wrote 3 more texts comparing the work of Isozaki and

Maki; Kurokawa, Fujii and Takamatsu; and Ando and Hara. The first text, “The Fragments of the

Classical World,” analyzed European influences in the work of Maki and Isozaki and the way these

architects reinterpreted and hybridized the adopted Western language in a Japanese context.

Maki’s work was seen as more lyrical, and his architecture was compared to Proust’s novels, de

Chirico’s paintings and Antonioni’s cinema, while Isozaki’s work was seen as a destructive and

subversive irony of the classical world from Palladio to Ledoux. For Salat (1987), Japanese space

168
existed between reality and simulacrum; it was ambiguous and open to constructing different

meanings. In his second essay, “The Game of Fiction and Simulacra,” he talked about how the work

of Kurokawa and Takamatsu was articulated through signs, which are characteristic for

traditional Japanese space. The work of Fujii was also read as the space of simulacrum, and,

although visually close to Peter Eisenman’s work, Salat considered Fujii’s work aligned more

with Kurokawa’s. The third article dealt with the idea of limits, and discusses the concept of

limits of physical space, but also limits as a philosophical category. “The Experiencing of Limits”

talked about Ando and Hara’s work, the relationship between interior and exterior space, limits

between reality and fiction, and ambiguous spaces with blurred borders.

This issue is best summarized by the closing article, “Japanese Architecture as a Theme,”

written by Serge Salat and Françoise Labbe. In it, the authors concluded that the work of the

seven architects presented, together with the recent work of Toyo Ito, Itsuko Hasegawa and

Kazuo Shinohara, all bore in common: fragmentation, ephemerality, the coexistence of

oppositions, labyrinth and simulacrum (Salat and Labbe 1987). For Salat and Labbe, these

concepts were contemporary then in Japan as much as they were embedded in the thousand-

years-old Japanese tradition. The whole presentation showed a vibrant and creative architecture

scene that was built on the modern understanding of space, but deconstructed, fragmented and

recombined by Japanese traditional principles. And, although in some cases the West was

referenced, the modernity and contemporariness of Japanese architecture no longer relied on the

West. These issue developed a narrative and presented Japanese architects as a unity, a group of

peers with similarities and differences that belonged to the same cultural and intellectual

discourse. Although it presented a large group of Japanese architects, the issue of 1983 did not

discuss broadly the theoretical positions of the designers. In this issue, on the other hand,

although it was focused on a smaller group of people, its main focus was on producing a

169
theoretical framework for understanding each individual position. In doing so, the architects got

a contextualizing narrative that differentiated them from their European peers.

The following issue, dedicated to Tadao Ando, was a presentation of a creative genius

that embodied the essence of Japanese architecture. With texts from François Chaslin, Kenneth

Frampton, Henri Ciriani, Yoichi Iijima, Alain Bretagnolle and Tadao Ando himself, this issue

celebrates his work as an eternal, universal modernity. The first article by Chaslin, as with many

other presentations of Japan, outlined the modern history of Japanese architecture; it also

positioned Ando’s work in the context of the larger Japanese architectural history. He was

portrayed as someone who sublimated the work of modern Japanese architects and the esthetic

and wisdom of traditional Japan. The presentations in this issue talked about Ando’s architecture

in relation to nature, light, abstraction and geometry, simplicity, harmony, time and space,

tradition and modernity. And although nowhere is it explicitly written, Ando’s work is above all

related to the spiritual – spiritual not in the religious sense, but in a philosophical time/being

context.

Figure (5.46):
Cover and pages from L'Architecture d'Aujourd'hui February 1988

170
 This presentation of Ando should be considered not only a presentation of the architect

and his work, but also a presentation of the wider architectural discourse where Ando came from.

With 16 articles, this issue was an extensive document for the conditions and the cultural

background in which Ando’s work was produced. As with Isozaki’s issue in Architectural Design,

this issue became the image of Japan and Ando the most important figure in that setting. In a

much wider debate about architects, it can definitely be questioned how much they represent

their cultural background and how much individualism is at play. In this particular case, the

presentation was built on the fact that Ando comes from Japan, and that his work is product of

that particular cultural setting. The articles did not discuss his buildings only in terms of the

modernist paradigm, or design strategies that were reaction to certain socio-economic strategies;

instead they debated them on a more personal level of sensibility that was the product of a

unique cultural setting. Reading the articles, Japan is always in the mind of the reader and Ando

becomes a synonym for Japan-ness.

After this extensive presentation of Ando, there were several other presentations until

the end of François Chaslin’s editorship, but none of them were particularly provocative. Articles

about Toyo Ito and Tadao Ando’s work, the Fukuoka Nexus, a showroom design by Toshiyuki

Kita, a housing project by Yasumitsu Matsunaga, a house by Shoei Yoh…

The third period in L'Architecture d'Aujourd'hui started in 1994 with the editorship of

Jean-Paul Robert, and also included the editorship of Axel Sowa after the year 2000. In this

period the editorial politics of L'Architecture d'Aujourd'hui had stronger thematic issues and did

not focus only on household names. As a result of the economic crash in Japan, as with the

other magazines, the absence of Japanese architects in AA was noticeable. But, unlike Casabella

and Architectural Design, L'Architecture d'Aujourd'hui still followed the major events in Japan.

In 1995 there was an extensive report on the Kobe earthquake, and this was followed by an

171
article dedicated to Shigeru Ban’s work published in 1996. Titled “l'elegance et l'urgence” [Elegance

and Urgency], the article was a wide presentation of Ban’s cardboard architecture that was used

for emergency shelters after the Kobe earthquake. In 1998, AA published an article about the

demolition of House U by Toyo Ito. This unique presentation titled “Mort d’une maison” [Death

of a house] was a translated fragment from the book Nakano Honmachi no ie [The House in

Nakano Honmachi], a book about the personal family history of the house which had been built

in 1976 for Ito’s sister. Following this article were several other presentations on the works of

Kazujo Sejima, Kengo Kuma, FOB, Makoto Sei Watanabe, Waro Kishi, Shigeru Ban, Toyo Ito,

Jun Tamaki, and Shuhei Endo. These articles featured some of the most iconic Japanese

buildings in these period, like the apartment building in Gifu by Sejima, the Sendia Mediateque

by Ito, the Wall-less House by Ban, the Hiroshige Ando Museum by Kuma…

Figure (5.47):
Pages from L'Architecture d'Aujourd'hui April 1998, article “Mort d’une maison” [Death of a house]

Alex Sowa’s editorship started with a group of four notable articles published the year he

became editor. In the June 2000 issue, titled “Micro-Architecture,” there was an article about

Japanese tea pavilions, Japanese small urban sites, capsule-hotels and an interview with Kisho

Kurokawa. What is noticeable is that all of these articles focus on historical topics like the

tradition of the tea ceremony, the Metabolist movement, tatami as a unit of measurement in

172
Japanese architecture, traditional urban fabric. Before Sowa, historical topics were not as

common for AA as for the other two magazines. In 2001 a very lyrical article, “Osoresan, the

Terrible Mountain,” written by Francois Emmanuel, accompanied by Guy Jaumotte’s

photographs, presented the feast of Jizo, an ancient Buddhist custom related to children’s death

and afterlife. That same year Shigeru Ban’s Naked House was also published. In 2002, after more

than a decade, AA published an entire issue dedicated to Japan.

Figure (5.46):
Cover and pages from L'Architecture d'Aujourd'hui January/February 2002

The 2002 issue was probably the most varied issue found in this research; it was a

compilation that presented diverse architectural, urban and architectural history topics. The

seemingly incoherent issue managed to portray the multilayered and complex scene of Japan that

has been stagnant for a decade after the crash. The various articles included in the issue

presented: Japanese convenience stores as a new urban network; Toyo Ito’s work; Japanese light

structures and projects by Masaki Endo; projects by Kengo Kuma, Kazuhiko Namba, Atekier

Cinquieme, Junya Toda, Atsushi Kitagawa, Studio Mikan; impermanence as a leitmotif in

Japanese architecture; architectural “surgery” of a house destroyed in the Kobe earthquake; the

“Absolute scene” project by Ryoji Suzuki, portraying demolishing and dismantling buildings in

173
Japan; Mount Fuji and its cultural significance; Tokyo’s train transport and its three biggest

stations, Shinjuku, Shibuya and Ikebukuro; FOB houses and the housing market in Japan; an

interview with Kazuo Shinohara; and finally, an article about Frank Lloyd Wright’s work in Japan.

This issue offered a new and fresh insight into Japanese architecture, uncovering projects less-

known outside of Japan, but it failed to create a contextualizing narrative that would give a better

understanding of the scene. In the tradition of AA, the articles did not only explore the

internationally established names, but also lesser known architects like Masaki Endo, Kazuhiko

Namba and Atsushi Kitagawa that were well-established in Japan. The works were presented not

only with their esthetic and theoretical backgrounds, but also the wider socio-economic and

cultural backgrounds of Japanese society. This issue did not speak the about enormous creative

energy as other issues do, but it still pinpointed the uniqueness of the Japanese scene. The topics

chosen in the editorial were issues that were profoundly embedded in the Japanese society, like

technology and the life-cycle of buildings, and were different from their European counterparts.

The distinction was made in a very subtle way by presenting fascinating topics that were

unimaginable for the European audience. For example, the article “Eating at Home in E-Land” by

Wilhelm Klauser described the food distribution and service industry developed with

convenience stores in Japan. Calling it “Darwinian Evolution of urban functions,” Klauser (2002, p.37)

talked about transformed urban landscape and the redistribution of city functions as a result of

widespread convenience stores. Open 24/7 on almost every corner in major cities, convenience

stores were a feature that was still unimaginable in European cities.

Following this issue were several articles presenting the works of Shigeru Ban, Kengo

Kuma, Riken Yamamoto, SANAA and Jun Aoki, as well as an article by Wilhelm Klauser

discussing Japanese theme parks and an article by Ryosuke Ohashi about sacred buildings in

Japan. Ohashi’s article “Étrange sacré” [Strange sacred] was particularly interesting, debating tea

pavilions as sacral spaces versus the sacredness of Christian churches.

174
 This last period of representation in L'Architecture d'Aujourd'hui did not offer new

views on Japanese architecture. Instead, it produced a series of isolated presentations that only

reconfirmed ideas of what Japanese architecture was. And, although the articles presented unique

aspects of the Japanese scene and the choice of architects was not always from the mainstream,

the presentations failed to give a contextualizing narrative that understood the post-bubble

Japanese scene. The focus was difference, but what that difference substantially meant in the

wider picture of the Japanese society was a question that was really debated. As a result, these

presentations simplified and essentialized the idea of Japanese architecture, and retraced already

existing canons. Specifically, in AA this might also have been the result of an editorial politic that

did not aim to define and theorize the field of architecture, but rather to explore aspects of the

field that gave unique answers to different architectural problems.

175
5.4 Discussion of the representation and contextualization of Japanese

architecture from the late 1970s until the 2000s

This part discusses the quantitative and qualitative analysis done on the three magazines

and offers an interpretation for the representation and contextualization of Japanese architecture

in Western architecture media.

In these analyses, but probably in all Western media, Tadao Ando is the most

represented Japanese architect. During the 1980s and 1990s, Tadao Ando’s work was repeatedly

published in every architectural magazine. And, although concrete is not the material that

potentially represents Japanese architecture, the symbolic meanings of Ando’s buildings are some

of the faces of Japanese architecture. The ambiguous, abstract categories that these spatial

compositions produced are some of the terms that define Japan-ness in architecture. Minimalism,

harmony, nature, light, simplicity, and simple geometry – all these categories that were associated

with Ando are also associated with Japanese architecture.

Alongside Ando, Arata Isozaki is the second-most-prominent name associated with

Japan. Isozaki represents the intellectual line of the Japanese discourse. If Ando’s work is the

phenomenological line and connects more to feelings, perception, and individual experience,

Isozaki’s work represents an intelligible, highly-referenced work of art. And, though his

architecture seems to be bridging the gap between Japan and the West, deep down he is the most

Japanese of all. The multiple cultural references of Isozaki are often interpreted as Post-Modern,

and to certain extent they probably are. Isozaki has never hidden his interest in Western culture

and, always being in touch with Western artists, architects and thinkers, he probably had many

Post-modern influences. But what makes Isozaki’s work uniquely Japanese is the state of

hybridization of his buildings. Today we rarely encounter Japanese buildings with such a

hybridized language; but, during the 1980s and early 1990s, heterogeneity in stylistic language

176
was one of the characteristics of Japanese architecture. The essence of Japanese culture is based

on borrowing and then re-interpreting that which was borrowed. Seen like this, Isozaki’s work at

its core is deeply Japanese.

The role of Isozaki in Japanese architecture extends beyond his architectural production.

Similar to his work, his intellectual activities bridge the gap between Japan and the West. His

international activities and connections with the world architectural elite helped greatly in

establishing Japanese architecture as a relevant player in the field. During the 1970s, he was the

rare, if not the only, architect that kept his international connections active. He contributed a

great deal to the organization of the 1978 exhibition “New Wave Japanese Architecture” in New

York, an exhibition that launched the idea of a new, different, and unique Japanese architecture.

His role as a producer in Artpolis and Nexus World are other major contributions towards

putting Japan on the world map. These make him one of the biggest, and probably the most

important, name in popularizing modern Japanese architecture.

As for typology in Japanese architecture, the most represented form is the house. The

domination of the Japanese house is quite remarkable, and evident even today as internet blogs

are flooded with designs of “weird” Japanese houses. In favor of this are writings like “How to

Make a Japanese House” by Cathelijne Nuijsink, and “Why Japan Is Crazy about Houses” by

Alastair Townsend. But besides the socio-cultural reasons that explain the uniqueness and

awkwardness of Japanese houses, there are a few other reasons that explain how houses became

a predominant representative of Japanese architecture. During the 1960s, houses were rarely

featured in Western media. With big government investments, architects, even young ones, had

chances to build many public buildings. The crises in the 1970s changed the balance, and

afterwards, public buildings were mostly designed by big offices and already-established, famous

architects. The most innovative and only place where architects could experiment was in the

domain of housing. The new generation of architects made their breakthrough exactly here. The

177
early 1980s were filled with the innovative designs of Takefumi Aida, Itsuko Hasegawa, Tadao

Ando, Toyo Ito and Hiromi Fujii. From this period, it became a practice for architects to start

their careers with smaller projects, predominantly houses, and experiment with their theoretical

positions. That is how the following generation also debuted on the international scene; Shigeru

Ban, Kazuyo Sejima and Kengo Kuma were first introduced with their bold housing designs.

When it comes to form, composition and material in Japanese architecture there are no

rules. Anything can be Japanese as long as it is used in the “right way.” This is very important, as

Japanese architecture is often and intensely discussed in relation to Japanese tradition, traditional

architecture and the re-interpretation of tradition in a contemporary context. In architecture,

relation to tradition is often analyzed in the context of formal, spatial or material reinterpretation.

In the case of Japan, tradition is seen more outside of the formal and material realm. As

Kurokawa (1994, p.9) says, Japanese architects are willing to incorporate new cultural elements,

new technologies, new forms and symbols from other cultures as long as they can preserve their

invisible tradition. Exactly this – the invisible connection with tradition – allows Japanese

architects to be free and experiment with forms, compositions and materials. For example, the

invisible tradition when it comes to materials is usually understood through impeccable detailing.

The constant import and addition of new elements has hybridized Japanese architecture to the

extent that form, material and composition do not play a role in what is considered to be

Japanese – only in style, when it comes to the minimalist esthetic that has been often associated

with Japanese architecture. This is predominantly the result of associations with sukiya-style

traditional architecture and this is a more contemporary than historical characteristic.

Japanese architecture is often discussed in relation to Japanese tradition and Western

culture, but not often placed in the specificities of its socio-economic surrounding. Tradition is

understood and found across a wide spectrum, from direct formal references to abstract

“invisible” categories. Western architecture and culture is used for cultural analogies and to

178
present differences in theory and rationalization. Religion is one of the most-commonly-used

cultural factors in discussing Japanese architecture. Many design choices are often interpreted as

influenced by Shinto and Buddhist religion. The other socio-economic factors are usually

presented in special issues dedicated to Japanese architecture.

For the qualitative analysis, the main focuses were the special issues and texts with

deeper contextualizing content. Reviewing these articles and following all the content it is

important to note that this material does not entirely and accurately represent the actual Japanese

architectural history. This is a curated version of the history that sometimes does not include

important events and figures. For example, architects like Togo Murano and Shirai Seiichi were

not found in any of the three magazines, and the design surveys made by Yuichiro Kojiro and

Mayumi Miyawaki did not get any attention and representation as important Japanese urban

studies. To a certain extent, it is understandable that the work represented in European media

would be the one that influenced and created a dialogue with the audience there. The history

written in magazines was the dominant discourse of Japanese architecture. The analysis of the

research did not go deeper into the differences and the missing link, as they are not important in

answering these specific research questions.

Here I will only address the most noticeable difference. Unlike the Japanese media,

European media paid very little attention to the connections and differences among Japanese

architects. In Japan, this is the crucial feature of the architectural field. Architects and discourses

are recognized as lineages of knowledge. The established professionals are debated in terms of

education and apprenticeships with their predecessors and successors. For example, Junya

Ishigami worked for Kazuyo Sejima, who worked for Toyo Ito, who worked for Kiyonori

Kikutake. To understand Ishigami, it is crucial to know the work of Ito. The West, highly

focused on defining movements, sometimes missed or omitted entirely these connections that

are crucial to understanding Japanese architectural history. Western media employed the Western

179
understanding of architecture as a field, and the theoretical playground of Japan was also debated

as a discourse with defined boundaries. Architects of different generations and architects of

different schools have often been discussed in the same context, or their work has been reduced

to the same theoretical framework. This comes partially from a lack of knowledge and

information, but is also product of European essentialism. For example, the work of Itsuko

Hasegawa in relation to Shin Takamatsu’s is entirely different, but these two architects have been

represented in the same context. Lacking the distinction that Takamatsu studied at and was a

professor at Kyoto University, while Hasegawa, who worked for Kikutake, comes from Tokyo

Institute of Technology, where she studied with Shinohara, the work of these two architects was

presented as an expressive product of the Japanese urban context. This reductionism has greatly

helped to create the idea of a Japanese discourse. Japanese architectural history is highly complex

and based on individual styles – its simplification enabled the media to create the idea of Japan-

ness.

Before proceeding to discuss what the magazines and Western media understand as

Japan-ness, I will first discuss how Japan-ness was developed in the period after 1977.

The previous chapter revealed that, during the 1960s, Japanese traditional architecture

and specificities of the Japanese context were often presented in Western media. Also, Japanese

cultural influences were recognized in the designs of Modernist Japanese architects. But what is

essential is that the architectural production in this period was undeniably recognized as

Modernist. It is only in the late 1970s that the Western media began to recognize the substantial

difference between the architecture in Japan and that in the West, and created the discourse of

Japan-ness. The process of creating a Japanese discourse through media representation in this

research was recognized in three stages. The first stage identified the discourse and recognized its

specificities, the second defined the specificities and the discourse itself, and the third

essentialized the ideas behind the discourse.

180
 The first stage started in the late 1970s, symbolically, with the 1978 exhibition “New

Wave of Japanese Architecture,” where it can be considered that the recognition of the idea of a

Japanese architectural discourse began. This period lasted until the late 1980s, and occupied the

early bubble period of Japan; it is characterized by many isolated presentations that emphasized

the distinctiveness of Japanese designs, but did not contextualize them as a discourse. As is

visible in the magazine Architectural Design, highly influenced by Post-Modernism, Japanese

architects were often contextualized as Post-modernist. Several other presentations focused on

the specific styles of Japanese architects instead. Casabella, through the work of Ando, Maki and

Yamamoto, also highlighted the specific language of Japanese architecture. L'Architecture

d'Aujourd'hui was the most successful in this respect. Through a series of presentations of new

names like Itsuko Hasegawa, Team Zoo, Tadao Ando and Shin Takamatsu, they successfully

developed an initial understanding that the work produced in Japan was radically different from

that in Europe. What is characteristic for all of these presentations is that all the architects were

presented non-discursively. They are all Japanese, but they are all presented with their individual

specificities. Only the 1983 issue of L'Architecture d'Aujourd'hui, on Japanese houses, presented

an idea of a Japanese discourse, and, though it boldly compared Japanese architects with the

pioneers of the Modern Movement, this issue focused on houses and lesser-known architects,

failing to completely define the Japanese scene.

The period between 1987 and 1994, the height of the bubble era and right after its crash,

defined and fully developed the idea of a Japanese discourse. In this period of eight years, 7

special issues and around 175 articles discussing Japanese architecture were published in the

three magazines. Not only did they explain the specificities of the designs in Japan, these pieces

also conceptualized and defined the specificities of the Japanese discourse in general. The

architecture produced in Japan was presented with all of the surrounding factors, such as the

specificities of the socio-economic situation in the country, the cultural differences between

181
Japan and the West, and the urban context in which the architecture was created. And, although

Japanese architects work non-discursively, these presentations succeeded in categorizing,

contextualizing and defining general characteristics for the production in Japan. In this period,

Western media presented Japanese architecture as a product of the unique Japanese environment,

belonging only to Japan.

In the period after 1994, the magazines returned to individual presentations of Japanese

architects. Here the already established concepts that defined Japanese architecture were further

essentialized through individual presentations. The late 1990s and early 2000s did not show an

interest in a new, paradigmatic definition of Japanese architecture, but rather contextualized

Japanese architecture through already established canons. The issues of the early 2000s dedicated

to Japan published by Casabella and L'Architecture d'Aujourd'hui also did not show a tendency

towards presenting new contextualizing positions. They confirmed the specificity of the

architecture produced in Japan, but relied on the already established ideas about what Japanese

architecture was. In the special issues, for example, Casabella revived the presentations from the

early-modern period, and AA reexamined Tokyo’s urban structure and the concept of

impermanence. These topics had already been widely discussed in the previous decades. Another

reason for this might be the strong, non-discursive, theoretical positioning of the Japanese

architects, leading the magazines to explore the already established canons that helped in the

understanding of the newer generations of architects. After all, in Japan, architects are discussed

in the framework of master-student, and their work is often analyzed in relation to their teacher.

The individualistic, artist-like approach to theory of Japanese architects has been

replicated as a heterogeneity of voices in Western media. The Metabolist group was the only

modern movement that united a group of Japanese architects under the same theoretical stand.

Architects in Japan have a non-discursive approach to theory: each architect positions his work

according to his theoretical views, often loosely related to or in opposition to the work of their

182
teacher and peers. The West initially contextualized this diversity of theoretical and stylistic

voices in relation to the Western theoretical discourses, particularly in the late Modern and early

Post-Modern periods. During the 1980s, the awareness of the differences in Japanese and

Western architecture lead to new contextualization. The individual practices, with sometimes

radically different positions, started forming the idea of a Japanese discourse in the 1980s. While

Western architecture was discussed as Post-Modern, Deconstructivist, Neo-Modernist,

Conceptual, High-tech and Digital, etc., architecture from Japan was discussed in the context of

Japan. The idea of a Japanese discourse that peaked at the height of the Japanese economic

bubble also embodies the concept of Japan-ness in contemporary architecture. This was the

moment when the contemporary concept of Japan-ness was produced through the Western

media, and continues to be exploited as an essentializing practice in theorizing Japanese

architecture to this day. Although today we can hardly speak about national practices in

architecture, the ideas of Japan-ness and Japanese-ness in architecture are still present in

architectural debates.

One of the main characteristics of the Japanese architectural discourse developed by the

Western media is its non-paradigmatic position. The architects included in the representations

have different theoretical and stylistic characteristics, and for some of them, the only common

thread is the place where they work. Therefore, it is very difficult to define what Japan-ness in

architecture is. Most importantly, Japan-ness in architecture cannot be one specific thing.

Through the quantitative and qualitative analysis on the collected material in this chapter, this

research was able to identify several characteristics that appear repeatedly in all of the magazines

across the time span examined.

Japan-ness in architecture is not a paradigm, but more of an understanding that certain

aspects in a design, or the whole design, are a product of the Japanese cultural milieu. There are

183
many elements that are understood or interpreted as uniquely Japanese. This study identified

several categories that are often used to produce ideas of Japan-ness:

- Nature

- Responsiveness to urban context and place

- Tradition

- Relational aspects

- Associative aspects

- The West

Nature is the most common topic in Japanese architecture. Nature is also an integral part

of traditional Japanese architecture. Contemporary and modern Japanese architects in search of

authentic architectural language often come back to the question of nature. In an environment as

highly urbanized as Japan, nature is always the missing element. Exactly this became the

challenge of many architects. From the direct efforts of introducing nature with gardens and

courtyards, to associative attempts with light and the sound of wind and rain, Japanese

architecture has become synonymous with being one with nature. Nature as opposition to the

man-made in the West has really been a major issue in Western architecture. Thus, Western

media was and still is often fascinated by this aspect in Japanese architecture.

Responsiveness to the urban context or the place of building is the second topic that

dominates in many of the presentations of Japanese design. Through presentations of the

uniqueness of the Japanese urban environment, and the differences from the West, Western

media often “justifies” the “weirdness” of Japanese designs. Japanese architecture is presented

as: sensitive to the urban environment; inspired by the natural landscape; reacting to the urban

chaos, heterogeneity and fragmentation; denying the urban chaos and secluding from it. As

Botond Bognar (1988) would say: “Even the alienation is a product of urban context, no matter

184
how much the buildings look anti-urban they are not necessarily against the city.” Japanese

architects are site-specific and presented as having unique ways of place-making.

Tradition plays a major role in Japanese architecture. From the early-modern period until

today, the West has been fascinated by Japanese traditional architecture. More specifically, that

fascination is focused on the sukiya-style architecture and certain cultural aspects that come from

Buddhist and Shinto tradition. In a contemporary context, Japanese architects have often found

sources of inspiration or have interpreted aspects of their work as products of the Japanese

cultural milieu. The unknown, the barrier of language and physical distance, have an additional

influence in mystifying Japanese design. Many articles exploit the topic of Japanese tradition,

particularly the concept of an “invisible tradition” that helps in interpreting more abstract categories

such as harmony, space-time, multilayered spaces, ephemerality, etc. In addition, parts of design

that cannot be understood also are interpreted as traditional. For example, how can an interior

be so closed off, dark, or cold? The answer – it is part of tradition.

As already elaborated, the Japanese discourse is not paradigmatic. Instead, Japanese

architects are presented with personal theoretical positions that are not stylistic but relational.

Japanese architects are concerned with the relationships their buildings establish with the

environment, nature, cultural setting, the past and future of the city, interior-exterior, inhabitants,

etc. The concept behind many Japanese designs is not shown as a theoretical position that is the

product of rational programmatic, stylistic or formal categories, but more of empirical relational

aspects of space, program and materiality. Often identified as architecture of simulacra and signs,

the designs are signifiers of cultural or environmental relationships. Even in the case of Arata

Isozaki, whose architecture is a product of the rational approach, relation plays a key role in his

work. His work is the product of a deep, intercultural relationship between Japan and the West.

The associative aspect in Japanese designs is probably the most dominant category that is

used for the production of Japan-ness. The associative aspects of architectural composition are

185
elements that produce meaning, alluding to cultural references recognizable as Japanese. This

means that Japan-ness is not in the formal appearance, but in the reaction and the meanings

these designs produce. The concepts are very abstract, intangible and deeply associative. It is the

interplay of signs that trigger associative meanings, expressing categories that are not quantifiable

and allude to Japan. These qualitative formal or spatial characteristics – asymmetry, minimalism,

multiple layers, heterogeneity, fragmentation – additionally produce another layer of ambiguous

qualitative relationships, such as harmony, chaos, ephemerality, simplicity, space-time, memory,

or Zen. Space is not understood as compositional, but more of a phenomenological category.

And finally, all of these elements do not belong in the West – which leads to the final category.

Japan is what the West is not. This dualism is part of many representations of Japanese

architecture. The fascinating aspects of architecture in Japan are presented by comparisons of the

two cultures. Often, Japan is presented as more dynamic and a place of innovative work. Florian

Urban (2012) calls this Japanese Occidentalism, as many of the characteristics of Japanese

architecture challenge the West. They stand in opposition, an alternative to the established norms

in the West. For example, modern in Japan can also be traditional; nature is part of urbanity;

hybridity and cross-cultural references. This opposition of Japan criticizes the West, and at the

same time validates the two entities by being only possible in Japan as a distinctive culture.

These six categories produce many ideas that in architecture are recognized as Japan-ness.

Many of them change over time as the discourse evolves. Some of them are dominant and

become the signifying feature of Japanese architecture. Many of the elements are a product of

more than one category. This study will not preoccupy itself with defining these ideas; also, it is

impossible to identify which of these ideas is most frequent or dominant. Some of them have

completely lost relevance and some of them are still in the process of becoming models. These

“elements”, “concepts”, “topics”, or “ideas” of Japan-ness are archetypal symbols that are

associated with Japanese architecture. They are products of the way the West represents and

186
portrays Japan and its architecture. If one were to name a few: nature, ephemerality, tradition,

aesthetic abstraction, simplicity, purity, minimalism, impeccable detailing, technology,

fragmentation, heterogeneity, space-time, harmony, chaos, Tokyo, Isozaki, Ando, Zen, layers,

transparency, asymmetry, ambiguity…

187
6. Interviews

This chapter presents and discusses 6 interviews with: Arata Isozaki, Fumihiko Maki,

Itsuko Hasegawa, Hiromi Fujii, Botond Bognar and Tom Heneghan. The interviews were

conducted during February and March 2015; with Professor Tom Heneghan on February 22nd,

Professor Botond Bognar on February 23rd, Itsuko Hasegawa on March 5th, Fumihiko Maki on

March 11th, Hiromi Fujii on March 18th, and Arata Isozaki on March 25th. All of the interviews

were conducted after the analyses of the articles were finished.

The talks were an opportunity to hear the architects’ opinions about the representation

made by the magazines, to understand their work within the Japanese discourse, and to ask for

their opinions and thoughts on the topic of Japan-ness. The discussions with a foreign architect

and editor who have been actively involved in the Japanese scene was an opportunity to

investigate the cultural bridging between Japan and the West. The interview with Heneghan was

a good opportunity to debate the Western curiosity of Japan from architect’s point of view, and

Bognar positions as a writer. Excluding the interview with Tom Heneghan which was semi-

structured, all interviews were done with a predetermined set of questions. The interviews are

used as a tool for reexamining the findings in Western media, and testing the ideas of what

Japan-ness in architecture is. This part will present the findings from these interviews and, finally,

discuss the positions stated in the conversations.

188
Interview with Arata Isozaki

Arata Isozaki is one of the most prominent names of twentieth century Japanese

architecture. He is not only a designer, but as well a writer, curator and producer of architecture.

There are very few architects that have contributed as much as he has to the popularization of

Japanese architecture. What Isozaki shows, more than any other architect in Japan, is a

determined and conscious positioning as a bridge between Japan and the West. Isozaki’s interest

in Western culture is well known, but this research identifies him as the key figure that enables

the developing of Japanese discourse in the West.

The work of Kenzo Tange and the Metabolists during the 1960s is a well-documented

and researched part of the Japanese architectural history. Tange’s international activities result in

a well-established representation in the West. But in the 1970s Tange focused on his work, and

his international activities are of commercial interest. In this period Isozaki positioned himself as

one of the central Japanese figures on the international architecture scene. Kurokawa and Maki

were the other two Metabolists that had international presences, but their activities do not show

the determined and conscious positioning of Isozaki.

In the first part of the interview we discussed the 1970s. In this period, Isozaki

established his network of international contacts and friendships. Isozaki’s interests in this period,

and also throughout his life, have involved comprehensive study not only of Western

architecture but as well of Western art, culture and philosophy. His network consisted of

international artists, architects and intellectuals, and led him to several international exhibitions,

lectures and publications. At home he was active as writer, translating and presenting the work of

Western architects. Solidifying his position as the most prominent Japanese name on the

international scene in 1978, he was the key figure at the IAUS exhibition “New Wave of

Japanese Architecture”.

189
 With his activities, Isozaki has shown a great awareness for the specificity of the

relationship between Japan and the West. He understands the position of Japan as a distant

country for which the West has a limited view. Therefore, his work often confronted these

barriers. The exhibition “Ma: Space – Time” for Isozaki is not only a simple representation of

the Japanese traditional understanding of space, but also a dialogue with the West about the basic

architectural principles. In the interview Isozaki refers to Gideon’s book “Space, Time and

Architecture” as the point that initiated his examination of the Japanese principles of space-time.

For Isozaki, “Ma: Space –Time” was a platform to open a dialogue on the essence of Japanese

architecture, one that does not romanticize the heritage, but puts it into an intellectual and

theoretical framework. After this exhibition, Isozaki very clearly positions himself as the bridge

between Japan and the West.

Isozaki’s architectural language is eclectic and hybrid. He is not concerned with

originality; Japan historically has a long tradition of importing cultural influences that were

incorporated, transformed and adapted to the Japanese sensibility and habits. Isozaki sees

himself as a “transforming apparatus” that processes Western knowledge into the Japanese

cultural milieu. His life work brings Japanese and Western culture closer. Often contextualized

by Westerners in Post-Modernism, Isozaki says that his work is “postmodern” but he is not

“Post-Modernist.” His mission as architect, artist, writer, curator and producer has always been

aimed at bridging the two cultures by absorbing knowledge from the West and by creating a

framework for debating Japanese design.

Due to time limitations in the interview, I didn’t succeed in having a more elaborated

discussion about the Western representation of his work. But with the available material it is

clear that Isozaki is very conscious about the position of Japan in the “Western eye”. He is also

aware of how his work has been interpreted. As a general conclusion, Isozaki has mediated most

of the representation of his work. He has also promoted many Japanese architects and

190
introduced Western architect in Japan. He is the rare case of a Japanese architect that has had

control over what has been written about his work. In the interview he recalls the 1986

exhibition organized by the Centre Pompidou about the Japanese Avant-garde. In Isozaki’s

opinion, the exhibition was colonial and Orientalist, and as a result he demanded his work to be

exempted from the show. Discussing his relations with Kenneth Frampton, he was open about

their disagreements and a past incident where he canceled a GA publication written by Frampton.

Isozaki is not only conscious, but also in control of his representation. This is understandable, as

his theoretical work deals with the wider Japanese discourse and the specificity of Japanese

cultural relations with the rest of the world. As someone who positions himself as a transformer of

these relations, it is logical that he would try to be as aware and in control of these relations as

possible.

For Isozaki there is no doubt, Japan-ness exists only in the external view of Japan. Japan

is a framework seen from the outside. He also talks about waves of “discovering Japan”, that are

not only limited to the field of architecture but are part of broader cultural phenomenon, such as

the late 19th century European interest in ukiyo-e, the development of “Japonaiserie” [Japanesery]

or the 1970s discovery by Barthes, and the latest “Cool Japan” tourist campaigns These waves

for Isozaki are a sort of fashion, and the word Japan-ness covers all of them. According to

Isozaki, in architecture this wave of changes as a pattern happens every 20 years: in 1935 with

the Okada house by Sutemi Horiguchi, in 1955 with the Hiroshima Peace Memorial by Kenzo

Tange, in 1975 with the Gunma Museum of Art by Isozaki himself, and in 1995 with the Gifu

Kitagawa Apartments by Kazuyo Sejima. Isozaki sees these buildings as turning points in the

Japanese architectural discourse. Interestingly enough, these years also correspond roughly with

the findings of this research; the years of large changes and shifts in representation were

identified as 1955, 1977 and 1994.

191
Interview with Fumihiko Maki

The interview with Fumihiko Maki reveals a person centered on his own personal

production, and someone who is minimally focused on how that work has been represented.

The statement that he was never concerned about the critiques of his buildings maybe stems

from Maki’s personality, or the confidence of a veteran in the field. In Maki’s words, it is “good

enough” that the buildings are appreciated by their users; he is not interested in media attention.

These claims are very interesting, as they contrast with Maki’s public personality. As an

established name in the field, Maki has not been afraid to raise his opinion on important urban

and architectural issues, the latest questioning Zaha Hadid’s stadium for the 2020 Tokyo

Olympics. But maybe this is all part of the same personality. In this interview, Maki revealed

himself as an architect who had a clear vision for his work and architectural positions.

In the first part of the interview, Maki’s beginnings and work throughout the course of

the twentieth century were discussed. Widely-known, Maki spent the 1950s and early 1960s in

the USA educating himself, and later taught in the most prestigious American universities. After

returning to Japan in 1965, he established an office and started a productive career as an architect.

According to Maki, his initial positions as an architect haven’t changed through the years. His

architecture is built to serve human beings and he is led by the idea of architecture as a good

environment and good investment for human activities. The changes in his work are implied by

materials, environment and program, but he is convinced that the core of his work hasn’t

changed over the years.

Asked about the representation of his work and the critiques he has received, Maki

dismissed them. He claimed that they haven’t influenced him in any respect. He is not aware of

how his work has been represented internationally. But one striking thing in this conversation is

Maki’s insistence that representation through magazine and photography is erroneous. For him,

192
magazines give a distorted perspective; sometimes buildings that look great in photography are

disappointing in reality and vice-versa. According to him, in many cases people have claimed that

his buildings are much better in reality than they look in photography. This might also be the

reason why Maki never preoccupied himself with the attention he received in periodicals. Talking

with Maki, one gets impression that his work is non-discursive and, although he relates to other

architects, he would never say that his work is part of any style or movement. The question that

arises in this conversation was the artistic nature of his work. In respect to that, Maki is clear:

architecture is not art! Art for Maki does not have a responsibility to society, whereas

architecture, as a product of high financial investments, has to fulfill utilitarian standards.

The final part of the conversation focused on the concept of Japan-ness, and Japan-ness

in Maki’s work. In Maki’s opinion, the thinking in traditional Japanese architecture is similar to

the Modernism developed in Western architecture. So, for Maki, the presence of both influences

is not a matter of a conscious choice. It comes naturally and is not premeditated. On the final

question of whether Japan-ness exists or not, Maki says that it is a matter of interpretation. He

claims that he has never been conscious about Japan-ness in his work and leaves it open to the

interpretation of the writers.

The interview with Fumihiko Maki was diametrically opposed to the one with Arata

Isozaki. Whereas Isozaki showed a high awareness of his international presence, a conscious

interaction with media, and a self-positioning as a bridge between Japan and the West, Maki

presented an indifference towards periodicals, and a lack of desire to be representative of

Japanese design thinking. Although familiar with the representation of his work in foreign

magazines, he claims that he paid little attention to those writings. This interview was conducted

after Maki’s vehement public criticism of the Zaha Hadid stadium in both Japanese and

international media. For raising his voice against the project, Maki also took a lot of criticism,

resulting in Hadid calling the Japanese architects “hypocritical”. The pre-interview

193
communication and the interview itself were burdened by this issue. Maki demanded that the

conversation be focused only on his work, and refused to answer the final question about Japan-

ness in the general discourse of Japanese architecture. I assume that some of the questions

related to the architectural press were perhaps burdened by the same issue. After all, this research

found several texts written by Maki that debated, elaborated upon, and contextualized Japanese

architecture. From what was spoken, Maki didn’t show any enthusiasm about or interest in

debating the field of architecture in Japan.

194
Interview with Itsuko Hasegawa

Itsuko Hasegawa was one of the most prominent names in the Japanese architecture

scene during the 1980s and early 1990s. Her work was very positively received, particularly

abroad. The architectural media in the United Kingdom and France often figured her buildings

as a positive and innovative approach to design thinking. What is particularly fascinating about

Hasegawa is that she is one of the first female architects to reach stardom in this male-dominated

field; and that did not come with ease. She often had to swim against the current, with very little

support from her Japanese peers. Her hard work and unique outlook on architecture position

Hasegawa as one of the most prominent names of 1980s Japanese architecture.

The conversation with Itsuko Hasegawa revealed that her work sometimes got more

positive reviews abroad than at home. Her magnum opus, Shonandai Cultural Center, is

probably the best example of that. Winning a major public competition as a young architect with

a building that was 70% underground, she faced a tough period of criticism in Japan. In a period

when Ando and Ito still didn’t have any major public works, Hasegawa needed to convince not

only her peers but also the citizens of Fujisawa. Isozaki personally called her to criticize her

workshops with the citizens of Fujisawa. He said that populism does not have a place in public

architecture (Hasegawa 2015). At the same time, abroad this project was received with

fascination. Hasegawa recalls a lecture hosted in Mexico where she met Peter Eisenman, who

visited her building and complimented her work.

The beginnings of Itsuko Hasegawa are tied to two of the biggest names of Modern

Japanese architecture: Kiyonori Kikutake and Kazuo Shinohara. Working for the first, and later

studying with the other, Hasegawa was heavily influenced by their work, each standing on

opposite sides of the spectrum – Shinohara thinking about “new functionalism” and Kikutake

with his philosophy of “space discarded of function.” She took a trip across Japan to find her

195
unique architectural voice, visited different corners of the country, and studied the native minka

houses. Finally, concluding that minka are objects that capture multipurpose voids inside,

Hasegawa’s interest moved towards architecture that is centered on the user and not on the idea

of “artistic work” (the way she labeled her teachers’ work).

From the very early period Hasegawa’s work became controversial. The use of metal,

participatory design, and architecture understood as a second nature for humans were elements

of her work that got both Japanese and Western critical attention. She remembered that many of

her early appearances in Europe were in France and Scandinavian countries. This aligns with the

findings of this study; in the early 1980s she frequently appeared on the pages of L'Architecture

d'Aujourd'hui with positive critiques about her work. Her friendship with Peter Cook introduced

her work to the British public, and she had a very successful entry for the Cardiff Opera House

Competition. Working independently, not associating with dominant Japanese and foreign

architects, and being female, it seems that Itsuko Hasegawa did not have control over the

representation of her work. But what makes this case interesting is that the complexity of her

work and her unique architectural voice took the attention of the media and provided her with a

deserved representation. She did not mind the unjustified labeling of her work as feminine15, but

in many cases she needed to fight for her theoretical position in a world with clearly divided

theoretical stands and interest groups.

When it comes to the question of the concept of Japan-ness and unique Japanese

qualities, Itsuko Hasegawa has a very down-to-earth approach. She claims that her work is always

inspired by the locality where she builds. She wants her buildings to resonate the climate and

cultural settings where they are built. According to her, Japan-ness is built in Japanese architects

without consciously thinking about it. In the use of materials and design thinking, every Japanese

architect has freedom of expression. For her, Western, European, and US architects are

15The discussion of feminine and masculine architecture in contemporary architecture comes to play only in cases
of female architects. This additionally solidifies architecture as male dominated profession.

196
subjected to the hierarchy of the architectural elite, a pyramid that is controlled from the top. In

Japan, architects get the freedom of expression in small projects, architecture based on single-

family houses. And though Japan had mirrored Europe by creating its share of elite, this hasn’t

stopped others from doing local architecture – meaning that in Japan there is no dominant

discourse that limits the architectural field. These claims of Hasegawa are particularly important

and resonate today in the age of internet media. Japanese architects present hundreds of projects

of single family houses, and are among the most represented architects in the internet media.

Many of these architects are young and showing their first projects. It is hard to imagine the

design freedom of these young architects in other parts of the world. In this respect, Hasegawa

thinks that the plurality of the Japanese architectural discourse is different than in the West.

There the dominant architectural discourses suppress the voices and production of the young

designers, as they do not often get the opportunity to build their designs.

197
Interview with Hiromi Fujii

Hiromi Fujii belongs to the generation of Japanese architects that developed their

practice during the turbulent decade of the 1970s. His work was positively accepted by the critics,

and especially resonated with the Western discourse. During the 1980s Fujii was also

contextualized as a Deconstructivist architect. At first glance, his projects resemble the work of

Peter Eisenman, but their theoretical positions are different. This interview with him helped to

better understand his theoretical positions and the misconceptions about his work.

After graduating in 1964, Fujii moved to Europe. Based in Milan and working for Angelo

Mangiarotti, he got the opportunity to experience European Modern architecture physically, in

direct contact with its source. This was very important for Fujii (2015), because “at the time,

Japan could only ever explain European architecture in words, or more actually, as a concept.”

But this for him was the same with Europeans and Japanese architecture; they did not know

more than the abstract idea of sukiya-style architecture. In the late 1960’s Fujii became familiar

with Levi-Strauss’ structuralism and semiotics, which influenced his work. He became

preoccupied with space and time, and their very fundamental qualities. Fujii’s limitless grids and

layered and fragmented spaces aim to “reconstruct the history from the very beginning.” The

theory behind Fujii’s work is not a product of his Japanese background or philosophical

positions; it actually results from his personal interest in limitless space without centrality and

with complex spatial relations.

The complexity of Fujii’s work was not easily understood by the Japanese and Western

press. He also claims that early on he was not very clear in conveying his theoretical positions.

Fujii recalls a critique by Teiji Ito characterizing his architecture as a “wall in tiles from a public

bathroom”. Chris Fawcett was the first person who showed an interest in his work and gave him

a solid and positive review. In the early 1970s Fawcett was based in Japan, researching. In 1974,

198
Fawcett published an article about Fujii in AA Quarterly; this was the first international

promotion of his work. Over time, Fujii became one of the most prominent Japanese architects,

particularly in the 1980s. The visual and theoretical complexity of his work was particularly

appealing to the Western audience, but at the same time, it was very easily misinterpreted. Fujii

denies relations of his work with traditional Japanese concepts as “mu” (nothingness) or “ku”

(void), and claims that his work is an attempt to return to the “origin” of space, but not

historicist origins. According to him, the readings that contextualize his work in relation to

traditional Japanese architecture are purely formalistic; he did not contemporize the sukiya. In

relation to Eisenman, Fujii claims that they have commonalities, but Eisenman is systematic,

unified, and structured, whereas his work is not a unified whole but rather connecting fragments

that generate space.

Fujii was well established in the international network of architects and editors. His

cosmopolitan world view does not accept the concept of Japan-ness in his work. “I never tried

to express “Japan-ness” not even once”, said Fujii (2105). For him, anything associated with

Japan-ness has a strong connection with the state and becomes political. Fujii considers

architects to be agents who rethink relationships that refer to more deep philosophical changes.

Therefore, for him it is not important – he does not see architecture within cultural and historical

borders.

199
Interview with Botond Bognar

For more than 40 years, Botond Bognar has studied and researched the Japanese

architecture scene. He has written many books and articles presenting architects and the

discourse in general. Some of the most elaborate and best written articles in this research were

authored by him. He was also the editor of three very important issues published in Architectural

Design16. In the interview with Bognar, I discussed his initial work and connections in Japan. We

talked about the conditions in Japan during the 1970s and 1980s, his editorship of the AD

magazines and, finally, we discussed the Western fascination and understanding of Japanese

architecture.

Botond Bognar arrived in Japan in 1973 with a very little knowledge about Japanese

architecture. This is important as he did not have many preconceived ideas about Japanese

culture and architecture. Experiencing everything first-hand as a MEXT scholar at Tokyo

Institute of Technology, Bognar began shaping his architectural network through the

connections of his professor Kiyoshi Seike. He was in touch with the elite of Japanese

architecture, names like Kiyoshi Seike, Kunio Maekawa, Arata Isozaki, Kiyonori Kikutake,

Fumihiko Maki, and Tadao Ando. He also came to know the editor of JA, Shozo Baba. After his

two years of research, Bognar received his first offer to write a book on Japanese architecture,

eventually published in 1979 in the Hungarian language. Entering the field of academia as a

student in UCLA, in the early 1980s Bognar began writing for international magazines and

published his first book in 1985.

One of the questions in the interview was about the differences between the 1970s and

1980s. For Bognar, the 1970s were marked by two major figures: Arata Isozaki and Kazuo

Shinohara. This was a decade where only established names like Isozaki or companies like

16 The special issues for Japanese Architecture published in 1988 and the two issues published in 1992

200
Nikken17 Sekkei had the chance to build major projects. The upcoming “avant-garde”, the so-

called ‘New Wave’ architects in this period were “trying to figure out what to do;” Modernism

was already in a deep crisis. According to Bognar, during the 1970s the architects were protesting

against the system and the city. In contrast, the 1980s is when the city and a new urban

renaissance came into play. If previously the urban environment had been rejected, in this decade

the city was embraced and architects accepted the chaos as a model. “Tokyo became the model

for architecture” (Bognar 2015). Architects were less critical, and many architects produced some

of their best work. As to how this was possible, Bognar answered simply: because the money was

there, meaning that the economic boom of the 1980s suppressed the pessimism produced by the

crisis of the 1970s.

Discussing the special issues in Architectural Design, Bognar said that the first issue from

1988 dealt more with the New Wave architects, whereas the issues of 1992 characterized the

bubble in architecture. In other words, although both of issues cover more or less similar

architects, the first one dealt with the architects as a group, and the later issues dealt more with

the conditions in Japan. This also aligns with the findings of this research. Towards the end of

1980s, the media started debating Japanese architects as a group, and that moved towards the

idea of Japanese discourse analyzed in relation to the socio-economic factors in Japan.

Talking about the representation of Japanese architecture in general, Bognar said “Japan

has always been to the West a little bit of [an] exotic area.” In his understanding, a big part of the

Western representation of Japanese architecture has been turned into an image only, often

without the proper context. And this is done not only by Western media, but Japanese media as

well. This surface level of reading of Japanese architecture did not allow for proper

contextualization. For Bognar, this issue goes way back to the beginning of the 20th century.

Having in mind that European modernism was a result of the deep social changes that came with

17 Nikken Sekkei is the biggest design firm in Japan.

201
the Industrial Revolution and built upon a long Classical tradition, Bognar questions the idea of a

Japanese Modernist architecture. For him, what the West identifies as Japanese Modernism is

only modern on its surface. Bognar thinks that, without taking into consideration the historic,

socio-economic, and political changes in Japan, it is impossible to understand Japanese

architecture, particularly the changes that happen during the 1970s and 1980s.

Bognar does not have a position on the question of Japan-ness. Talking particularly

about today, he says that Japanese architecture is part of the global stage of architecture. Some

Japanese architects build more abroad than at home. In conditions where there is no difference

between the work built at home and abroad, Bognar questions the concept of Japanese

architecture. For him the idea of Japan-ness is a media construct, a way in which the Western

consumer capitalism systematizes everything on a basic image level – images that easily fall in to

a preconceived notion of Japan.

202
Interview with Tom Heneghan

For 25 years already, Tom Heneghan has been part of the Japanese architecture scene.

He has practiced architecture and works as teacher in Japanese universities. He knows many of

the leading Japanese architects personally, but he has never been involved in research of Japanese

architecture.

As part of the Architectural Association in London, he had a chance very early in his

career to meet Arata Isozaki, Monta Mozuna, Shin Takamatsu and other Japanese architects.

What he recalls in those early days in the late 1970s and early 1980s, is that Japanese architecture

was mostly “consumed” through the magazine The Japan Architect. In his memory, the

magazine relied on strong images that fascinated and puzzled the readers at the AA school.

Covers with “threatening colors” and vague images of interiors (Heneghan 2015) were

challenging to understand, considering the possibility of something so experimental being built.

Heneghan visited Japan for the first time in 1989 and started living there in 1990.

Previously he competed in and won a JA-organized competition where Isozaki was the lead juror.

In a way, he was known on the Japanese architectural scene. Invited by Isozaki, he designed the

Kumamoto Grasslands Stockbreeding Research Institute, as part of the Artpolis project. What

he recalls as a first impression of the Japanese architecture scene is the connection of architects

and architectural students. Talking about the events of Artpolis, Heneghan said that he did not

see a hierarchy between the leading architects and students. The architects in Japan were very

approachable, unlike the big names in the West. He discussed the very “casual social structure”

of Artpolis, as an event that brought together many different people, and claimed that Isozaki

has done lot of things to help other architects to find work in Japan. For illustration, he brought

up the example of the Fukuoka Nexus project, where Isozaki unselfishly placed his designs last

in the phase of building, and, due to the economic crisis, they were never built.

203
 In Heneghan’s understanding, the mystified idea of Japanese architecture is a product of

two things: lack of communication and very carefully staged presentations. He says that Isozaki

is one of the rare Japanese architects that communicated with the West. The others who did not

speak English had a language barrier to connecting and widely promoting their work. On the

other hand, Charles Jencks, Peter Cook, Andreas Papadakis and Peter Eisenman presented the

work of architects that they were in touch with. Heneghan gives the example of Peter Cook and

Itsuko Hasegawa’s friendship that resulted in Hasegawa’s successful promotion in the UK.

For Heneghan, the difference between Japan and the West is also an issue of theoretical

position. He talked about how in Europe after the war every building had to be explained

functionally, and the focus in architecture was practicality. In Japan, practicality, in Heneghan’s

opinion, never played major role. The West has always been amazed by the possibility of the

projects built in Japan that do not fulfill the Western standards of practicality. He used the

example of the Fujisawa Shonandai Cultural Center designed by Itsuko Hasegawa. A building

like that would never have been accepted by a bureaucrat in the West. This building was seen as

art. Exactly “art” is Heneghan’s definition of Japan-ness. In his understanding, the theoretical

positions of the architectural movement have to state: what is the advantage, practical or

otherwise, that makes a certain type of architecture favorable. In the Japanese context, architects

do not have these demands to defend the functionality of their buildings. They are free to build

anything as long there is a demand for their work. Heneghan labels this as art – architecture that

is not concerned with technical, structural or functional issues – and architecture that it is not

trying to help anybody, but rather is a product of the architect’s feelings and sensibility.

204
6.1 Discussion

Thematically, the interviews were divided into three parts. For the architects: the

questions initially were related to their view of the 1970s and their architectural beginnings; the

questions proceeded to discuss their work, their relations with the West, and representation in

magazines; and finished with questions about their understanding of Japan-ness in architecture.

The interviews with Botond Bognar and Tom Heneghan began with questions about their

“discovery” of Japan and initial connections with the scene. Bognar’s interview proceeded with

questions about his work related to Japan, and the issues of Architectural Design that he had

edited. Heneghan’s interview was focused on his experience, knowledge and understanding of

the Japanese architectural scene. These interviews also finished with a discussion of the concept

of Japan-ness in architecture.

This discussion will present three issues sublimated as gained knowledge from these

interviews: findings on the period of the late 1970s and early 1980s, findings on the

representation of Japanese architecture, and a discussion of Japan-ness. Much of what was found

within the magazine study is restated in this discussion.

All of the interviewees, except for Fumihiko Maki, discussed the specific conditions

during the 1970s and the change of paradigm that happen within the Japanese architecture scene.

Hasegawa and Fujii started their practice in this period, and focused on establishing distinctive

languages that would critically answer the needs of society in the post-oil-shock Japan and fit

their personal design positions. Hasegawa’s theoretical positions are the result of her work with

Kikutake and Shinohara and a year-long research trip studying Japanese minka. Fujii’s positions

formed by working in Europe and reading structuralist philosophy. Isozaki, during the 1970s,

was involved in a broad spectrum of international activities and communications that were not

limited to the architecture world. Towards the end of the decade, the connections with Euro-

205
American architects result in a series of exhibitions that presented Japanese architecture. Only

Maki claims that his work and production during the 1970s did not change, and that he had

never had ambitions towards social activism. He claims that his work is product of the site-

specific conditions, and that his personal style is subjected only to these influences. Bognar, who

arrived in Japan in 1973 from Hungary, knew very little about the state of Japanese architecture.

Heneghan talked about the magazine The Japan Architect as an exciting source of news from Japan.

He remembers the provocative covers and imagery that was puzzling for the British audience. As

a common thread, the 1970s was presented as decade of change in these interviews. The

architecture scene was not as strong as it had been in the 1960s, and was dominated by already-

established names. The economic crises limited the work of young architects to the housing

sector. The interviews revealed that during the 1970s, Japan was still a very distant land for the

European audience – distant in both the physical and cultural sense. Japanese architects were still

closed in the realm of Japan. While Tange and the rest of the modernists were focused on their

projects, Isozaki was the only figure maintaining international contacts. He also worked hard to

bring the news from outside, by writing articles about Western architectural theory. A new

generation was on the rise and their international debut happened at the beginning of 1980s.

Everyone agreed that the 1980s was the decade of the full bloom of Japanese

architecture. Although this was the result of a decade-long internalized reexamination of design

theory, the crucial part was played by the economic boom of Japan. The bubble economy of the

1980s enabled Japanese architects to build projects that were impossible in other parts of the

world. Heneghan points to Hasegawa’s Shonandai Cultural Center, a complex and bold design

that was embraced by the Fujisawa bureaucracy. Bognar also talked about the influence of the

bubble economy in his curatorial and contextualizing narrative of Japanese architecture. During

the 1980s, Hasegawa and Fujii had their most prominent international appearances, and Isozaki

began to internationalize the Japanese architecture scene.

206
 Regarding representation, except for Isozaki, each of the architects showed very little

awareness of the presentations made about their work and theoretical positions. Maki showed no

interest in how his work has been contextualized. He is totally indifferent to how critics perceive

his work; for him it is only important how the users react to his work. When it comes to

magazine publications, Hasegawa and Fujii have had little control. Most of Hasegawa’s work has

been truthfully presented. Her philosophy of architecture as a second nature positively resonated,

particularly in the British architecture scene. This resulted partially from her being favored by

Peter Cook and Andreas Papadakis. For Fujii, whose work is based on a highly abstract theory,

there are several cases of misrepresentation or misinterpretation of his theory and designs. For

example, the “layering” of his designs has been subjected to Orientalization, and read as Japanese

tradition. Fujii has meticulously collected all the articles published about his work, but from the

interview it was obvious that he hasn’t had complete control over them. The complexity of his

work might also have been a reason for misinterpretations. Isozaki, in contrast to the others, has

been highly aware of and even calculating regarding his representation. Being a writer himself

and highly involved in the international architecture elite, he had an inside opportunity to control

the writings about his work. For example, he spoke about canceling a text written by Kenneth

Frampton. Isozaki is conscious about Western representations and misrepresentations, and

allows it as long as beneficial to him. As an illustration, in the early 1980s his work was

contextualized as Post-Modern by Charles Jencks, although he does not see his work as

belonging there.

Regarding the aspect of Japan-ness in contemporary architecture, none of the

interviewees felt comfortable answering that question. All of them found this idea charged with

an energy that does not correspond to the contemporary state of architecture. Maki, Hasegawa

and Fujii, though aware of their regional specificities, do not feel comfortable representing Japan.

Isozaki was comfortable with the interpretation of his hybrid language as Japanese. His life

207
mission as a “transformer” that stands between the two distinct cultures, the West and Japan, is a

very conscious positioning. But what is crucially important for Isozaki is that he believes that

Japan-ness exists in the external gaze. It is a construct that is seen from the outside. Japan-ness

cannot exist without the external observer. Hasegawa was the boldest in talking about the non-

hierarchical aspects of the Japanese architecture scene, in comparison with Europe where

architecture is an elitist profession.

208
7. Conclusions

Throughout the course of the twentieth century, Japanese architects established a

discourse that is recognized by the West and contextualized as an architectural language different

than the one developed in the West. This research traced the production of this difference and

otherness of Japanese architecture through analysis of magazine articles and interviews of

architects and writers. For the purposes of the study, data was collected from three leading

European architectural periodicals: Architectural Design, Casabella and L'Architecture

d'Aujourd'hui. It includes all the articles published in the second half of the twentieth century,

between 1955 and 2005. Six interviews were conducted with leading architects and writers: Arata

Isozaki, Fumihiko Maki, Hiromi Fujii, Tom Heneghan and Botond Bognar. With quantitative

word mining and qualitative discourse analysis, this research was able to answer the main

research question and develop a theory that understands the dynamic between the Japanese and

Western architectural discourse.

The main research question stated at the beginning of this thesis was: how has

Japanese architecture been represented and contextualized in the West through

architectural magazines? Over the course of fifty years, Western architectural periodicals have

shown a great interest in Japanese architecture. This is one of the world regions where traditional

architecture has often been presented alongside contemporary architecture. Initially, during the

1950s and 1960s, contemporary Japanese architecture was represented as Modernist and

contextualized as part of the greater narrative of the International Style. The work of Japanese

architects has often been discussed in relation to European Modernism, particularly Le

Corbusier’s influences in Japan. Additionally, in this period Western magazines showed great

interest in traditional Japanese architecture and discussed its “Modernist” qualities. Metabolism

209
was recognized as an original movement, but it was discussed in the framework of Modernism.

During the 1970s, media showed little interest in Japanese architecture. Towards the end of this

decade, Isozaki’s international activities resulted in several exhibitions that launched Japanese

architecture to forefront of architectural discourse. The “New Wave” architects had wide,

international coverage during the 1980s. Initially published with individual presentations or

contextualized as Post-Modern, near the end of the decade these different voices were

sublimated into the idea of Japanese discourse. Media continually acknowledged the differences

of Japanese architects, but in the late 1980s and 1990s the presentations of these architects were

discussed within the framework of the larger narrative of Japanese architecture. The

representation of the late 1980s and early 1990s defined the discourse by presenting common

denominators for all Japanese architects, despite their diverse theoretical positions. This period

can be considered the beginning of a fully-formed Japanese discourse and the moment of

conceptualization of Japan-ness in contemporary architecture. The burst of the economic bubble

in 1990 is reflected in media in the period after 1994. This time was characterized by low key

presentations that retrace the already established understanding of Japanese architecture. By the

early 2000s, these presentations become more frequent, but do not offer a new understanding

for contemporary designs. Instead, the presentations return to already known patterns and

historical topics.

The role of the architectural periodical is crucial in establishing the excellence and

uniqueness of Japanese architecture. This research did not cover Japanese periodicals, as the

interest was the Western view of Japan, but both Japanese and Western architectural periodicals

contributed immensely in popularizing Japanese designs. As a primary source of news and

inspiration, periodicals formed the worldview of architects during the twentieth century. Japan,

as a geographically distant country, was easily accessed through magazines. Architects were

constantly fed with news from Japan and remained interested in Japanese designs. This opened

210
opportunities for Japanese architects to be invited to competitions and commissioned in the

West. By focusing on extreme formal, programmatic, and aesthetic elements, media buoyed the

attention to and excitement for Japanese architecture. The representation of Japan has always

been channeled towards the unique aspects of this paradigm, and by identifying differences

between Japan and the West, media conceived of the idea of a Japanese discourse.

As main source of information in the twentieth century, magazines had an enormous

responsibility in the curation and selection of what was represented. It would be naïve to discuss

impartiality in editorial politics, but reliability and authenticity is something that architectural

media strove for in the past century. Their role, especially in the second half of the century, was

not only informative; periodicals became a space for theoretical discussions and for defining the

field of architecture. The represented material, in the forms of images, drawings and

photography, was not information left to free interpretation; magazines became platforms for

debate and the production of contextualizing narratives of leading architects. What was

represented, particularly in the prominent international magazines, became a matter of elitism.

Discourses, styles and architects were created by magazines. This study argues that by tracing the

periodicals we actually map the dominant side of our architectural history and, in it, the Japanese

discourse as a significant aspect. 18

As important historical shifts that led to generating today’s image of Japanese

discourse, the years 1977-78 and 1987-88 need to be considered. There is no doubt of the

importance of Kanzo Tange, the Metabolists, World Design Conference 1960 and the Expo

Osaka in 1970. These figures and events placed Japanese architecture firmly in world architecture

history. But after a period of crisis in 1977-78, Japanese architecture debuted on the world scene

with a new, fresh outlook that was ready to challenge the ideas proposed in the West. The

18 There are many architectural histories that probably won’t be found in magazines. This doesn’t mean they are of a
lesser importance or they aren’t as good as the represented; this only means that at the time they did not influence
the wider architectural field.

211
exhibition “A New Wave of Japanese Architecture” led to a series of other presentations and

promotion of Japanese architects around the world. The international coverage culminated at the

height of the bubble economy. Beginning from 1987-88, through a series of presentations and

international “events” like ArtPolis and World Nexus, Japanese architecture was established as a

discourse with a theoretical approach distinct from the West. It is also important to note that the

changes of the discourse are exclusively related to the economic changes in Japan, which affect

the building industry of Japan and also implies changes in the attitude of Japanese architects. All

of this was replicated in magazines as well: the rapid economic development of the 1960s was

visible in many issues dedicated to Japan; the oil-shock of early 1970s excluded Japanese

architecture from all presentations; and the bubble economy of the 1980s created the discourse

as we know it today.

In the search of representational patterns in printed media, this study found a variety

of theoretical and contextualizing narratives. Initially, architecture produced in Japan was

discussed as Modern and Post-Modern. Some Japanese architects were also presented alongside

the Deconstructivists. What media portrays as Japanese architecture is most often represented as

a product of nature, place, urbanity and tradition. Japanese architects are almost exclusively

tied to nature; dialogues between the buildings and nature are established from direct

connections with the natural world to abstract ideas with lights, shadows, rain and wind.

Ultimately, for Itsuko Hasegawa, architecture is nature – “second nature” for humans. Japanese

architecture is place-making and not place-changing. Buildings are products of the urban and

cultural environment, and the designs are a reaction to these environments. The theoretical

stands of Japanese architects are products of their positions towards urbanity and tradition, and

there is no right or wrong way; therefore, there is no style to be followed.

The emphasis while presenting Japanese design is on its relational and abstract

aspects. Relationships with nature, the urban context, the cultural setting, tradition and

212
traditional space, the past and the future of the city, interior-exterior, the West, materials,

technology, and so on… Ultimately Japanese architecture is the relationship between people and

space. The concepts behind many Japanese buildings are not shown as theoretical positions that

are a product of rational programmatic, stylistic, or formal categories, but more as empirical

relational aspects of space, program and materiality. The second aspect of the presentations is

focused on the abstract qualities that are associated with Japanese architecture. The abstract

spatial categories such as asymmetry, minimalism, multiple layers, heterogeneity, and

fragmentation produce qualitative relationships recognized as Japanese: harmony, chaos,

ephemerality, simplicity, space-time, memory, Zen. These abstract categories are just layers of

cultural references that are molded in archetypes that essentialize Japanese architecture. This is

particularly noticeable in the post-bubble period and continues until today.

Regarding how these presentations correlate with Western architectural thought,

Japanese architecture stands in opposition in this presentation, and the West is used as a

reference to define the differences of Japanese architecture. Only by being differentiated from

the West does Japanese architecture get to be a discourse of its own. This is particularly

noticeable for texts written by Japanese writers and architects, who rely greatly on this dichotomy

in order to convey their message.

Finally, what does the West perceive as Japan-ness in architecture and how is Japan-

ness constructed and sustained in the architectural discourse? Is it a tangible category and can

it be somehow qualitatively expressed? Japan-ness is a set of images, symbols and constructs

that help the West to understand the multiplicity of voices that exist within the Japanese

discourse. It is not a tangible category, and it is qualitative expressed mostly through

phenomenological and aesthetic positions. Presented in Western media, these theoretical

positions change and adjust to create an opposition, an Other that West is not, and challenge the

discursive nature of Western architecture. The West applies meanings and readings, and

213
systematizes Japanese architects to better understand them, but the non-discursive nature of

Japanese architecture is an obstacle for creating a clearly defined discourse. Western architectural

discourses represent statements and act by change and active involvement with the environment.

Movements have theoretical statements that act towards change. Japanese architecture has never

been presented as a movement, but rather as network of different architectural approaches, all of

them having relational interactions. In fact, there is no discourse, but rather a relation with

predecessors and peers, and a will to create new realities and relationships between people and

space. As Hasegawa (2015) would say, there is no hierarchy and idea to follow, but each architect

creates a world webbed and connected with the worlds of their peers. This extremely

heterogeneous group of architects that has the world’s attention produces architecture that

doesn’t have a formal and operational design philosophy. Japan-ness is in the experiential

qualities of space. It is in the movement through space, its content and provided meaning. It is in

the materials and tactile qualities. It is very phenomenological and results from the cultural

references produced with that phenomenology. It’s a result of the unique settling in a place made

by an artist.

Japan-ness is nature and artifice, ephemerality, simplicity, minimalism, harmony, Zen; it

is also fragmentation, heterogeneity and chaos. Japan-ness is impeccable detailing, unbelievable

formal compositions and frivolous cultural referencing. Japan-ness is Tokyo; it is also Isozaki’s

hybrid language, Maki’s poeticism, Ando’s concrete, Hasegawa’s metal and Ito’s ephemerality. It

is layering, transparency, asymmetry, ambiguity and it is phenomenology. Japan-ness is one-

thousand-year-old tradition and innovative extreme engineering. Japan-ness is the past and the

future that meet the West in the present. It is everything the West is not.

Exactly this last statement reveals the contextualization of Japanese architecture in

the greater narrative of Western architectural history. Everything that the West was able to

recognize and found familiar has been subjected to assimilation. Isozaki’s Post-Modernity is the

214
perfect example of that. The differences, on other hand, are mostly essentialized and generalized

as Japanese. Only on rare occasions has Western media deeply touched on the Japanese

discourse to provide a meaningful distinction between the work of Isozaki, Kurokawa and Maki;

between Ito, Ando and Hasegawa; Sejima, Ban and Kuma. Architectural media for decades has

offered a Eurocentric view, in which the only alternative has been Japanese architecture. And

though today we no longer speak about architecture within national borders, the Japanese

discourse continues to exist as a realm with autonomous qualities, precisely because of the

dualism between Japan and the West. Thanks to this dualism, today’s international audience can

easily distinguish the regional qualities of Japanese architecture within an otherwise globalized

contemporality.

215
Table of figures

Chapter 3

Figure 3.1 Modes of representation of Japanese architecture sours: personal drawing

Figure 3.2 Representation of Japanese architecture in the three periodicals from 1955 until
2005 sours: personal drawing

Figure 3.3 Special Issues dedicated to Japanese architecture in the three periodicals from
1955 until 2005 sours: personal drawing

Figure 3.4 Representation of Japanese architecture from 1971 to 1976 sours: personal
drawing

Figure 3.5 Representation of Japanese architecture in Architectural Design sours: personal

drawing

Figure 3.6 Special Issues dedicated to Japanese architecture in Architectural Design sours:
personal drawing

Figure 3.7 Representation of Japanese architecture in Casabella sours: personal drawing

Figure 3.8 Special Issues dedicated to Japanese architecture in Casabella sours: personal
drawing

Figure 3.9 Representation of Japanese architecture in L'Architecture d'Aujourd'hui sours:

personal drawing

Figure 3.10 Special Issues dedicated to Japanese architecture in L'Architecture d'Aujourd'hui

sours: personal drawing

Chapter 4

Figure 4.1 Covers of Architectural Design: April 1958, February 1961, October 1964, May
1965, March 1966 and June 1970 sours: Architectural Design

Figure 4.2 Cover and pages from Architectural Design April 1958 sours: Architectural
Design

Figure 4.3 Cover and pages from Architectural Design February 1961 sours: Architectural
Design

Figure 4.4 Cover and pages from Architectural Design October 1964 sours: Architectural
Design

216
Figure 4.5 Cover and pages from Architectural Design May 1965 sours: Architectural
Design

Figure 4.6 Cover and pages from Architectural Design March 1966 sours: Architectural
Design

Figure 4.7 Pages from Architectural Design June 1970 sours: Architectural Design

Figure 4.8 Covers of Casabella-continuità/Casabella: December 1961, March 1963 and July
1966 sours: Casabella

Figure 4.9 Cover and pages of Casabella-continuità/Casabella March 1963 sours: Casabella

Figure 4.10 Covers of L'Architecture d'Aujourd'hui: May 1956, October-November 1961 and
September 1966 sours: L'Architecture d'Aujourd'hui

Figure 4.11 Pages from L'Architecture d'Aujourd'hui May 1956 sours: L'Architecture
d'Aujourd'hui

Figure 4.12 Cover and ages from L'Architecture d'Aujourd'hui October-November 1961
sours: L'Architecture d'Aujourd'hui

Figure 4.13 Cover and ages from L'Architecture d'Aujourd'hui September 1966 sours:
L'Architecture d'Aujourd'hui

Chapter 5

Figure 5.1 Most represented architects in Architectural Design between 1977 and 1999
sours: personal drawing

Figure 5.2 Most represented typology in Architectural Design between 1977 and 1999 sours:
personal drawing

Figure 5.3 Frequency of mentioning materials in Architectural Design between 1977 and
1999 sours: personal drawing

Figure 5.4 Co-occurrence network diagram focused on centrality, generated from the Japan-
ness code of the AD articles sours: personal drawing

Figure 5.5 Co-occurrence network diagram generated from the Japan-ness code of the AD
articles sours: personal drawing

Figure 5.6 Co-occurrence network diagram generated from the Japan-ness code of the AD
articles sours: personal drawing

Figure 5.7 Co-occurrence network diagram generated from the Japan-ness code of the AD
articles sours: personal drawing

217
Figure 5.8 Multi-Dimensional Scaling diagram generated from Japan-ness code of the AD
articles sours: personal drawing

Figure 5.9 Cover and pages from Architectural Design January 1977 sours: Architectural
Design

Figure 5.10 Cover and pages from Architectural Design May/June 1980 sours: Architectural
Design

Figure 5.11 Cover and pages from Architectural Design July/August 1983 sours:
Architectural Design

Figure 5.12 Cover and pages from Architectural Design May 1981 sours: Architectural
Design

Figure 5.13 Cover and pages from Architectural Design May/June 1988 sours: Architectural
Design

Figure 5.14 Pages from Architectural Design May/June 1988 sours: Architectural Design

Figure 5.15 Cover of Architectural Design: March/April 1992, September/October 1992 and
January/February 1994 sours: Architectural Design

Figure 5.16 Pages from Architectural Design March/April 1992 sours: Architectural Design

Figure 5.17 Pages from Architectural Design March/April 1992 sours: Architectural Design

Figure 5.18 Pages from Architectural Design September/October 1992 sours: Architectural
Design

Figure 5.19 Pages from Architectural Design January/February 1994 sours: Architectural
Design

Figure 5.20 Most represented architects in Casabella between 1982 and 2005 sours: personal
drawing

Figure 5.21 Most represented typology in Casabella between 1982 and 2005 sours: personal
drawing

Figure 5.22 Frequency of mentioning materials in Casabella between 1982 and 2005 sours:
personal drawing

Figure 5.23 Co-occurrence network diagram generated from History/Tradition code of the
Casabella articles sours: personal drawing

Figure 5.24 Co-occurrence network diagram focused on centrality, generated from Japan-
ness code of the Casabella articles sours: personal drawing

Figure 5.25 Co-occurrence network diagram generated from Japan-ness code of the Casabella
sours: personal drawing

218
Figure 5.26 Co-occurrence network diagram focused on centrality, generated from Japan-
ness code of the Casabella articles sours: personal drawing

Figure 5.27 Co-occurrence network diagram generated from Japan-ness code of the Casabella
articles sours: personal drawing

Figure 5.28 Multi-Dimensional Scaling diagram generated from Japan-ness code of the
Casabella articles sours: personal drawing

Figure 5.29 Number of articles in Casabella between 19882 and 2005 sours: personal drawing

Figure 5.30 Covers of Casabella: October 1982, July/August 1987, June 1989 sours: Casabella

Figure 5.31 Cover and pages from Casabella January/February 1994 sours: Casabella

Figure 5.32 Covers of Casabella: April 1996, March 1997, June 1998 sours: Casabella

Figure 5.33 Cover of Casabella March 2000 sours: Casabella

Figure 5.34 Most represented architects in L'Architecture d'Aujourd'hui between 1977 and
2005 sours: personal drawing

Figure 5.35 Most represented typology in L'Architecture d'Aujourd'hui between 1977 and
2005 sours: personal drawing

Figure 5.36 Frequency of mentioning materials in L'Architecture d'Aujourd'hui between 1977

and 2005 sours: personal drawing

Figure 5.37 Co-occurrence network diagram generated from History/Tradition code in

L'Architecture d'Aujourd'hui sours: personal drawing

Figure 5.38 Co-occurrence network diagram generated from Japan-ness code of the
L'Architecture d'Aujourd'hui articles sours: personal drawing

Figure 5.39 Co-occurrence network diagram generated from Japan-ness code of the
L'Architecture d'Aujourd'hui articles sours: personal drawing

Figure 5.40 Co-occurrence network diagram generated from the Japan-ness code of the
L'Architecture d'Aujourd'hui articles sours: personal drawing

Figure 5.41 Multi-Dimensional Scaling diagram generated from Japan-ness code of the
L'Architecture d'Aujourd'hui articles sours: personal drawing

Figure 5.42 Cover and pages from L'Architecture d'Aujourd'hui September 1982 sours:
L'Architecture d'Aujourd'hui

Figure 5.43 Cover and pages from L'Architecture d'Aujourd'hui April 1983 sours:
L'Architecture d'Aujourd'hui

Figure 5.44 Pages from L'Architecture d'Aujourd'hui April 1983 sours: L'Architecture
d'Aujourd'hui

219
Figure 5.45 Cover and pages from L'Architecture d'Aujourd'hui April 1987 sours:
L'Architecture d'Aujourd'hui

Figure 5.46 Cover and pages from L'Architecture d'Aujourd'hui February 1988 sours:
L'Architecture d'Aujourd'hui

Figure 5.47 Pages from L'Architecture d'Aujourd'hui April 1998, article “Mort d’une maison”
[Death of a house] sours: L'Architecture d'Aujourd'hui

Figure 5.48 Cover and pages from L'Architecture d'Aujourd'hui January/February 2002
sours: L'Architecture d'Aujourd'hui

220
BIBLIOGRAPHY

"Lerning from Tokyo", 1994, Architectural Design, vol. 64, no. 1/2, pp. 8-19.

"Editorial", 1977, Architectural Design, vol. 48, no. 1, pp. 4.

Architectural design 194-, , A. Papadakis, London.

, About us. Available: http://www.designboom.com/about-us/ [2015, 03/10].

, The History [Homepage of John Wiley & Sons Ltd], [Online]. Available: http://www.architectural-design-
magazine.com/view/0/history.html [2015, 03/18].

, Magazine History [Homepage of Arnoldo Mondadori Editore], [Online]. Available:

http://casabellaweb.eu/the-magazine/short-magazine-history/ [2015, 03/21].

Adams, C. 1998, "Japan's Ise Shrine and Its Thirteen-Hundred-Year-Old Reconstruction Tradition",
Journal of Architectural Education, vol. 52, no. 1, pp. 49-60.

Aingeru, A.R. 2009, "The Japanese End: Japan in Alexandre Kojève’s End of History", Regioninės
Studijos, , no. 3, pp. 63-69.

Ando, T. 1988, "My Concrete", L'Architecture d'Aujourd'hui, , no. 255, pp. 39.

Ando, T. 1988, "Representation and Abstraction", L'Architecture d'Aujourd'hui, , no. 255, pp. 30.

Ando, T. 1988, "Place and Character", L'Architecture d'Aujourd'hui, , no. 255, pp. 40.

Appadurai, A. 1996, Modernity al large: cultural dimensions of globalization, U of Minnesota Press.

Ashihara, Y. 1994, "The Hidden Order - Tokyo through the 20th Century", Architectural Design,
vol. 64, no. 1/2, pp. 20-27.

Barthes, R. 1982, "Empire of Signs, translated by Richard Howard", Hill and Wang: New York, .

Baydar, G. & Nalbantoḡlu 1998, "Toward Postcolonial Openings: Rereading Sir Banister Fletcher's"
History of Architecture"", Assemblage, , pp. 7-17.

Beynon, D. 2008, "So flat, so cute! Robots, superflatness and asian architectural futures", SAHANZ
2008: History in practice: 25th International Conference of the Society of Architectural
Historians Australia and New ZealandSociety of Architectural Historians, Australia and New
Zealand, , pp. 1.

Bhabha, H.K., 1949- 2004, The location of culture / Homi K. Bhabha ; with a new preface by the
author, Routledge, London.

Biraghi, M. 1999, "The City as Ritual Practice", Casabella, , no. 669, pp. 4-11.

Bognar, B. 1992, "Between Reality and Fiction – Japanese Architecture in the 1990s or the New Fin
de Siècle", Architectural Design, vol. 62, no. 9/10, pp. 8-21.

Bognar, B. 1992, "Critical Intentions in Pluralistic Japanese Architecture", Architectural Design, vol.
62, no. 3/4, pp. 72-96.

Bognar, B. 1991, "Architecture, Nature & A New Technological Landscape", Architectural Design,
vol. 61, no. 3-4, pp. 33-37.

221
Bognar, B. 1988, "Archeology of a Fragmented Landscape", Architectural Design, vol. 58, no. 5/6,
pp. 15-25.

Bognar, B. 1981, "Tadao Ando – A Redefinition of Space, Time and Existence", Architectural
Design, vol. 51, no. 5, pp. 25-26.

Breslin, L. 1988, "From the Savage to the Nomad", Architectural Design, vol. 58, no. 5/6, pp. 27-
31.

Brown, D.S. 1968, "Little Magazines in Architecture and Urbaimism", Journal of the American
Institute of Planners, vol. 34, no. 4, pp. 223-233.

Buntrock, D. 2001, Japanese architecture as a collaborative process: opportunities in a flexible

construction culture, Taylor & Francis.

Buntrock, D., 1958- 2010, Materials and meaning in contemporary Japanese architecture :
tradition and today / Dana Buntrock, Routledge, London.

Chakrabarty, D. 2001, Provincializing Europe : postcolonial thought and historical difference /

Dipesh Chakrabarty, Oxford University Press, New Delhi.

Chaslin, F. 1988, "Time Found,Time Lost, Modern Times", L'Architecture d'Aujourd'hui, , no. 255,
pp. 24-25.

Chirat, S. 1988, "Building in Chaos", L'Architecture d'Aujourd'hui, , no. 259, pp. 38-39.

Ciriani, H. 1988, "Will of Architecture, Architecture of Will", L'Architecture d'Aujourd'hui, , no. 255,
pp. 36.

Colomina, B., Buckley, C. & Grau, U. 2010, Clip, Stamp, Fold: The Radical Architecture of Little
Magazines, 196X to 197X, ACTAR Publishers.

Colomina, B., Loos, A. & Corbusier, L. 1994, Privacy and publicity: modern architecture as mass
media, MIT press Cambridge, MA.

Cook, P. 1977, "Peter Cook on Arata Isozaki", Architectural Design, vol. 47, no. 1, pp. 30-32.

Crysler, C.G., Cairns, S. & Heynen, H. 2012, The SAGE Handbook of Architectural Theory, SAGE
Publications.

Dovey, K. 2000, "Myth and media: Constructing Aboriginal architecture", Journal of Architectural
Education, vol. 54, no. 1, pp. 2-6.

Emery, M. 1983, "Japan: 30 controversive houses", L'Architecture d'Aujourd'hui, , no. 226, pp. 1-
2.

Fish, S., Jameson, F., Miyoshi, M. & Harootunian, H. 1989, Postmodernism and Japan, Duke
University Press.

Fish, S., Jameson, F., Miyoshi, M. & Harootunian, H. 1989, Postmodernism and Japan, Duke
University Press.

Frampton, K. 1988, "Synthesis of Opposites", L'Architecture d'Aujourd'hui, , no. 255, pp. 31-32.

Giedion, S., 1888-1968 1962, Space, time and architecture : the growth of a new tradition /
Sigfried Giedion, 4th ed edn, Harvard University Press, Cambridge.

Goulet, P. 1983, "A Question of Context", L'Architecture d'Aujourd'hui, , no. 226, pp. 4-7.

222
Goulet, P. 1982, "Team ZOO", L'Architecture d'Aujourd'hui, , no. 222, pp. 48-61.

Goulet, P. 1982, "Itsuko Hasegawa", L'Architecture d'Aujourd'hui, , no. 222, pp. 14-23.

Gregootti, V. 1994, "Japan: a dis-oriented modernity", Casabella, , no. 608-609.

Gregootti, V. 1982, "Rokko Housing", Casabella, , no. 484, pp. 2-11.

Greve, A. 2013, "Learning from Tokyo urbanism: The urban sanctuaries", Cities, vol. 30, pp. 98-
104.

Groat, L. & Wang, D. 2002, Architectural research methods, Springer.

Harvey, D. 1989, "The conditions of postmodernity: An enquiry into the origins of cultural change",
.

Hasegawa, I. 1991, "Architecture as Another Nature", Architectural Design, vol. 61, no. 3-4, pp.
14-15.

Hosagrahar, J. 2012, "Interrogating Difference: Postcolonial Perspectives in Architecture and

Urbanism", The SAGE Handbook of Architectural Theory, , pp. 70.

Hosagrahar, J. 2005, Indigenous modernities: negotiating architecture and urbanism, Psychology

Press.

Iijima, Y. 1988, "Drama of Secrecy: The Architecture of Tadao Ando", L'Architecture d'Aujourd'hui,
, no. 255, pp. 86.

Ishimoto, Y. 2002, "The Imperial Palace of Katsura. Interpretation of a Monument", Casabella, ,

no. 702, pp. 4-6.

Ishimoto, Y., Tange, K., Gropius, W., Terry, C.S. & Bayer, H. 1960, Katsura: tradition and creation
in Japanese architecture, Yale University Press.

Isozaki, A. 2005, Katsura imperial villa, Phaidon Press.

Isozaki, A., Stewart, D.B. & Kohso, S. 2006, Japan-ness in Architecture, Mit Press Cambridge
Mass.

Ito, T. 1992, "Vortex and Current – on Architecture as Phenomenalism", Architectural Design, vol.
62, no. 9/10, pp. 22-23.

Jencks, C. 1977, "Isozaki and Radical Eclecticism", Architectural Design, vol. 47, no. 1, pp. 42-48.

Jencks, C. 1977, Language of Post-Modern Architecture, London: Academy Editions and New York:
Rizzoli.

Kawazoe, N. 1973, “Contemporary Japanese Architecture”, Kokusai Koryu Kikin ( The Japan
Foundation)

Kestenbaum, J.E. 1996, Modernism and tradition in Japanese architectural ideology, 1931-1955, .

King, A. 2004, Spaces of global cultures: architecture, urbanism, identity, Routledge.

Krstic, V. 1998, "Constructing the Ephemeral: The Notions of Building and Portability in Japanese
Architecture", Architectural Design, vol. 68, no. 9/10, pp. 10-15.

223
Krstic, V. 1992, "Stillness of Hyperreality – The In(de)finite City", Architectural Design, vol. 62, no.
9/10, pp. 24-27.

Kurokawa, K. 1991, "From Metabolism to Symbiosis", Architectural Design, vol. 61, no. 11-12, pp.
21-25.

Kurokawa, K. 1988, Rediscovering Japanese Space, Weatherhill Tokyo & New York.

Kusno, A. 2012, "Rethinking the Nation1", The SAGE Handbook of Architectural Theory, , pp. 213.

Lamster, M. 2000, Architecture and film, Princeton Architectural Press.

Leach, A. 2005, "Tafuri and the age of historical representation", Architectural Theory Review, vol.
10, no. 1, pp. 1-18.

Lin, Z. 2010, Kenzo Tange and the Metabolist movement: urban utopias of modern Japan,
Routledge.

Lin, Z. 2007, "Urban structure for the expanding metropolis: Kenzo Tange's 1960 plan for Tokyo",
Journal of Architectural and Planning Research, vol. 24, no. 2, pp. 109.

Lockyer, A. 2007, "The Logic of Spectacle c. 1970", Art History, vol. 30, no. 4, pp. 571-589.

Lopes, D.M. 2007, "Shikinen sengu and the ontology of architecture in Japan", The Journal of
aesthetics and art criticism, vol. 65, no. 1, pp. 77-84.

Lu, D. 2012, "Entangled Modernities", The SAGE Handbook of Architectural Theory, , pp. 231.

Maffei, A. & Isozaki, A. 2000, "Japan Today", Casabella, , no. 676, pp. 74-75.

Maki, F. 1988, "Progress and Tradition in Japanese Architecture", Architectural Design, vol. 58, no.
5/6, pp. 26.

Mallet-Stevens, R. 2000, "Architecture in Japan", Casabella, , no. 676, pp. 16-19.

Mand, H. 2013, "Asia: identity, architecture and modernity", The Journal of Architecture, vol. 18,
no. 1, pp. 59-78.

Miyoshi, M. & Harootunian, H.D. 1989, Postmodernism and Japan / edited by Masao Miyoshi and
H.D. Harootunian, Duke University Press, Durham.

Moore-Gilbert, B.J., 1952- 1997, Postcolonial theory : contexts, practices, politics / Bart Moore-
Gilbert, Verso, London ; New York.

Morita, K. 1983, "Aesthetic without ideology", L'Architecture d'Aujourd'hui, , no. 226, pp. 68-71.

Moroton, P. 1994, "Arata Isozaki and the "Post-Modern Condition"", Casabella, , no. 618, pp. 20-
25.

Nishihara, D. 2005, "Said, Orientalism, and Japan", Alif: Journal of Comparative Poetics, , pp. 241-
253.

Nuijsink, C. 2012, How to Make a Japanese House, NAi Publishers.

Okakura, K. 1964, "The Book of Tea. 1906. Reprint", .

224
Pallasmaa, J., Wynne-Ellis, M. & Juuti, T. 2001, The architecture of image: existential space in
cinema, Rakennustieto.

Papadakis, A. & Powell, K. 1992, "Tradition and the New in Japanese Architecture", Architectural
Design, vol. 62, no. 9/10, pp. 6.

Pernice, R. 2006, "The Transformation of Tokyo During the 1950s and Early 1960s Projects
Between City Planning and Urban Utopia", Journal of Asian Architecture and Building
Engineering, vol. 5, no. 2, pp. 253-260.

Polin, G. 1985, "Two Buildings for the Arts", Casabella, , no. 513, pp. 4-11.

Rattenbury, K. 2002, This is not architecture: media constructions, Psychology Press.

Reynolds, J.M. 2001, "Ise Shrine and a modernist construction of Japanese tradition", The Art
Bulletin, vol. 83, no. 2, pp. 316-341.

Riani, P. 1969, "Experiments from Japan", Casabella, , no. 334, pp. 4-19.

Riani, P. 1968, "The Town as a Biological Evolution", Casabella, , no. 327, pp. 10-19.

Rosa, U. 2000, "Hojoki. Existenzminimum, on housing at sunset", Casabella, , no. 676, pp. 76-81.

Rujivacharakul, V., Hahn, H.H., Oshima, K.T. & Christensen, P. 2013, Architecturalized Asia:
Mapping a Continent Through History, Hong Kong University Press.

Said, E.W. 1985, "Orientalism reconsidered", Cultural Critique, , pp. 89-107.

Salat, S. 1987, "The Deconstruction of Western Space", L'Architecture d'Aujourd'hui, , no. 250, pp.
4-5.

Salat, S. 1987, "The Experiencing of Limits", L'Architecture d'Aujourd'hui, , no. 250, pp. 39-40.

Salat, S. 1987, "The Game of Fiction and Simulacra", L'Architecture d'Aujourd'hui, , no. 250, pp.
22-24.

Salat, S. "The Fragments of the Classical World", L'Architecture d'Aujourd'hui, , no. 250, pp. 6-7.

Salat, S. & Labbe, F. 1987, "Japanese Architecture as a Theme", L'Architecture d'Aujourd'hui, , no.
250, pp. 53.

Schwarzer, M. 1999, "History and Theory in Architectural Periodicals: Assembling Oppositions",

The Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians, , pp. 342-348.

Sharp, D. 2009, 2009/11/12-last update, Monica Pidgeon: Influential editor of 'Architectural

Design' for more than 30 years [Homepage of The Independent], [Online]. Available:
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/obituaries/monica-pidgeon-influential-editor-of-architectural-design-for-more-
than-30-years-1818794.html [2014, 07/26].

Snodgrass, A. 2011, "Thinking Through the Gap: The Space of Japanese Architecture",
Architectural Theory Review, vol. 16, no. 2, pp. 136-156.

Snodgrass, A. 1997, "TRANSLATING TRADITION: Technology, Heidegger's ‘Letting-be,’and

Japanese New Wave Architecture", Architectural Theory Review, vol. 2, no. 2, pp. 83-104.

Speidel, M. 2000, "Bruno Taut: My Point of View on Japanese Architecture", Casabella, , no. 676,
pp. 10-15.

225
Stewart, D.B. 1987, The making of a modern Japanese architecture: 1868 to the present,
Kodansha International New York.

Suvanto, M. 2002, Images of Japan and the Japanese: the representations of the Japanese culture
in the popular literature targeted at the western world in the 1980s-1990s, University of
Jyväskylä.

Taki, K. 1988, "Fragments and Noise - The Architectural Ideas of Kazuo Shinohara and Toyo Ito",
Architectural Design, vol. 58, no. 5/6, pp. 32-35.

Taki, K., Warren, N. & Ferreras, J.M. 1983, "Oppositions: The Intrinsic Structure of Kazuo
Shinohara's Work", Perspecta, , pp. 43-60.

Tange, K., Kawazoe, N. & Watanabe, Y. 1965, Ise: Prototype of Japanese Architecture, MIT Press
Cambridge, MA.

Taut, B. 2000, "New Architecture in Japan", Casabella, , no. 676, pp. 4-9.

Taut, B. 1958, Houses and people of Japan, Sanseido Company.

Taut, B. 1936, Fundamentals of Japanese architecture, Kokusai bunka shinkokai (The Society for
International Cultural Relations).

Taylor, J. 1977, "Japan between Expos", Architectural Design, vol. 47, no. 1, pp. 22-28.

Upton, D. 1991, "Architectural history or landscape history?", Journal of Architectural Education, ,

pp. 195-199.

Urban, F. 2012, "Japanese ‘Occidentalism’and the Emergence of Postmodern Architecture", Journal

of Architectural Education, vol. 65, no. 2, pp. 89-102.

Vesely, D. 2004, Architecture in the age of divided representation: the question of creativity in the
shadow of production, MIT Press.

Volpi, C. 2000, "Robert Mallet-Stevens and Japanese Architecture", Casabella, , no. 676, pp. 19.

Yatsuka, H. 1994, "Introduction to ArtPolis", Architectural Design, vol. 64, no. 1/2, pp. 34-39.

Zardini, M. 1987, "Riken Yamamoto, a Young Japanese Architect", Casabella, , no. 537, pp. 4-15.

Zenno, Yasushi.,Shah, Jagan,, 2006, Jewels : selected writings on modern architecture from Asia,
Acetate, Osaka.

八束, は. 2011, メタボリズム・ネクサス / 八束はじめ著, オーム社, 東京.

226
APPENDIX I
( Survey of Magazines )

227
 Number of Collected Articles 

Year AD  Casabella  AA  Perspecta  AA Files 

1955 1 1 1
1956 1 9 10
1957 7 7
1958 4 9 13
1959 8 8
1960 1 1 4 1 6
1961 6 1 22 29
1962 1 5 6
1963 10 6 16
1964 7 8 15
1965 7 11 18
1966 5 1 17 23
1967 4 1 8 13
1968 1 2 8 11
1969 1 4 5
1970 12 5 17
1971 1 1
1972 9 9
1973 1 1
1974 1 1 2
1975 3 3
1976 0
1977 5 2 7
1978 6 6
1979 3 3
1980 8 4 12
1981 1 3 4
1982 1 1 4 6
1983 6 2 19 2 27
1984 6 6
1985 2 4 6
1986 4 1 2 7
1987 1 3 19 2 23
1988 20 2 15 1 37

228
 Year AD  Casabella  AA  Perspecta  AA Files 

1989 2 2 4 3 8
1990 1 4 1 5
1991 6 2 6 1 14
1992 25 5 30
1993 3 1 3 7
1994 29 20 1 50
1995 8 1 2 1 11
1996 3 3 2 1 8
1997 5 5 1 2 11
1998 4 8 2 14
1999 4 7 13 24
2000 19 4 23
2001 14 2 16
2002 12 23 2 35
2003 3 3 1 6
2004 6 2 8
2005 13 6 19
grand total
total 188 147 312 9 10 647 666

year with special issue on Japanese architecture

year with two special issues on Japanese architecture

year with special issue on Japanese architect

229
230
0
10
20
30
40
50

1955
1956
1957
1958
1959
1960
1961
1962
1963
1964
1965
1966
1967
1968
1969
1970
1971
1972
1973
1974
1975
1976
AD

1977
1978
1979
1980
Casabella
1981
1982

AA
1983
1984
1985
1986
1987
1988
1989
1990
1991
1992
1993
1994
1995
1996
1997
1998
1999
2000
2001
2002
2003
2004
2005
231
No. of articles
10
15
20
25
30
35

0
5

1955
1956
1957
1958
1959
1960
1961
1962
1963
1964
1965
1966
1967
1968
1969
1970
1971
1972
1973
1974
1975
1976
1977
Arcitectural Design - number of articles per year

1978
1979

AD
1980
1981
1982
1983
1984
1985
1986
1987
1988
1989
1990
1991
1992
1993
1994
1995
1996
1997
1998
1999
2000
2001
2002
2003
2004
2005
232
10
15
20
25

0
5

1955
1956
1957
1958
1959
1960
1961
1962
1963
1964
1965
1966
1967
1968
1969
1970
1971
1972
Casabella - number of articles per year

1973
1974
1975
1976
1977
1978
1979
1980

Casabella
1981
1982
1983
1984
1985
1986
1987
1988
1989
1990
1991
1992
1993
1994
1995
1996
1997
1998
1999
2000
2001
2002
2003
2004
2005
233
No. of articles
10
15
20
25

0
5

1955
1956
1957
1958
1959
1960
1961
1962
1963
1964
1965
1966
1967
1968
1969
1970
1971
1972
1973
1974
1975
1976
1977
1978
1979

AA
1980
1981
1982
L’Architecture d’Aujourd’hui’s - number of articles per year

1983
1984
1985
1986
1987
1988
1989
1990
1991
1992
1993
1994
1995
1996
1997
1998
1999
2000
2001
2002
2003
2004
2005
 Special Issues

1956 1961 1963 1965 1966 1970 1977 1983 1988 1992 1994 2002

1958 1961 1964 1966 1987 1988 1992 1994 2000 2002

234
 Special Issues in Architectural Design

1965 1966 1970 1977 1988 1992 1994

1958 1961 1964 1966 1992

235
 Special Issues in Casabella

1963 2002

1994 2000

236
 Special Issues in L’Architecture d’Aujourd’hui’s

1956 1961

1966 1987 1988 2002

237
 Coded Text from Architectural Design
date title architect typology material qualities of space, special characteristics  space, form, composition  history tradition West religion, economy, 
sociology
1977 Zen and the Art  Arata‐Isozaki facades in aluminum "an idea unique to his inner‐self – that very idea which organically responds to the whole spectrum of  In Japan the Metabolist Group among them Isozaki,  employ manifold and subtle 
of Arata Isozaki phenomena including logic, design, reality and non‐reality, but which, in the last analysis, is not even remotely  claimed Zen influences and Kenzo Tange hinted  European cultural references in their 
related to them." What is uncanny is the finished building's fidelity to that idea, or form‐concept, often  he'd translated the structural details of Shinto  respective imagery
expressed graphically as a sterling isometric ... temples into Corbusian concrete. why consistentlyl Western allusions?

1977 Japan between  high‐school buildings have become increasingly elegant and individualistic. The new architecture is characterized by strong  … raw brutalism that marked most Japanese 

Expos house The image of avant‐garde Japanese architecture in the mind of the West is still that of the bold, raw concrete  sculptural forms sheathed in expensive  architecture of the 60s and culminated in the 
library forms of Kenzo Tange and Kunio Mayekawa, and the visionary, yet equally formalistic projects of the  materials. technological mastery of Expo 70.
bank Metabolists. Such a picture is no longer accurate. The architects are exploring a general space  Many traditional aspects of design, left by the 
bank Today's architecture is more subtle, and with the use of finishing materials and the attention given to interiors,  which is not a universal space divided, nor a  wayside in the rush of the previous decades, are 
details are all‐important. space composed of additive parts, but one which  reappearing. In particular, a sensitivity to the 
The garden, furthermore, has returned as an integral part of Japanese environmental design maintains its overall unity and at the same time  surroundings of the building is evident.
The resulting designs are highly imaginative and superbly crafted, and appear to owe little stylistically to  accomodates particular spaces within. In traditional Japanese design, attention was 
contemporary Western architecture. focussed on the few introduced objects in an 
architectural space. Consequently, great care was 
taken to choose and position such objects in order 
to achieve a harmonious total composition.
There has been a pause to review the past and a re‐
assessment of traditional aesthetic values.

1977 Peter Cook on  Arata‐Isozaki clubhouse

Arata Isozaki bank
museum
1977 Sour Grapes Arata‐Isozaki museum
library
1977 Arata Isozaki and  Arata‐Isozaki library
Radical  house
Eclecticism
1980 Kamioka  Arata‐Isozaki townhall aluminum ... architecture of shadows in which shadows replace traditional ornament ... … purely geometric forms that have long  I'm especially interested in rectangular solids and  Western classicism in the East, 
Townhall ... opposed to that of the traditionalists or originalists who adopt a realistic approach to the creation of buildings  characterized my design in the production of  cylinders precisely because they have no historical  particularly Palladio and Ledoux
on the basis of architectural formal vocabulary alone. The nature of my methodology is probably responsible for  individualistic symbolism … tradition in Japanese architecture and because the 
the impression of this harmony and inhumanity that my architecture gives. I'm especially interested in rectangular solids and  heterogeneous elements they introduce ‐ their very 
... the use of pure forms, displacement and articulations of such forms, overscaling, oppositional use of  cylinders precisely because they have no  inappropriateness ‐ is needed in the architecture of 
materials, interiors with maze‐like qualities, and articulated quotations from the architecture of the past are all  historical tradition in Japanese architecture and  our country today.
formal methods for the generation of new, independent semantic structures because the heterogeneous elements they  Rectangles and cylinders embodied in traditional 
introduce ‐ their very inappropriateness ‐ is  architecture never developed to ideas of 
needed in the architecture of our country today. corresponding solid bodies.

1980 Fujimi Country  Arata‐Isozaki The square is to the cube as the circle is to the  … European architecture and 

Club cyinder. These two forms as prima materia in my  architecture relics from the time of 
work … the Roman Empire.
Romanesque and Byzantine 
architecture
Mimar Sinan
Andrea Palladio
1980 Kitakyshu City  Arata‐Isozaki Cube ‐ Since it is unstable and therefore appears rarely in nature, it is a symbol of artificiality. The square is more deeply related to the Japanese  The Neo‐Platonists of the 
Museum architecural tradition than to that of Europe. The  Renaissance were especially aware of 
square has been the standard on which horizontal  the cube.
and standing surfaces have based because it was  These drawings symbolize the Neo‐
the determining element in the nature of these  Platonic desire to show agreement 
surfaces. Visually, Japanese architecture is replete  between humanity and geometry.
with squares.

1980 Sun‐Tumori  Toyokazu‐ office‐ Distorted classicism, combining several figures in an ambiguous way so that various readings can occur. … symmetries of both main facades are broken  … all contained with an absolute symmetry  … while the inside is designed like a  Shinto

Building Watanabe development The embodied voids match up with the mullionless windows to produce another elision of ambiguity. by more curious exceptions of the rule. (mirror), like the culmination of a walk through the  chapel of the West.
… root to a series of purifying layers ... Ise shrine.
… polished surfaces remind us of Shinto columns ... The façade is identified with the environment with 
its similarity to the Japanese traditional storehouse.

1980 Toy Block House  Takefumi‐Aida house concrete Asymmetrical symmetry reigns throughout as does a basic dualism. rectangular solids … the traditional ridge‐pole supports of Shinto  Proto‐classicism is suggested by these  Shinto
1 House / shrine solid forms buildings, and perhaps also the sign of the house. pure white forms ‐ the solid triangle 
and the colored column …

1980 Mirror House Monta‐ house dialectical relationship that set up oppositions between positive and negative, or here between anti‐Classical  the asymmetrical side view is countered by a  the mirror plays a strong role in Shinto metaphysics

Mozuna and Classical codes mirror‐image symmetry. it manifests itself in Japanese gardening where the 
the asymmetrical side view is countered by a mirror‐image symmetry. arrangement of the five elements is such that the 
earth corresponds to the mountains and valleys, 
water to the seas and rivers, fire to the flowers and 
trees, the wind to clouds, and heaven appears as 
various aspects of each one of them.

238
 Coded Text from Architectural Design
date title architect typology material qualities of space, special characteristics  space, form, composition  history tradition West religion, economy, 
sociology
1981 A Redefinition of  Tadao‐Ando house unfinished concrete  Subtle and esoteric, sometimes mind‐boggling philosophies or personal concepts have inspired the concepts of  With this arrangement, Ando revives the spatial  all the elements of his architecture, which speak a  finds affinity with Zen 
Space, Time and  house blocks the works and are often embodied in them composition of the traditional row house. "traditional" architectural language, turn out to be  philosophies
Existence  house walls brutal language full of strength and self‐confidence Semi‐cylinder the visual appearance of a metaphysical order by 
house reinforced concrete  giving new meaning through restored existential spaces and centers concrete box means of light and shadow.
house shell ... structures are a challenge to him only as far as they provide the meaning of spatial expression and ordering. semi‐transparent skin With this arrangement, Ando revives the spatial 
house concrete box dual nature of existence composition of the traditional row house.
house disconnected time‐space
Ando searches for new relationships between man and substance, man and space, as well as man and man.
hermetic microcosms
catabolism of landscapes

1982 The Ledoux  Arata‐Isozaki I combined the form of the cube, sphere,  the general trend of Japanese modern architects  This free style may be called  Buddhist concept of 

Connection cylinder, etc., to make each house. who at that time were attempting to discover  Classicism or Neo‐Classicism. Samsara, 
Combining cubes of varying scale Modernism in spatial composition of the traditional  … several independent houses, each  metempsychosis (the 
architecture of Japan. being based upon Platonic solids. transmigration of souls)

1983 Dollhouse Tadao‐Ando house unfinished concrete ... looking isolated from the outside ‐ this isolation will act paradoxically with nature ...

… house begins to communicate directly with nature over the city through making another shell‐like shelter 
inside the shell, which is called "City" as opposed to the natural world.
... daily transition of time and these situations may give a rhythm to human life.
touch with nature
1983 Dollhouse Sugie house
Miwa
Funato
1983 Dollhouse Ibuka house
Terrayama
Arai
Sugaya
1983 Dollhouse Takefumi‐Aida house traditional Japanese structural frame made possible 
spatial interpenetrations between inside and 
outside.
The roof over the Japanese style room is supported 
by columns in the four corners of the room which 
symbolize the traditional frame and which makes 
even greater interpenetration possible.
Tokonoma (alcove) is the symbol of the Japanese 
style room.
The tokonoma developed, as the result of a long 
history, into a spiritual hierarchy of a room.

1983 Toyokazu‐ house concrete between Modernism, Classicism, and Buddhism Overlapping spaces over Baroque and  The archetypical form is common to  Buddhism

Watanabe house … mysterious, not to say, hallucinatory combination of a dome (dropped from the sky) and a suburban house. Modernism alike. Western Classicism.
house … the rhetorical trope of extreme simplicity makes the familiar become unfamiliar and therefore artistic This typical Post‐Modern hybrid has been given  Row house by Adolf Loos
... harsh and noble, brutal and elevated is its aloof posture. an extreme hierarchical ordering.
.. the mysterious procession up a dark stairway to the culmination in an abstract sky. Tomb, pagoda, chapel to  Spatial oval
abstraction ‐ the painter's house is a shrine to a metaphysical speculation. dome

1983 Koten and/or  Minoru‐ possible to realize Koten even with Klassik styles and forms. Japanese Classicism is extremely hybrid. Koten ... a process of creation which an eminent  Klassik … distinguish the Western 

Klassik Takeyama Koten always remains with the textbook of the history of Kapanese architecture, while Klassik is that of Western  predecessor has maintained to achieve a great  Classical from the Japanese. Klassik is 
architecture. goal. "To look after what the master looked for" is a  simply a synonym for Western 
Koten and/or Klassik has proved to be the effective solution; small exterior, large interior, or "poor outside, rich  discipline which has been customarily preserved in  Classicism.
inside," a manner of Koten space composition together with some Classic flavor around. traditional Japanese creativity in any genre.

1986 Phoenix  Arata‐Isozaki create an architectural environement particular to Phoenix using the tripartite composition of 

Government  Western Classicism
Centre
1986 "City in the Sky":  Arata‐Isozaki city‐hall
Arata Isozaki

1986 Chapel on Mt  Tadao‐Ando church concrete purify space by reducing architectural material to naked … double cube Romanesque monastery

Rokko stone Making the perspective of nature all the more apparent spatial world of Romanesque ministry east of Avignon, in southern France
glass … quiet space, composed of materials with a definite substiality, will come to life through light and have an 
impact on people
1986 Kitazawa  Takefumi‐Aida house timber frame concept of pleasure is one that remains fundamental to his architecture … more in common with traditional Japanese 
Residence game of construction and distraction, with an obvious architectural parallel architecture
it takes its cue from the more delicate structures of nature Modernism movement which has lost its spirit of 
excitement and revolution

239
 Coded Text from Architectural Design
date title architect typology material qualities of space, special characteristics  space, form, composition  history tradition West religion, economy, 
sociology
1987 Arata‐Isozaki municipal‐ To create a strong sense of unity and harmony among the constituent buildings It gives its name to one of the most beautiful 
center derives a large part of its identity from the materials and features used in the new building traditional Japanese buildings, the Hou‐ou Dou, or 
Phoenix Pavilion, dating from the 11th century.

1988 Urban  variety of design intentions, sensibilities and purposes disjunctive forms and labyrinthine spaces are  rich history as well as an eventful, even stormy, and  Japanese architecture is pursuing at 

Architecture of  spatial fragmentary quality encountered as liberated and "floating signs" or  often controversial recent past in the 20th century amazing speed a path which aims to 
Japan symbols … taking shape at an equidistance from  critically address and question the 
contemporary post‐structuralist thought or  prevailing Western mode of 
Deconstructionist criticism, the Oriental Japanese  understanding, definition and 
mentality of a "floating world" and our highly  meaning of space, form and 
manipulated and insidiously proliferating present  architecture.
consumer culture … in a process of "deconstructing" 
the (instrumental) rationality and 
logic (logocentrism) of the Western 
classical order and metaphysics that 
have always been predicated by the 
myth of the immutable and dominant 
laws of ruling and unimpeachable

1988 An Architecture  perforated aluminum  layering of metaphorical shapes that allude to clouds of vernacular villages layering of metaphorical shapes the early 70s were the most fertile years for Isozaki social responsibility 

Floating on the  panels fragmented imagery spatial entity because of architecture layering of metaphorical shapes that allude to  seems to have faded 
Sea of Signs polychrome surfaces the identity of expression in his work no longer stands for the confrontation between indivdual inhabitants and  singular forms clouds of vernacular villages away
bare concrete walls their violent urban environment, but from within the object ‐ architecture itself complicated formal operations, an "autopoesis"  the image of vernacular village often appears in the 
light‐weight materials his main concern is in fact to place architecural "objects" in urban contexts and generate contradictory effects  within cultural ectriture work of these architects
wooden frames between them machine aesthetics and traditional Japanese 
corrugated pipes ... architecture of "autonomous objects" transcends the image of life symbolic ritualism
low‐tech materials simple, ascetic and minimalistic
material on a non‐ fascination with natural phenomenon
commercial level nomadic yurts
"real life" spaces
They are straight‐forward as if they had been designed by a child; an innocence that has recently reached the 
point where the application on cloud‐like shapes or star patchworks is much more literal than Hara's stylized 
forms.
... second generation who share a common background in ideas of residential architecture and urban lifestyles
protest against consumer society
machine aesthetics and traditional Japanese symbolic ritualism

1988 Archaeology of a  houses buildings of thin, light‐ fragmented landscape "new relations between the space and the  traditional vernacular styles Western architecture and philosophy The ritual of periodical 

Fragmented  tent‐like‐ weight materials bot  dynamic and exciting state person" Meiji restoration partner and eventually an equal  rebuilding of Shinto 
Landscape structures only evoke the 'forms'  results that are both distinctly Japanese and relevant to the Western world Form and meaning are prevented from  Consecutive rebuildings after numerous fires  number of Western society shrines
of nature, but are also  Japanese‐type contextualism appearing as self‐evident, natural (or historical)  provided the opportunities for these changes, often  adopt elements of Western  significant influence of 
penetrated by natural  everything related to Japan can only be undertood against the background of the Japanese city and finished entities, and so, are less open to  referred to as a process of "Japanization" civilization the oriental world views 
elements radical heterogeneity objectification and exploitation by the market  "sophisticated order" of the traditional townscape  incomprehensible, at least to  of Shintoism, Buddhism
There are no clear rational patterns with which to structure both perception and understanding of the physical  place. has prevailed in most instances Westerners Buddhist self‐awareness 
urban environment as a totality. Form and Meaning are prevented from  Tadao Ando's "minimalist" architecture  structural clarity of European cities  leading or alluding to a 
impermanence prevails appearing as self‐evident, natural (or ahistorical)  reinterpreted the calmness of traditional sukiya‐ built in stone, not the geometric grin‐ non‐rational "plural void"
Understanding the interrelationship and contradiction between these two and finished entities, and so, are less open to  style architecture and the courtyard arrangement  iron pattern of American cities Buddhist philosophy
street architecture came to provide the public space where city life and common activity took place objectification and exploitation by the market  of the urban residence or machiya and in so doing  the late avant‐garde wanted to alter 
defining "separate" urban zones districts, often identified by the activities of the artisans who lived and worked  place. also expressed a manifest criticism of the  the rules of the "language game", 
there deconstructing Form and Meaning hedonistic and conformist tendencies of  now it attempts to break them, to 
process of urban "fragmentation" does not, and should not, mean their complete  contemporary bourgeois ... question the game altogether with 
the whole as an aggregate of incomplete form remains elusive, conjured up only in the memory and imagination  elimination or destruction research into vernacular villages in the "primitive"  the aim of opening up the closed and 
of the perceiver destructures Form and Meaning in order to  cultures of Africa and Asia, has been a steady  reductionist circuits of signification or 
pleat‐like, irregular reinscribe them in a way that frees us from the  influence in his designs. Western representation.
"... collage or the empirical composition of symbols discontinuously scattered about" authority of literal facts while denying the idea  the insubstantiality found in traditional  "super‐naive" Western‐Romantic 
"floating world" of the Japanese of a priveleged aesthetic realm, under the rule of  architecture without resorting to nostalgic or  effects decorate a good number of 
largely indeterminate environment with a "sophisticated order" a priviledged 'center' sentimental references to a formal past facades
evoke a new human reality and self‐awareness a breaking down of the 'object of architecture'
Tadao Ando's "minimalist" architecture reinterpreted the calmness of traditional sukiya‐style architecture and  suspending Form and Meaning
the courtyard arrangement of the urban residence or machiya and in so doing also expressed a manifest  design primarily with two‐dimensional, layered 
criticism of the hedonistic and conformist tendencies of contemporary bourgeois ... walls in parallel but non‐compositional 
enduring and essential elements of the human residence configurations that give the building depth.
basic relations with nature, direct dialogue with materials, the small discoveries and surprises people ...
the pleasure and aesthetic uplift to be had from creative initiative in a simple way of life
d h h b

240
 Coded Text from Architectural Design
date title architect typology material qualities of space, special characteristics  space, form, composition  history tradition West religion, economy, 
sociology
1988 Progress and  Architecture as symbol of modernization Architecture was henceforth to serve as a symbol  Progress was seen as intrinsically  form of Shinto shrines
Tradition in  desire to create places through buildings of modernisation worthwhile and synonymous with 
Japanese  sukiya style Westernization
Architecture Progress versus tradition thus was a constant  desire to create places through 
theme within the self‐questioning of Japanese  buildings that had characterized the 
architects historical development of Western 
interest in tradition on a semantic or metaphysical  architecture
level coexistence of things Japanese and 
the theme of "progress and tradition" has become  non‐Japanese
mroe ambiguous and vague, and this is evident in 
the development of new iconology

1988 From the Savage  concrete essential components of Japanese primitivism and its accompanying emphasis on the natural were  The rustic sensibility of the sukiya tea house  alternative primitve order eclipses  austerity and spiritual 

to the Nomad:  wood institutionalized became established as an architectural ideal rationality, hierarchy and limits and  discipline of Zen reached 
Critical  High‐tech materials Shinohara seizes this important combination of elemental and spiritual when he writes the operation of traditional aesthetics and the  evades the bounds of Western  its culmination in tiny 
Interventions in  metals I determined that symbolic space was the nucleus of the beautiful spatial tradition of Japan space together with the spiritual content it  classical philosophy and  wooden huts with 
Contemporary  reflecting tiles I create negative space as a protest against frenzied movement about me produces mobilizes the "primitive" in his work and  mathematics. thatched roofs and in the 
Japanese  polished stone and  elements that have lost meaning and have been reduced to the zero degree, presupposing a context in which  is analyzed in his reflections on the Zen temple Western metaphysics based on  minutely prescribed 
Architecture glass meaning was eliminated from symbolic space I determined that symbolic space was the nucleus  authority and complicity with the  rituals of tea
metallic materials exposure of space, materials and elements of the beautiful spatial tradition of Japan state is denounced in favour of the  Shinohara pursues the 
glass domes suppressing the emergence of meanings, in spite of my wish to do so I still have to find a certain method for  The prototypes for these symbolic spaces are  forces of nature, change and the  formal economy of the 
wooden trusses fixing aggregations of such things sometimes appropriated by Shinohara from  open‐ended traversing of space Zen temple by 
The "naked" spaces stripped of all prior meanings and associations become "symbolic" when they realize their  traditional architecture, but are always refigured In contrast, post‐structuralism  dismantling past 
various roles in the house Exercises in architectural fundamentalism, at once  advocates the free flow of meanings  meanings and functions 
the building has an evocative primal power that is partly the shaman's, partly the robot's consistent with the tradition of Japanese  and signs to generate dissemination  and breathing new life 
"savagery" architecture in adherence to the organic, and yet  and new contents, engendering  into spaces rendered as 
Bricolage for Hara is a collage which is the combination of quoted elements to create a metaphor also alien, that are fascinating transformations of  complete metamorphosis. negative "naked" or zero 
reinterpretations of the world where the image of nature, a nature of topos and climate, is at once amorphous  primitivism. spaces in his attempts to 
and ambiguous parallel the traditional 
"Naturalism" is reconstituted as a mood mediated by a hyper‐philosophical understanding, and is engineered in  primitivizing processes of 
the repeated scenographic vignettes distillation and 
always been a strain of primitivism in the work of Toyo Ito simplification
Self‐reflexive enclosure and intersticial movement negate in Shinohara‐like fashion any easily translatable 
meaning
anemorphic (wind) architecture, continuing the anti‐formal explorations of Hara and Shinohara
suggest impermanence and a connection to the elements
A story is told throughout spatial form that represent and have meaning in a signifier to signified relationship. In 
contrast, post‐structuralism advocates the free flow of meanings and signs to generate
The power of the interior spaces and cluster of buildings comes from its relation to the ground ‐ a struggle for 
1988 Fragments and  d df h d
strange conglomeration of tradition and consumerism Shinohara … as form via formal architectural  Western tradition of architectural 
Noise: The  The problematique in addressing the possibilities for architecture does not depend on Western classicism or  elemtns. literature from the Renaissance on, 
Architectural  traditional Japanese styles, nor on mere toying with forms; nor, moreover, with mindless self‐recycling reductio  How powerful architectural forms can be in our  language works to define 
Ideas of kazuo  ad kitsch day and age architecture
Shinohara and  a background awareness of culture as pretexte to texte, and a thorough reassessment of the very ecriture of  Ito, whose intention is to eradicate form from  Shinohara's architecture does not 
Toyo Ito architecture that underwrites each word architecture as much as possible. aim for sudden effects on the scale of 
Shinohara and Ito ... orientation away from the past. In as mush as it exists within a historical framework,  … a fluid living space covered by a technically  a Centre Pompidou in the heart of 
Japanese architecture today is free from neither Japanese architectural traditions nor Western architectural  masterful chain of larger and smaller vaults. Paris, and initially seems to lack any 
history. Shinohara's conception of architecture is its  connection to the surrounding city, 
Ito and Shinohara are extremely clear in their positions: architecture must always raise issues regarding the  physical composition. deep down it partakes of a certain 
present. complex relationship exists between the half‐ vision of the drift of the times.
I even have my doubts as to whether masterpieces can "stand out" today as they did in the past. cylinder superstructure cantilevered out on  The music of Noh theatre is made up 
His approach is not to plant works in square confrontation with the city, but to set a motion going within the  either side and the understructure it surmounts. of sounds that would be noise to 
existing urban environment, to create minute, yet telling difference. The half‐cylindrical mass changes direction mid‐ Western ears, yet they effect a total 
Shinohara's buildings are not to be appreciated in spacious surroundings as are their monumentall Western  way complicationg both how its own weight is to  sound environment of singular 
counterparts, nor do they fit into the amassed urban tissue. They are to be viewed within the cluttered everyday  be borne and how it is to be connected to the  immediacy.
living environment, half‐hidden between the roofs of tiny houses down some narrow backstreet.In the Japanese  ultra‐light membraneous lower body.
city, architecture is not symbolic of the city as a whole; it can never be more than partial or fragmentary.
Questioning of the possibilities for architecture within the Japanese city
origins of architecture as a place covering the locus of evolving human life, seated in the body and its activities.
Undoubtedly their respective attitudes toward form simply relate to different aspects of today's multi‐
diversifying culture, directions that are not so much "uniquely Japanese", but rather sensibilities capable of 
addressing the fully‐fledged universals of our contemporary world.

1988 Kazuo‐ centennial‐hall concrete concept of "progressive anarchy" half cylinder to a rectangular parallelepiped, the  tatami room "a complete antithesis of the 

Shinohara house steel "zero‐degree machine" basic image of the building was established ‐ a  beautiful and orderly urban 
corrugated aluminum "fearsome super‐technology contained in the elements and apparatuses and their relationships established  "shining cylinder, floating in the air." compositions found in the West"
tatami room inside" forms of extreme complexity
solemn yet dramatic testimony various individual forms and volumes of the new 
is attached to an older, traditional house in a way that respects, as much as possible, the surrounding  house
environment and the existing structure variety of geometrical shapes and positions 
science‐fiction machine which, with their ambiguous quality
quarter‐cylindrical main volume

241
 Coded Text from Architectural Design
date title architect typology material qualities of space, special characteristics  space, form, composition  history tradition West religion, economy, 
sociology
1988 Kisho‐ museum tile incorporates both traditional Japanese technology and modern expression  traditional Japanese technology and modern 
Kurokawa aluminum expression
stone
1988 Hiroshi‐Hara aluminum panels mujo, the Japanese traditional aesthetic concept of 
transience or ephemerality
1988 Hiromi‐Fujii storehouse metamorphosing the storehouse
fragmentary differentiation
1988 Fumihiko‐Maki museum environment that is fragmented but that constantly renews its vitality precisely through its fragmentation
museum dynamic equilibrium, a vocabulary of masses and volumes, a whole that subsumes conflicting parts, and a 
arts‐center system of industrial materials that respond to the architect's sensibility

1988 Tadao‐Ando office‐building exposed concrete landscape that was related at the same time to the outside a curving wall

residence concrete wall distinctive interior landscape that was not simply open to the outside but was at the same time open and closed 12‐meter cube and a wall along the property line
housing Trees were planted in the front garden to the north and the south courtyard to provide a sense of historical 
continuity.

1988 Osamu‐ museum form itself is not derived directly from tradition  make use of traditional Japanese techniques

Ishiyama and is instead deliberately non‐Japanese.

1988 Itsuko‐ house perforated aluminum translucent screens has created an ambiguous, but pleasurable internal screens are shaped to capture

Hasegawa industrial products and  neither totally an interior space nor an exterior
materials soften the boundary between public and private realms. Translucent and ever‐changing
metal screens spaces with a delicate, almost mystical aura

1988 Toyo‐Ito house expanded metal  light as cloth, fluttering in the air and covered with a soft roof, it would set people free from the earth and invite  massive void

overlap them to a dream garden in the air.
1988 Shin‐ aluminum
Takamatsu glass
steel
concrete
1988 Yasumitsu‐ house sheet metal architecture without any preconceptions
Matsunaga primitive hut
1988 Ryoji‐Suzuki house my architectural works have a fragmentary character
multi‐story‐ contemporary feeling of the impossiblity for anything to reach a state of completion on its own
building
rental‐spaces
house
1988 Atsushi‐
Kitagawara
1988 Hajime‐
Yatsuka
1989 Dispersed Multi‐ Hiromi‐Fujii multi‐layered contiguous landscapes constitute parts multi‐layered quality of space Modernism referring to Classical space, I have 
Layered Space multi‐layered, dispersed spaces reject the compositional principles Post‐Modernism may simply be an expression of  been imagining the space of French 
suppression, deficiency and compression that are related to the depths of the consciousness series of boxes within boxes, perceives the traces  impatience with the impasse palatial gardens, and in the case of … 
of that world and manages to crystallize and  multi‐layered space, I have been thinking of the  Despite their large sizes, these 
systematize those traces to a limited extent space of Japanese tour gardens gardens have extremely simple and 
Shrubs, trees … overlap to obstruct the line of  clear organizations, making it easy to 
vision, creating sadows and eliminating vistas. comprehend them in their entirety
overlapping landscape French garden
The absence of vista, the flexion and fragmentation  Form and material are clearly 
of vision instead of the integration of the whole by  divorced ... former dominates the 
the means of a sweeping view represents a  latter
positive, rather than a negative principle behind  highly constructed space
the Japanese garden. The diversity or polysemy of 
absence of vista landscape and vision is to be 
multi‐layered quality of the landscape completely ignored
landscape is always fragmented
landscape becomes a set of overlapping and 
contiguous landscapes ...
transforms it into an un‐constructed space

1989 The Nave of Signs Hiromi‐Fujii segmenting, dividing, cutting, detachment, and layering of space

ambiguity, diversify and polysemy
1991 Kisho‐ museum stones create a synthesis of traditional and modern elements The design of the roof and wall of the building was 
Kurokawa tiles inspired by the traditional "kura" warehouses of 
aluminum the 19th century.
1991 Tadao‐Ando house situated amongst pine trees composition is centered around a cylindrical  several Western architects who have 
view of the garden volume found the stylistic freedom of Tokyo 
… Japan, where it has captured the imagination of a wide range of corporate clients the building are connected by the multi‐story  to be extremely refreshing
cylinder

242
 Coded Text from Architectural Design
date title architect typology material qualities of space, special characteristics  space, form, composition  history tradition West religion, economy, 
sociology
1991 Mapping the  Itsuko‐ cultural‐center a place where trees,  a place where trees, caves and flowers are made of metal
Modern Hasegawa caves and flowers are  garden in her Nagoya pavilion … symbiotic relationship with nature
made of metal could equally create the biggest and best (or worst) Disneyworld ever seen
unstructured nihilism which is a commentary on the worst traits of late 20th‐century Japanese society
cool monumentalism of other Japanese designers

1991 Architecture as  Itsuko‐ primary landscape … non‐modern … non‐urban … non‐artistic … the local as opposed to the universal, the  living in Asia, with its Buddhist background, ought  society can no longer simply accept 

Another Nature Hasegawa indigenous and the ethnic … ecology and a relationship to be searching for social ideas of our own and depend on the modern Western 
building must make up for the topography and space that is mode of thought
new building … commemorate the nature that had to be destroyed because of it and serve as a means of 
communicating with nature ... "architecture as another nature"
human beings are a part of nature ... ecosystem
We need to harness both the spirit of rationalism and the spirit of irrationalism, pay heed to both what is 
international and what is local, and recognize the nature of contemporary science and technology in trying to 
create an architecture for the society of the coming era.
"architecture as another nature"
"Landscape Architecture"
ad hoc approach ... inclusive architecture ... accepts a multiplicity ... might be called a "pop" reasoning
live in a relationship of interdependence with nature
"architecture as another nature" ... will continue to espouse until the arrival of the meta‐industrial society and 
the creation of spaces that are both natural and comfortable to human beings.

1991 Architecture,  Itsuko‐ cultural‐center lightweight industrial  Japanese avant‐garde architects ‐ the so called New Wave … mid 80s several spherical volumes architecural complex as a "vernacular village" Hasegawa's architectural realism 

Nature, & a New  Hasegawa materials and products:  Hasegawa … infused a "feminine voice" … representatives of the other gender image of the prototypical house technology was mobilized in order to recollect finds itself clearly at odds with its 
Technological  layered, perforate  "architecture as second nature" so that, while mobilizing the "translucent world of emotions" devoid of the  free from the fetish of form or formalism and  clusters of vernacular shelters, or indigenous  American counterpart, the 
Landscape metallic screens, slimm  spirit of rationalism have had little to do with defining "architecture  villages contextualism advocated by Venturi, 
ferrous elements,  utilization of ever changing natural phenomena ... the evocative but also provocative power of nature ...  as language" either additional "moon‐viewing" deck Stern, Moore and others
synthetic fabric analogical nature, a man‐made, industrial technological, even futuristic construct assemblages of formally autonomous parts Modern architecture was born as a result of the  analogy of Constructivism
aluminum screens,  choreographing "natural landscape" with and within her architecture building … being large fragments of architecture technological revolution
canopies, series of  ambiguous realms ... experienceed in nature "disinterested objects" Metabolism, the last representative of Modern 
small, prismatic glass  animated by light, wind and sound, they also allude to natural formations; they become analogous to some  heterogeneou, collage‐like texture architecture in Japan, projected the vision of a 
and metallic roofs fictive of symbolic landscapes buried in the Japanese collective memory break up the solidity of architectural volumes to  technological landscape which was as much 
artificial tree works as "poetic machines" ... "echoing the call of the past and the distant future" ... of the present suggest the domestic realm by layering all the  megastructural as it was all‐encompassing
metallic panels and  small vernacular settlements, villages and farming communities that have, by necessity, maintained a close  elements
screens, sashes,  affinity with nature and the natural
stainless‐steel wire  seeks to achieve a merger or at least a certain continuity between natural and built landscapes ... nature and the 
mesh, and other  urban realm
ferrous and non‐ Shinohara tended toward an abstract, conceptual approach ... hasegawa ... poetic realism
ferrous components less and less capable of providing a meaningful context for architecture
lightweight structures actively engage the heterogeneous, collage‐like texture
thin, semi‐transparent  images of primal landscapes
metallic screens new technological landscape and futuristic urban lifestyles
aluminum and/or  prototypical house with its "primitive" vernacular
fiberglass combination of nature and technology
against the Modernist interpretation of technology ... against the so called High‐Tech architecture and further
new technological landscape is analagous to the multi‐layered Japanese urbanscape ... and produces 
heterogeneities rather than striving for homogeneity ... addressing contradictory conditions
the physical and tectonic entity ... acquire a certain lightness ... "immaterial evocation of building"
"a primitve hut designed for dwelling in a modern, urban environment, just as ancient people made their 
h hl "

243
 Coded Text from Architectural Design
date title architect typology material qualities of space, special characteristics  space, form, composition  history tradition West religion, economy, 
sociology
1991 From  Kisho‐ mixing opposites, ambiguity and hybridization past versus present and future interweave dualities: East versus  In the 1960s Japan's 
Metabolism to  Kurokawa abstraction versus representation, organic versus rational, past versus present and future concerned with Metabolism … talked about in‐‐ West economy entered its 
Symbiosis extraordinary combination of a careful, procedural culture and a Toy Town culture between space, ambiguity … Symbiosis and  One of the reasons Japan has become  period of high growth.
the relationship between architecture and its environment will produce meaning. The relationship between the  Intercultural Architecture an economic superpower is that  Buddhist philosophy, 
distinct spaces within the work of architecture and the relationships between placements of the quoted signs  The 1970s was a decade when the contradiction  Japan has faithfully studied the  which is at the root of 
and symbols in the work will create new meaning. between city and nature, between people and  Modernism and rationalism of the  Japanese culture.
concept of Symbiosis will become a key word of this new age of interrelationships technology, sharpened in intensity. West. This is a reflection of the 
metabolism, change, growth, intermediate space, and a symbiosis that transcends the binomial opposition of  1970s was a turbulent transitional period when we  By placing third space, an  Buddhist concept of 
dualism began to move from an industrial society to an  intermediary space between two  impermanence.
This is a reflection of the Buddhist concept of impermanence. information society spaces the ambiguity and  The special character of 
Japan has a view of life and death that doesn't make life the absolute ‐ life and death are viewed as related. In the 1980s it became increasingly apparent that  ambivalence that are excluded by the  Japanese culture, growth 
Japan was being transformed into an information  dualism and binomial opposition of  and change that I have 
society. the West are introduced. mentioned is deeply 
Traditional Japanese architectural models such as  I think the binomial opposition  involved in Japan's 
Ise Shrine, Izumo Shrine, and Katsura Detached  between Modernism and Post‐ scientific, technological 
Palace were the pretext of the Metabolism  Modernism is an extremely Western  and economic success 
Movement dualism, and I don't think it is a  today.
This is a reflection of the Buddhist concept of  meaningful argument the concept of Symbiosis 
impermanence. I think the two most important  is also intimately linked 
Intermediate space is another eexpression of the  revisinos of modernism and Modern  with Buddhist thought
special character of Japanese culture. ma is the  architecture are the following; first,  Symbiosis, which is at the 
interval of space that exists between opposing  we must revise our Euro‐centrism;  core of Buddhist thought, 
elements of spaces. In the traditional Japanese  second, we must revise our belief in  was able to transcend 
residential architectural styles ‐ the Shoin style and  logocentrism, or universalism. the bounds of religion 
the Sukiya style ‐ there is a veranda called an  and become the basis of 
engawa that is an intermediary space between the  Japanese culture as a 
garden and the house. The veranda links the  whole.
1992 Arata‐Isozaki conference‐ stainless‐steel wire wave‐form roofs and the leaning tower: the  d d h h b
center former represents the sea; the latter, the ships 
that sail on it
gentle curves that echo the undulations of the 
roof

1992 The Ark perforated metal no boundary between a wall, a tree, a screen, a shadow. simple geometries

Their work … sensibly and modestly
sensibility towards objects, their placement and their substance that we must study
1992 Critical  house lightweight structures  Japan … "Japan the city" … Empire of Signs scattered and ambiguous spaces negativity in the 1970s which was sharply critical …  the particular features 
Intentions in  and thin, semi‐ "An architecture floating on the sea of signs" various individual forms and volumes of the  1980s, bolstered by a new economic boom and strength of the 
Pluralistic  permeable, ferrous and  architecture in japan … is paradoxical. … both continuous and discontinuous with the city and society … a sense  house, all corresponding to different functions often allude to the images of vernacular  economy, the advanced 
Japanese  other materials to  for both realism or more so fiction … vision? ... plurality of ways settlements, like hilltowns systems of information 
Architecture evoke flexible,  1 The reinterpretations of nature in relation to the city. 2 Understanding the city as topography. 3 The tendency  In 1974 shinohara used the earthen surface of the  and technolgy, the 
scattered …  toward a new primitivism. ... "lightness of insubstantiality"... new industrial vernacular ... theater or the city as  sloping site as the floor inside his Tanikawa  qualities of urbanism
aluminum plates fiction. residense in a manner akin to the pounded earth  new economic boom 
industrial materials and  architecture in relation to nature ... Tadao Ando ... irreducible phenomena of nature against ... contemporary  floor areas or doma in traditional residences affluence, and optimism 
structures mass culture and the megalopolis sequentially layered spaces that, similar to  … new urban culture
wooden house miniature models of ... "ideal" cities within his buildings. traditional architecture
lightweight … cheap  nature into architecture
metallic materials architecturalize nature rather than vice‐versa
metallic frames,  another direction in which ...
aluminum penetration of nature ... "architecture as another nature"
boundaries between nature, architecture and the city as ambiguous as possible.
architecture is at once amorphous and ambiguous
process of "naturalizing architecture" ... "architecture as another nature" runs the risk of turning architecture 
into a simulacrum of nature
"poetic machines" or futuristic, man‐made constructs.
various ways of reinterpreting nature
Riken Yamamoto ... "city as topography"
is both futuristic and archaic; it is a paradoxical high‐tech ruin
If this line of understanding, the city as topography, sees the possibility of an architectural and urban renewal 
over and above ... 
architecture ... primitive simplicity
a "primitive hut" but now conceived in the modern urban environment
series of high‐tech camps of urban nomads. Nomadic space or architecture is unwritten and undesigned ... no 
1992 Nakanosima  Tadao‐Ando urban‐park f l
multi‐layers and to utilize te site in a tree‐dimensional manner
Project II central‐public‐ multi‐layered areas
hall phenomena beyond the limits of time and to structure two spaces of the present and the past in a multi‐layer
forward movement towards the future while swaying
In the stream of time flowing from the past to the present, the succession and contrast of historicism should be 
presented

244
 Coded Text from Architectural Design
date title architect typology material qualities of space, special characteristics  space, form, composition  history tradition West religion, economy, 
sociology
1992 A Search for New  Itsuko‐ "Architecture a Second Nature" … sensual artistic traditions of the Edo culture seem  huge economic 
Concepts  Hasegawa So my architecture is created through a process of filtering the spirit of my own life in Tokyo. to remain in its space and in people's consciousness structures and high‐
through Filtering  … transfigure with no composition or coherence. technology permeate 
my Life in Tokyo … based on the Japanese concept of nature. throughout, making it a 
… departure from the concept that architecture is a product of reason. swollen, chaotic city.
... architecture should generate a place for people to live as a part of nature which lies in human consciousness;  Absolute commercial 
nature should include total humanlife, which is accommodated in the common ecology. greed. Tokyo is the 
... an ad hoc style of development ... theatre where symbols of 
... latent relationship between human beings and the environment ... the consumer society flit. 
Super‐technology covers 
the entire Tokyo urban 
area, turning everything 
into a kind of media

1992 Tradition and the  it is inviting, fascinating, diverse, free in spirit, responsive to nature, and rich in emotion. "tradition" is invoked as an anchor amid the storms  The rate of change in Japanese  specific resopnse to 

New in Japanese  Japan may soon be the critical influence in the development of world architecture of change, Japan eagerly embraces the late 20th  society continues to amaze  Japanese society. The 
Architecture school of monumentalism century and forges an architecture of transition  Westerners current economic crisis in 
Tadao Ando … most fashionable … evocative, enigmatic, surreal quality which suggests spiritual depth. For the  which is the frank expression of a technological,  For the Westerner Japan ‐ a breathing space 
Westerner, Ando's work seems to embody typically Japanese values consumerist society after years of 
architecture of change and impermanence The rate of change in Japanese society continues to  unrestrained growth
most memorable of recent Japanese buildings ... great natural beauty amaze Westerners
Impermanence is the essence of Japan today embody typically Japanese values
... tune with the natural world and with the essence of humanity. old axioms about architecture in the context of 
... redefine the relationship between the world of nature. time

1992 Between Reality  there is an  aluminum panels speed with which the built environment … is changing Shoei Yoh's … expressive structural possibility Japanese city … displays unique characteristics  … in the role of representing Japan  Japanese consumerism 

and Fiction impressively  stainless‐steel sheeting This is, of course, not to say that japan was not formerly a dynamic nation. On the contrary. Ever since the  Maki … innovative structural systems which, inherited from the past, contribute to and  arboad, he is joined by such other  "in overdrive" along with 
large and fast  metallic parts, steel  country opened its gates to the rest of the world in the middle of the 19th century, Japanese progress and the  Shinohara … fragmentary compositions that  hasten significantly these developments internationally acclaimed designers  one of its phenomena, 
growing  plates, highly polished  pace of change have never been anything less than rapid. The "Japanese miracle" in the 1960s, the continued  have no "stable" reality traditional predisposition of the Japanese towards  as Isozaki, Maki, Ando, Shinohara,  the sky‐rocketing land 
number of  surfaces, hinges, rods  economic boom thereafter, and the more recent evolution of highly‐advanced consumer‐cum‐information  Hiromi Fujii … "animating" structural walls a "floating world" Takamatsu, Ito, etc. prices
cultural  and the large rivets society, along with other factors, have had a profound, explosive impact on the whole country, first of all on the  effect of new technologies … articulation of  As early as the mid‐7th century AD, Chinese  Shinohara and Takamatsu are  Statistical data reveal … 
complexes;  metallic screens course, extensiveness and unique form of its urbanization. Foreigners visiting Japan from time to time have  details, surfaces, etc. builders and craftsmen were active in the country  working on large scale projects, both  Ginza district of central 
museums,  structure, wrapped  commented on the difficulties they had in recognizing certain urban areas and even larder districts in  in high quality craftsmanship, a craftsmanship  and helped to build Buddhist temples, monasteries,  in France Tokyo in `987, one 
conference‐ around by several  metropolitan regions such as Osaka, Nagoya, hiroshima and most of all Tokyo, upon returning there after only a  that does not exhaust itself in merely good or  etc. Then later, after the Meiji restoration,  fast‐growing number of foreign  square foot of land could 
centers and  layers of semi‐ few years. even perfect functional solutions, often it goes  numerous foreign experts, including architects and  architects working on various  go for as much as US$ 
exposition‐ transparent acrylic  rapid change, impermanence far beyond. engineers, were invited to establish the  projects in Japan 28,000
centers,  layers and perforated  many architects expect their projects to last only a few years Maki's handling foundations of "modern" Western architecture and  The Japanese have always been  the amount of tax to be 
exhibition‐ aluminum screens impermanence ... architects are aware of impermanence Takamatsu's designs ... theatricality produced by  teach the first generation of Japanese  fascinated by and borrowd from the  paid after such land is 
galleries, sports‐ aluminum plates radical heterogeneity, the variety and proliferation of signs, along with the lack of any sensible center the new technology "professional" designers. architectural culture of other nations  equally high ... prompted 
facilities and,  screens with highly‐ urban realm now functions as a kind of large common living room of the citizens, whereby the city often appears  high‐tech phenomenalism ... "architectural  all through history. to invest in construction 
very  polished surfaces as having no exterior camouflage" ... the interest of foreign architects in  as soon as possible
importantly, a  glass to blur ... has problematized or relativized the traditional notions of permanent residence and home whereby it can be  new technology Japan was by and large limited to its  land... represents the 
new type of  "electric" or liquid  considered, in Toyo Ito's words, as a "continuously" temporary camp of "urban nomads" "no‐form" compositions traditional architecture ...  biggest rights and 
public‐housing  crystal glass ... essence of the built environment is produced as, and or by, images and information first, it is only an "imminent space" and then,  Foreignors working in Japan or on  interests, is the central 
or residential‐ lightweight structures the high‐level craftsmanship, detailing, and overall execution that have shaped them all through with action of events arising, it is an "impromptu  Japanese projects in the 60s and 70s  item of the economy, 
architecture in  Peter Cook, who recently asked: "Where do we go for the most important architectural information? At the  space" a space by performance were practically unheard of. used as a capitalist prop 
japan. moment, I think that is Japan." "meta‐contextual topos" in the  for politics of a non‐
architectural details and finishes ... superbly elaborated, resolved, and flawlessy executed thereby contributing  indiscriminately mingled Japanese  ideological nature.
...  urban environment where every  With architecture 
... leading or driving force behind the fast growing worldwide or global network of our accelerated  building embodies its own vision of  becoming a trendy topic, 
contemporary architectural production as well. the city. many architects are now 
... to what extent it is still possible to talk about a specifically Japanese architecture, is justified. Nexus World project also being turned into 
1992 Vortex and  Toyo‐Ito h h b f d l d h h
cherry‐blossom viewing party, where people drink sake with friends on a red carpet … inside open tents,  f f In Noh, … to Kabuki ... " h [h ] h d d "
In nature, the place 
Current: On  represents the fundamental character of Japanese architecture Master of kendo where people choose to 
Architecture as  primitive architecture is built for the event gather is determined by 
Phenomenalism assimilates nature completely … carpets ... visualize natural phenomena rather than disregard or supress them. the terrain, the location 
architecture here is evoked by something extremely transient of the trees, or the 
generating vortexes in the currents of air, wind, light, and sound direction of the wind.
unstable, ephemeral phenomenon, as well as in a system which constantly seeks stability and continuity.
generate vortexes of events
a flow of space against stability while constantly seeking stable forms.
chessboard‐like urban space
a temporary, tense relationship. ... throw in a new vortex ... induce a new flow
Tokyo no longer requires the lasting stability of formalistic expressions, let alone the permanence of 
monuments.

245
 Coded Text from Architectural Design
date title architect typology material qualities of space, special characteristics  space, form, composition  history tradition West religion, economy, 
sociology
1992 Stillness of  physical impermanence The Meiji Reformation of 1867 … massive and  While in the West the "problem" of 
Hyperreality: The  abstract physical properties … relationships violent physical changes of its major cities. …  city is largely a theoretical construct 
In(de)finite City non‐ideologica, fragmentary vision of the city framed by the autonomy of capitalist pragmatism iconographic idea of city ‐ the castle town ‐ void. that reads and interprets the city in 
incessant spectacle of urban phantasmagory in which delirious acts of architecture … displacement of a sense of history …  excess of its physical condition, in 
self‐referential activity sukiya masters Japan the dynamism of commercial 
"In the Japanese city, architecture is not symbolic of the city as a whole; it can never be more than partial of  distribution and consumption process 
fragmentary." ‐ whose instrument and ultimate 
... architecture can only be actualized as a fragment of its hybrid body in which case the city conversely  object being the urban environemtn 
symbolizes architecture itself ‐ physically transforms the city 
... the texture of the Japanese city is constructed though images which denote reality as the materialization of  at a rate that surpasses the most 
form and, to paraphrase Jean Baudrillard, these images substitute the real itself with signs of the real. imaginative theoretical speculation.
Tadao Ando ... architectural autonomy ... architecture as an object
zero degree condition
reality as a sum of rational measurements and parameters has become
a field of exploration of untold and unforeseen dimensions
the experience of the event itself

1992 Arata‐Isozaki cultural‐ titanium covering

complex
art‐tower
1992 Fumihiko‐Maki gymnasium panels of aluminum are  high standard of technology and craftsmanship composition of primary elements of planes and 
suspended in the air by  visitors will always be faced with changing views due to the different juxtapositions of the buildings with  lines
cables, leaving lines of  different vistas of the neighbouring park and city. The experience of changing sceneries is not unlike that of the  compositions of planes, lines and points
light between the  Japanese kaiyushiki or stroll garden. curving as in a shell
panels
metals and glass
1992 Kisho‐ government‐ stone, terrazzo, tiles,  utilizing a harmoniious combination of straight and curved lines
Kurokawa headquarters aluminum and titanium  to express the symbiosis of tradition and future
are introduced for the 
façade as if woven 
textiles

1992 Kazuo‐ station heterogeneous 

Shinohara framework systems
transparent glass
1992 Takefumi‐Aida memorial‐hall reflective glass and  endow space with movement and flow; they change in appearance depending on the movement of the observer
aluminum panels guest room is an alien presence

1992 Minoru‐ port‐terminal reminiscent of certain Metabolist solutions Metabolism Russian Constructivist

Takeyama port Russian Constructivist
port‐terminal‐
building
1992 Hiroshi‐Hara museum tree‐like concrete  natural light
columns with steel  uniformity and homogeneity of these spaces … are non‐uniform, transient spaces, which change with the 
trusses season, time and climate.
1992 Tadao‐Ando museum garden with a man‐made pond Two cubes, divided into nine parts … cylinder The area was an important place at the beginning 
museum dynamic spatial experience of Japanese history
… building represents a journey to the underworld of ancient times.
It is a "tumulus" built in the present Heisei era (1989), dedicated to the Japanese love of nature.
1992 Itsuko‐ cultural‐center The center had to be in harmony with the area and not create a totally alien townscape. three separate volumes to form a plaza The layered translucent screens articulate space in 
Hasegawa Tokyo is flooded with information. These forms are abstract and simple, yet they fit  ways that suggest traditional features such as shoji, 
into the neighbourhood sudare and koshido.
During the planning and design of this building, the 
traditional Japanese community provided a 
metaphor, and aspects of it were translated into 
modern or futuristic forms.
1992 Toyo‐Ito guest‐house metal façade screens blend with the surrounding topography … more like a piece of earthwork than as architecture curved walls
museum The structure fuses,  polygonal spaces with apexes associated by 
and/or contrasts with  geometric rule rather than form
the landscape in an 
attempt to create a 
new environmental 
architecture

1992 Yasumitsu‐ dormitory because of the over‐

Matsunaga exaggeration of the 
merits of privacy and 
exclusive ownership of 
land.
1992 Ryoji‐Suzuki temple network of these innumerable voids and our own "void" consciously attempts to handle this network. … political conflict between "modern" and 
Embrace the void of the Japanese city internally while, at the same time, it releases architecture towards this  "traaditional" principles. However, what we have 
chaotic network of void in the city. attempted here was to subtract the "principle" 
from both and let them fucntion on the same stage 
at the same time.

246
 Coded Text from Architectural Design
date title architect typology material qualities of space, special characteristics  space, form, composition  history tradition West religion, economy, 
sociology
1992 Shin‐ commercial‐
Takamatsu building
commercial‐
building
1992 Atsushi‐ corporate‐ glass representation of Tokyo as an "evanescent" or ephemeral city This tiny garden could be seen as Lautréamont's 
Kitagawara headquarters reinforced glass screens Tokyo is a series of events, like ari, wind, or insubstantiality tokonoma bathed in crisp morning sunlight.
aluminum casting
metallic surfaces

1992 Hajime‐ commercial‐

Yatsuka building
1992 Shoei‐Yoh museum mechanical and  "Media Space"
structural
1992 Kazuyo‐Sejima timber and a steel ring not merely in a sense of dynamics, but rather as a framework closely related to specific activities
steel pipes Such a structure features a curious, ambiguous quality insofar as it is difficult to decide whether one is dealing 
steel truss with a complete entity that is a whole in itself, or only a part, that is only a fragment of a larger whole.

1993 Hajime‐ civic‐center integration and continuity to this confusing context by superimposing a huge artificial slope of boomerang shape

Yatsuka harmony‐hall
1993 Kiko‐Mozuna museum method of interconnecting artifacts and nature …. Applied to establish the harmony between environment and  The gate, entrances and passages are designed on 
architecture … attempt to reconstitute the original image of landscape the basis of a combination of traditional Japanese 
enormous dry garden factors with fractal geometry using up‐to‐date 
Neo‐Orientalism … Japanese concepts with a more occidental style in a modern interpretatioon which places our  materials.
traditional background in a future context.
1994 Shin‐ terminal
Takamatsu
1994 Ushida house relationship between the human body, its surroundings, space and perceptions primal forms and volumes
1994 Katsuhiro‐ abstract and esoteric to Western logic, but specific to natural growth. Zen culture, as experienced in the Japanese rock 
Isobe garden. In the rock garden the natural order of the 
landscape elements and human 
imagination/thought are integral to each other.

1994 Tadao‐Ando house tranquility of the sunken court composition of contrasting volumes and voids

retaining the elements of nature … within all spaces of the building. Nature imbues the architecture with coloru,  rectangular volume
lending orchestration to daily life cylindrical volume

1994 Editorial (Maggie  innovative and exciting architecture at the cutting edge spatial development to harmonize with the  Ise shrine

Toy) Cultural influences nature and content of architecture invisible tradition
system of perpetual renewal and yet spiritual permanence creation of buildings from inside out
tranquility of spaces
by the cultural background
fascinating architectural landscape
1994 Learning from  Japanese aesthetics spiritual … is the invisible tradition … the provisionality …  dense society
Tokyo The Japanese are perfectly willing to incorporate tnew cultural elements, new technology, new forms, and the  the holistic structure …dense society concept of the Buddhist 
symbol of foreign cultures as long as they are certain that they will be able to preserve their invisible tradition traditions that are both visible and invisible, the  philosophy … The 
The invisible Japanese tradition is like this hidden flavor. religion, philosphy, aesthetics, lifestyle, customs,  Buddhist concept of 
Tokyo into a city well suited to provisionality psychological environment, emotional sensitivity  impermanence teaches …
architecture that purposefully rejects consistency and a sense of order
process of continuous growths Japanese traditions ... tend to place more value on 
... part ... parts to the whole the invisible traditions
Tokyo used to be a group of small cities and this tradition has been inherited by contemporary Tokyo in a  heritage ... transmitted ... tradition preserved .. 
symbiosis of parts and whole. The new Japanese style hierarchy is evident in this new hierarchy, no city‐center  invisible tradition was behind the object
or plaza, no boulevards ...  I have always incorporated the Japanese tradition 
extremely high population desity ... crowded ... density ... physical density ... collective oriented lifestyle ...  and the philosophy of Japanese culture
density of information tradition of accepting ... changing seasons into the 
Peter Popham human lifestyle
European viewpoint
doesn't really matter what you do because the tradition will continues to survive
invisible may remain, but invisible it surely is
the Japanese tradition in the visible way
architects are interested in making Japanese cities even more Japanese in terms of chaos and control etc.
I was struck by how the Japanese could defend themselves and the incredible barriers they had and the extent 
to which they don't take responsibility for the present
... read Prigogine and chaos theory and theories of self‐organization and suddenly he had his conversion and he 
said, "Hey, all this ugliness is really beautiful, we just aren't looking at the right patterns of chaotic!"
"Tokyo ... it's awful!"
there is no space in Tokyo too small to be public

247
 Coded Text from Architectural Design
date title architect typology material qualities of space, special characteristics  space, form, composition  history tradition West religion, economy, 
sociology
1994 The Hidden  wood, carefully  affinity for ambiguity and incompleteness freedom regarding the shape traditional architecture and typical townscapes of  The Western‐type treatment of space  subtle changes of the 
Order: Tokyo  smoothed texture, and  the shape of these cities is extremely unstable and undefined … ambiguous zone form is random or amorphous Japan, which are asymmetrical to begin …  and design four seasons. The climate 
through the 20th  the precision of its  undefined outlines spontaneous cluster of organisms or the  World War II beginning with the whole and then  is characterized by 
Century joints and interlocking  Building and urban planning policy in Japan is considerably looser and more ambiguous than that in European  branching of a tree old Edo, Tokyo of today, and Kyoto was punctuated  proceeding to its parts considerable rainfall
timbers. Each such  countries, and this is the result of the strong resistance Japanese have to giving up freedom of movement for the  architectural space with 53 stations conform to regulations set down by  Mist and moisture soften
feature demonstrates a  sake of regularity of forms or clarity of outlines. traditional buildings of Japan are thei relatively  these communities … little freedom  history of Buddhist 
beauty in irregularity  "architecture of the floor" gives priority to content diminuitive proportions, asymmetry, and modest  to diverge from established forms  architecture … tenjikuyo, 
that originates from an  center of a Japanese city may not be that clear facades, often deliberately hidden in the  and styles … preserving the outline of  karayo and wayo
inner ‐ hidden ‐  boundaries are ill‐defined, sprawling wildly in every direction surrounding shrubbery building not only dynamically as 
viewpoint Tokyo is the perfect example of the fluid, regenerating city emphasis upon forms ... architecture  supports, but 
Japanese architecture as temporary of the wall aesthetically in each 
amoeba city cores of Western cities ...  different style
peculiar shape and size, the structures built are often oddly designed indestructible masonry structures ...  functional Japanese 
Tokyo looks chaotic. ... there is an invisible order, a random‐switch mechanism through which each level of the  suffer from stagnation and rigidity aesthetic
whole structure tolerates some haphazardness LeCorbusier seldom paid visits to the 
perpetual formation and re‐formation of parts sites of his buildings under 
hidden order construction; his concern was mainly 
shoes‐off custom has had on the way of life in Japan with the conceptual design.
LeCorbusier seldom paid visits to the sites of his buildings under construction; his concern was mainly with the  the prototype of the frontality and 
conceptual design. symmetry that is basic to European 
sharp contrast to the beauty of proportions meant to be seen from a distance architecture. It is only when you 
Japanese aesthetic draws its inspiration from the subtle changes of the four seasons. come close enough to touch it that 
The concept of the "subwhole" can be found in the essential principles of Japanese architecture and of its cities you are brought back to earth: this 
much in common with the ontogeny of living organisms; they are constantly changing in accordance with their  marvellous monument is actually 
content and function nothing but a structure of cold stones 
we are beginning to recognize that there is a kind of hidden order ... "sub‐whole" piled up with unusual skill. This was 
architecture meant to be seen from 
1994 Kisho‐ museum aluminum, glass, and  symbiotic relationship with the surrounding area Simple geometric forms were adopted: a  image of Japanese garden with a free arrangement  f
Kurokawa exposed concrete crescent, a cube, a square of stepping stones … asymmetry of Japanese 
traditions
1994 city‐health‐and‐ intermediate space is of both the exterior and the interior
welfare‐center symbiosis of the autonomous part and the whole
public‐health‐
center

1994 Introduction to  the substance  "Chaos" became a fashionable subject in traditional Japanese cities Asian city was totally different from  In the 1980s, Japan's 

Artpolis of japanese  Japanese cities … closer to natural generation Meiji Government which after the restoration of  its Western counterpart. economic situation 
contemporary  case by case solution 1868 was the driving force of Japanese  rapidly improved
architecture …  modernization … after World War II … Japanese  political events of 1968 
is mostly  political body developed a democratic structure in  must have cast shadows 
achieved in  the Western sense, and it is apparent that the forty  on it
residential‐ years follwoing the war ... rapid ultra‐
buildings and  Chandigarh ... public, mixing … "public space" …  modernization of 
commercial‐ cities raised an obstacle, either positively or  Japanese society and 
buildings for  negatively, to the creation of post‐modern  cities, with its 
private clients. urbanism in Japan. tremendous local and pre‐
small private‐ During the late 1970s, they only saw Japanese  modern bias.
houses contemporary cities as hostile environments, while 
during the 1980s the cities became the loci for an 
individual play of differentiation.
it is a Japanese tradition to place two sculptures or 
trees symmetrically around a central object, with 
the symmetrical objects ideally of contrasting 
character.

1994 Tadao‐Ando museum opened up to harmonize with the beautiful surrounding natural environment achieve symmetry

1994 Kazuhiro‐Ishii theater wood dynamic and distinct non‐ordinary spaces design was based on the temples and shrines in 
spiral layering of  Nara
wooden beams Buddhist monk Chogen
1994 Hideaki‐ museum wooden architecture
Katsura wooden trusses
AIR wooden horse
1994 Masaharu‐ museum organic form
Takasaki
1994 Kojiro‐ One important design feature is the visual and spatial linking of the various landscape elements around the site.
Kitayama
1994 Kazuo‐ police‐station steel frame
Shinohara reinforced concrete
1994 Kunihiko‐ housing‐ wooden row houses
Hayakawa development
apartment‐
building
row‐houses
1994 Riichiro‐Ogata housing‐
complex

248
 Coded Text from Architectural Design
date title architect typology material qualities of space, special characteristics  space, form, composition  history tradition West religion, economy, 
sociology
1994 Kazuyo‐Sejima dormitory place of changing moods and an interior‐exterior continuity

1994 Atelier‐Zo school unprocessed wood 

construction
wooden frame 
structure
1994 Fujie‐Kazuko bridge
Osamu‐
Haraguchi
1994 Shin‐ commercial‐ stone and metal detail design work presented an aspect of having become a composite of the polymerized structure of the excessive  spatial adventure
Takamatsu building results of these methods small site
residences The city and masks, ceremony, mythology, reflected images ... by sculpting this glittering mask, yet another  sculptural design
response was added to these problems, which will forever by architectural topics. Everything was executed with  symmetrical facade
an excessiveness never seen before. polished cylinder
containing a metropolitan intensity
express the contemporary condition
1994 Tadao‐Ando meditative and the intuitive spaces accessible to human experience are the same, they are the source of all  unproductive and uncreative past Buddhist architecture
creativity, belonging to the Ursprung. lotus pond
Suggestions that one is in the womb the temple vernacular
geometry derives from the plans of ancient Indian 
castles
1994 Minoru‐ office‐towers fragmented piece‐meal even along broad urban streets the satellite, the shape of the pyramid mystery due to its long traditional background and 
Takeyama terminal hetergeneous frontage of Japanese cities the lack of land policy
"homological"
1994 Itsuko‐ museum interior space … extension of the outdoor space simple rectangular box
Hasegawa allowed the creation of some unique sequential experiences. elliptical library
Designed to be gentle trapezoid‐shaped computer workshop
1994 Itsuko‐ museum glass shelter shape of a deformed globe
Hasegawa rectilinear building
1994 Toyo‐Ito museum aluminum panel layers of this illusion on the flow of people designed in a similar way to the shape of the site
generates a tranquil state of balance like an interfered wave, filling the space beneath the membranes linear volume
cubic volume
boat‐shaped volume

1995 Shoei‐Yoh memorial‐ stone wall one with nature Ryukyu Dynasty from nature

building appreciation of natural phenomena
golf‐club Japanese design
beautiful and functional
1995 Tadao‐Ando temple concrete wall "transparent" and womb‐like worlds circular Buddha hall is opposed to the square  temple vernacular Buddhist architecture
wooden lattice experiential reception and tea ceremony rooms laid out with 
meditative and the intuitive spaces accesible to human experience tatami mats
a square
1995 Hiroshi‐Hara "city in the air" Post‐modernist sensibilities, challenges the   … approached the issue of urbanism in his own 
"mi‐air city" homogeneity of space and the unity of form in  way; from the perspective of vernacular 
mid‐air gardens architecture settlements and their meanings
design elements are redefined The Metabolists of the 1960s
"urban room" topological models of small urban enclaves
"mid‐air city" roofs over numerous formal and spatial units … 
clustered … urban realm … outside
1995 Arata‐Isozaki
1995 Shoei‐Yoh
1995 Kengo‐Kuma visitor's‐center elliptical wooden roof strengthened the bond between the building and its location traditional construction techniques and local 
steel cables modern suspension system has produced an udnerstated materials
cedar used throughout

1995 Shoei‐Yoh station glass canopy

concrete arches
glass
1995 Itsuko‐ culture‐factory Representing both enclosure and freedom
Hasegawa transluecncy
visualization of movement
scenic metaphor for the traditional Japanese community which has survived in the local streetscape
softly … lightness and simplicity … harmonize with the surrounding environment ... revitalize this part of the city

1996 Mikan broadcast‐

station
shopping‐
center

249
 Coded Text from Architectural Design
date title architect typology material qualities of space, special characteristics  space, form, composition  history tradition West religion, economy, 
sociology
1996 Workstation community‐ various unexpected readings … open spaces open‐ended structures or compositions with a 
center open‐ended structures or compositions with a primary geometry primary geometry
health‐care‐ clear shapes or abstract form … composition 
and‐welfare‐ through the amplification
center The form … simple, continuous section, providing 
freedom in the planning of variously sized rooms

1996 Forming 
Enclosures
1997 Fumihiko‐Maki crematorium abstract landscape free‐standing as sculptural forms
natural light space which changes the moods
from space to space
1997 Apertures that  Tadao‐Ando darkness … small allowance of light … importance of light … light … progress of time … varieties of light a space where … light might move one to reach  the tea house, the epitome of Japanese  Zen Bugghist thought, 
Summon in the  Light, Shadow and Form out and cup it in one's hands architecture, where delicate light is guided into a  where space is said to be 
Light Light gives objects existence and connects space and form geometry of simple, inorganic shapes space with subtle artifice. In Japanese architecture,  "nothingness"
smooth surfaces and sharp edges there is a tradition of blending light and darkness in 
single intent of the space seeking to give voice to the spirit that so richly 
a soft transparent area transcending materials transcends substance
simplify expression Light patterns and the overlapping relationships … 
simplified forms were crucial to traditional Japanese architecture
interplay of light and dark reveals forms the traditional tea ceremony room is a microcosm 
revealing this boundary at the edge of the 
vanishing point
distinctive culture by importing and assimilating 
elements from other countries
re‐evaluate our own indigenous tradition
Japanese culture is a sense of the depth and 
richness of darkness

1997 Tadao‐Ando church natural materials darkness … Nature's presence … element of light … purer … purity man's relationship with nature rectangular volume

wood or concrete
1997 Tadao‐Ando house concrete obeys the logic of nature boxes
intrinsic nature of the site
1997 The Space of  Toyo‐Ito nostalgia and future mingle
Asiatic Light in an  contrast becomes between vernacular scenes of what can only be described as Asian and the industrial products 
Ephemeral City places in them. This is a contrast between a space of shade and a space filled with absolute brightness.

1997 Kisho‐ museum concrete and wood introducting elements of light, shadow, wind and landscape fragmented elliptical shape … spatial 

Kurokawa composition … in a transparent, cone‐shaped 
structure
1997 Kisho‐ abstract quotation of the Japanese garden abstract quotation of the Japanese garden
Kurokawa The use of asymmetrical devices is a way of expressing the sophisticated Japanese tradition
1997 Kisho‐ museum glass curtain wall creating an intermediate space between nature and the building curved wall, which brings to mind fractal 
Kurokawa abstract symbolism geometry
1997 Akira‐Kuryu museum about the precious passage of time
fundamental impression of nature which is felt deeply by most Japanese people
"environmental totality" by integrating nature, architecture and an exhibition …
continuous path … terrace which extends over the pond … natural light for the underground passage
impression of his life and his special relationship with nature
unpredictable nature

1997 Akira‐Kuryu museum promote complete harmony spaces

integrated as much as possible with the surrounding environment
new space
environmental totality
1997 Akira‐Kuryu gallery
1997 Akira‐Kuryu museum natural environment with rich greenery
natural environment that surrounds it
museums … places for contemplation … facilities for enlightenment
harmonious and relaxing environment … relationship between the museum facilities and the greenery‐rich 
environment
integrated with the environment

250
 Coded Text from Architectural Design
date title architect typology material qualities of space, special characteristics  space, form, composition  history tradition West religion, economy, 
sociology
1998 Constructing the  … ephemeral resides in the technique of construction and the concept of materiality that is embedded in it. Constructing the Ephemeral was conceived traditionally as a realm Japanese Shinto rites
Ephemeral The temporariness here appears as a double "theme" of the construction technique. interior space traditional post and beam structure with the  Shimenawa
So the impermanence here appears in the difference of the constancy of the method of "reading" of a place and  notions of territorial demarcation and  pronounced absence of walls, bears, in material  Kami
the constancy of the application of the "science" of a universalized construction method. signification of occupation reflective of the idea  and physical sense … sacred spirit
… the process of demarcation, occupation and signification fonud in the practice of Shimenawa, since it in part  of Shime The Japanese are very reluctant to give up a piece  the act of binding 
fulfills the same purpose of inscribing the ground The form never exists outside of the realm of  of land but they have very little concern for the  denotes an archetypal 
architecture is not perceived to be any more permanent than a simple structure of a bound material that produces it and, in a certain sense,  eventual removal of an architectural structure that  mode of construction
impermanence in this instance is embedded in the notion of construction technique it is the material that dominates form and  might be sitting on it. cosmogonic order
understanding architceture as a system of abstractly universal structural and meaning generating elements  renders it abstract The phenomenon of temporality around which  impermanence of the 
which are in flux and dependent upon the precision of the assembly principle to produce their effect Japanese traditional architecture is constituted is  event that takes place 
The idea of temporariness started, curiously, to (re)emerge in the mid‐80s in the works and writings of the  inseparable from the conceptualization of the  within the inscribed 
contemporary Japanese architect Toyo Ito and has continued to carry on into the present. structural assembly of tis body. territory
the idea of a "second" nature Japanese traditional architecture
"primitive" architecture (hut)
Ito approached the idea of primitive architecture … the state in which what is constructed and conceived bears 
no material difference to its context, the only distinction being the deliberate manner of organizing the material 
in order to produce a meaning‐generating condition.
temporary to unfold

1998 Toyo‐Ito office translucent liquefied  Architecturally, it represents an important step in Ito's quest for the mastery of material means through  the form … the construction but by the 

structure rarefaction of space and form. containment of liquid matter within the urban 
labyrinthine structure homogeneous, yet depth‐wise, ever shifting substance void of the site
At the same time, that which discloses itself as interior (space) is only conditionally so. never materializes as an object
uniform transluecncy … mute shadow … luminous presence … temporal construct … labyrinthine condition continuous surface which folds over itself
membrane imposes itself as an object of 
aberrant intensity
never experienced as an object
1998 Toyo‐Ito municipal‐ aluminum surface transcended the ethereal experience of the place titself
museum atmospheric light inscribing the reflective void geometric precision … abstractness
1999 Takasaki‐ community‐ designing architecture is human and spiritual work central junction of all spaces history number of older people 
Masaharu center flexible area Crucial … fundamental idea that architectural  in Japan today
space influences behavior studying the life‐style 
and philosophy of an 
older generation
climate
topography
1999 Shuhei‐Endo public‐facility characterized simultaneously by the open and the closed
1999 Shuhei‐Endo office metal wall reduces the sense of oppression
wooden loading shaft no structure
metal plate each building forms itself
Japanese cedar

1999 Shigeru‐Ban house vertical loads …  spatially the house consists of a "universal floor" 

columns … without enclosure … flexibly partitioned

1999 Shigeru‐Ban house sliding doors both enclosure and openness Japanese sensibility

manually operated tent  true spaces … universal floor … both enclosure 
roof and openness
grid of PVC gutters
dense screen
1999 Naito‐ house load‐bearing structure the concept is based on the principle of a tunnel
Architect laminated pine 
members with 60cm 
diameters

1999 Sanaa‐Ltd. house "semi‐external space" extended family

relationship of rooms can change flexibly  two nuclear families
through the operation of doors, windows and  polycarbonate walls
the corridor The partitions between 
composed in intimate relation to the other the corridor and the 
other rooms are folding 
doors or the mobile‐
louvre

251
 Coded Text from Casabella
date title architect typology material qualities of space, special characteristics  space, form, composition  history tradition West religion, economy, 
sociology
1982 Rokko Housing Tadao‐Ando house wooden The control of the planning by the use of precise geometric rules has made the building possible in an  The control of the planning by the use of precise  refer to the ancient craft traditions of wooden 
"impossible" geometric rules has made the building possible  house construction
This attention to detail enables a precision of the assembly, from which comes the smooth, clean‐lined, perfect  in an "impossible"
concrete, characteristic of Ando and other Japanese architects. simple geometries 
… only logical answer could be the building of different qualities of silence or different pauses in time, expressed 
in a radical reduction of the elements, to give a new meaning to gesture and a new rhythm to behavior.
simple geometries emphasized by the thickness of the elements and the weight of the materials
he seeks a very personal point of equilibrium in a primordial condition in which the "logic of the part", forms the 
symbol of his relation to nature

1983 Museum of  Arata‐Isozaki museum …object against which its surroundings should be measured, using symbolic elements such as the glazed  all the elevations are drawn according to the 

Contemporary  pyramid or the long copper vault, which in this composition based on the golden section depict an allusive and  golden section
Art in Los  solid building, though traditional in its exhibition lay‐out. a beautiful building that stands in a remarkable 
Angeles way in terms of its shape, its color and its noble 
proportions.
1983 Light Wind Tadao‐Ando commercial‐
building
1985 A Commercial  Tadao‐Ando commercial‐ universal materials empathy with the site and its traditions, the use of universal materials as tools for specific local statements to  the composition of solids and voids the conceptual materials through which the specific 
Building in  building concrete, steel and  give clear‐cut, closed volumes set in the landscape with a sensitive, precise building technique. quality and the constructive wisdom of Japanese 
Okinawa glass … driving force … power of the terrain, its power to evoke, either through its physical presence or through its  tradition are re‐stated and renewed
settlement tradition … radical manner. His architecture answers to few 
…the geometric elementary framework seems to originate from a rigorous internal logic completely appropriate  …
to the context … a place to universal materials, renewing national 
conceptual piercing of light and shade tradition, based on almost exclusive wooden 
spatial continuity in three dimensions construction, through its conceptual translation 
into the shuttering for the cast concrete – it is 
designed with the same century‐old wisdom of 
Japanese house construction – and the bare frame 
that emerges is to be dealt with tradition's abstract 
geometries.
…building wisdom derived from tradition, and 
transformed in an only apparently brutal manner.

1985 Two buildings for  Fumihiko‐Maki museum aluminum panels The rituality of the routes, the subtle modulation of the light and the careful use of materials are related to the  … building's spatial depth with the aim of  The rituality of the routes, the subtle modulation of  once again this double identity of 

the Arts art‐center glass best tradition of Japanese architecture … dramatizing the experience of the visitor …  the light and the careful use of materials are  Eastern roots and Western training 
The delicate relationship between tradition and "internationalism" still acts as the major driving force of Maki's  following a vertical dynamic to the successive  related to the best tradition of Japanese  characterizes the work of one of the 
architecture, without falling in an empty formal virtuosity. symbolic spaces which are both ceremonial, and  architecture … best and most sensitive Japanese 
strongly articulated The delicate relationship between tradition and  architects.
"internationalism" still acts as the major driving  Sign of the european historical avant‐
force of Maki's architecture, without falling in an  garde
empty formal virtuosity.
Maki designs and builds by delicately balancing the 
"traditional" and the "imposed"
1986 Time's  Tadao‐Ando commercial‐ … presents many typical traits of the best Japanese building tradition: the fluidity of the interior spaces, the  … presents many typical traits of the best Japanese 
commercial  building careful symbiosis of the different, natural and artificial, materials, the refined metaphysics of the spaces and of  building tradition: the fluidity of the interior spaces, 
building in Kyoto the light. the careful symbiosis of the different, natural and 
Seeing reproductions of the most recent Ando building is like receiving a signal from outer space … artificial, materials, the refined metaphysics of the 
It is, in fact, a meta‐message often designed more from the point of view of informing one about the intention  spaces and of the light.
behind the work, rather than actualy describing its physical constitution. Oku
… the exclusive non‐rhetorical deployment of single weight lines with no other data being added to the 
orthographic projection; no door swings …
… the building is a demonstration of that always latent potential, for establishing an intimate, tectonic, tactile 
space, which is then projected through topographic prolongation or elemental association to a much larger, one 
might almost say, cosmic scale.
…break in their contained volume around the space of a small court, in order to remind, the distracted 
consumer, overwhelmed by limitless choice, of another timeless, silent world, lying beyond, both near and far at 
the same time.
The site faces the Takase River, and I wanted to create a strong relationship between the two.
… building with a clearly separate identity that is nevertheless in harmony with the city and nature, to enhance 
the quality of the Takase river and to make people aware of forgotten ties to the environment.

1987 Rikken  Riken‐ reinforced concrete  The "home" theme has been tackled through a personal reflection and re‐interpretation of Japanese housing  The "home" theme has been tackled through a 

Yamamoto, a  Yamamoto and metal structure tradition. personal reflection and re‐interpretation of 
young Japanese  … defining boundaries and internal limits, and using to this purpose materials, different levels, common spaces,  Japanese housing tradition.
architect internal courts.
… relationship with the Japanese town…
A relatinoship which is no longer based on the prefiguration of a new reality, but on a careful understanding of 
the features of Japanese towns, fragmentation and fluidity, fluctuation, irregularity, wherein buildings, enjoy a 
high level of autonomy. Like as many recent Japanese buildings, also these works by Riken Yamamoto introject 
this aspect of fragmentation and urban articulation inside one building, without giving up its unity, the big tent 
which circumscribes the housing territory.

252
 Coded Text from Casabella
1987 City, Image,  Fumihiko‐Maki
Materiality
1987 Two recent  Tadao‐Ando commercial‐ … an architecture which instead is intended to resist today's fast consumption of images. geometric clarity In order to fully understand Ando's way of working,  … particular approach to 
works building … architecture based on experience rather than on appearance. … geometry assumes a "theoretical and symbolic  I think it is important to remember how strongly his  today's architectural 
Ando's concern focuses on intermediate spaces, interstices, voids, rather than on the expression of the  value" too. work is tied to the Japanese tradition, Shintoism  problems inside Japanese 
building's real program. and Zen Buddhism society
… the void becomes the plan's central element … the empty space, the inner courtyard … it acts as an interval,  … substantial "opacity" 
an instrument for measuring both the distance and the relationship between the different parts. which is also determined 
"My ultimate objective is not expression, but instead, the creation of a symbolic space founded on  by the cultural context in 
substantiality" which it has matured. 
Suerly, it is not by chance 
that Ando always refused 
to build outside of Japan.
In order to fully 
understand Ando's way 
of working, I think it is 
important to remember 
how strongly his work is 
tied to the Japanese 
tradition, Shintoism and 
Zen Buddhism

1988 Two urban  Tadao‐Ando housing Two projects by Tadao Ando relate the generating idea of architecture to the environmental conditions while  …spatial perceptions of exceptional intensity In the front garden to the north and in the south 

Buildings the Kidosaki Residence in tokyo is based on the introverted nature of family life … The entire building is composed of a cube courtyard, trees similar to those that used to grow 
… T.S. Building on Osaka – built on a narrow lot between two buildings – opens up onto the trees along the river. in these places were planted to provide a sense of 
historical continuity for the residents.
The fifth and sixth floors of the building are a 
guesthouse from which once a year people can see 
festivities; this recalls traditional gardens where 
distant mountains were incorporated in to the 
composition as a "borrowed scenery"

1988 Science Pavillion  Fumihiko‐Maki pavilion steel both transparent and solid, something "light‐weighted"

in Tokyo grey granite Maki's work is interesting for the careful dialectics between the abstraction of the architectural idea and the 
aluminum panels solid reality of the construction
glass … transparency on a conceptual level: his architecture is both a mental and a manual pehnomenom, tending 
towards a spritiual archetype
…far more convincing in the illuminated silence of the study model and, probably, the absract and learned 
presence the finished building will achieve in the chaos of Tokyo.
1989 interview  Tadao‐Ando
1989 Tadao Ando's  Tadao‐Ando chapel in‐depth research on light wall's dematerialization so as to acquire an exceptional intensity of the spatial  As his projects evolve, the "forms" tend toward  Ando's profound meditation on the space's sacral  The Shinto Naiku
religious  experience an absoluteness that goes beyond formal  quality, even it directly feeds on Japanese tradition, 
architecture Ando's profound meditation on the space's sacral quality, even it directly feeds on Japanese tradition, radically  research: "Rather than conforming to the forms  radically renews the way by which modern 
renews the way by which modern Japanese architects have to this day interpreted the relationship between  themselves, I privilege spiritual and emotional  Japanese architects have to this day interpreted the 
modern language and local tradition. contents." relationship between modern language and local 
… ritual founding of a site through both the definition of the courses and the relationship between the artifact  tradition.
and the landscape form. Here, virtuality and presence, void and fullness, 
Here, virtuality and presence, void and fullness, inaccessibility and walkability, are inextricably tied, so much so  inaccessibility and walkability, are inextricably tied, 
that the empty area seems to be more present than the nearby built sanctuary itself. so much so that the empty area seems to be more 
mood of dualities present than the nearby built sanctuary itself.
Fleeting shadows, architectures that progress cometimes by turning back. We may compare such changeable density of 
… perceptive experience of space and time, of horizontality as a dig in the ground, of solemnity given to day‐to‐ space, and things to the words of Junichiri Tanizaki, 
day life or of the enclosure meant as a graduation of layers. when he describes the toko no ma, a special niche 
… the dramatization of water in large‐scale gestures, the boundaries between void and absence of form. in Japanese traditional homes: "We experience the 
Going deep into Ando's work means choosing to confront with different qualities of silence in architecture …  feeling that in those places the air encloses a depth 
theaters of ssensitivity, of which we are partially the actors. of silence, that an eternally unalterable serenity 
Other architects seem to have wanted to exploit the contradictions of Japanese modernity by injecting its angst  reigns over this dimness".
under the most diverse forms, from irony to fragmentarism, with implications of an allusive, metaphorical or  This unusual theme of the freestanding columns 
symbolic, order. Ando, though, responded to the Japanese cities' partially organized chaos by an awesome  echoes perhaps the minka houses, where the 
silence, made of pure sounds, uncontaminated by urban panic, by means of resolute gestures, without any  central pole symbolizes the founding act and 
excessive movement, not unlike the conciseness of the haiku. protects from the evil spirits.
calmness of a sky that enters a house through calculated slits, in the winds overflowing from an inner courtyard  A specific aspect of the Japanese traditional 
or in a thread of light revealing for long moments unbelievably deep spaces. architecture – the absence of verticality and 
To achieve such double movement Ando relies upon the wall, through which the light and foremost the shade  consequently the emphasis on the itinerary – is 
shall become exceptional means for regulating the inrush of either the physical city or the nature up to the  here strongly underscored, as if to correct the 
deepest layers of the house. Walls controlling other walls. New houses keeping at a distance other purposelessly  profile or the Hyogo hill. Without being a half‐way, 
present houses. Voids enclosing other voids. both the course and the buildings seem determined 
1990 Collezione  Tadao‐Ando f b h h l bl k
"… building whose interior, basement and roof combine together rationality and imagination. " … pure forms of geometry: two parallelpipeds, a  l k h k (h l f h ) h k
Building Tokyo  To harmonize the building with the quiet residential environment, the portion above ground has been reduced  large cylinder
as much as possible and nearly half the total volume One notes the clear geometry comprising four 
primary shapes: two parallelepipeds, a cylinder, 
a cube.

253
 Coded Text from Casabella
1991 Recent works by  Fumihiko‐Maki university‐ … flexibility in the assembly of volumes, spaces and buildings: fragments of heterogeneous shapes and materials  idea of system binds heterogeneous forms in a  that modernism has been, and still is, the  many public buildings were in a 
Fumihiko Maki campus compose an abstract idea of public space collage mainstream of contemporary architecture. pseudo‐Western style
museum …dynamic equilibrium between part and whole that modernism has been, and still is, the  The plan of Tokyo … it has historically grown up  The plan of Tokyo has neither the 
office‐building In Tokyo, the relationship between architecture and its urban contect is particularly complex and multi‐layered. mainstream of contemporary architecture. around a diverse set of sub‐centers and overlapping  clear hierarchy of European cities nor 
housing … environment of fragmentation, vital and changing, constantly renewing itself. In the absence of a single  networks the rational open grid of American 
dominant architectural style, the personal qualities of individual buildings come to the surface … cities
The idea of collapsing boundaries and fragmented cityscapes, however, does not negate the validity of certain 
principles of tradition urbanism …

1991 Two recent  Tadao‐Ando museum … rather than opening out to the exterior, it is closed off from the world. The main building, composed of two rectangular 

works memorial‐hall blocks
The volumes of the buildings have been broken 
down, opened and re‐assembled, as in a game of 
blacks which fit togather, always in close contact 
with the surrounding landscape.

1993 Literature  Tadao‐Ando museum This produces the necessary sense of abstraction and detachment from the surrounding natural landscape,  two cubes

Museum in  which becomes a backdrop to be contemplated. cylinder 20 meters
Himeji Ando combines abstraction and symbol
…architceture to relfect the topographical relationship between Otokoyama and Himeyama
Visitors … undergo a dynamic spatial experience
1994 Rokko Housing II Tadao‐Ando housing optimum use of the conditions of the site and the fine view of the bay of Osaka
clearly develop the relation between a basic geometric order and the physical characteristics of the site

1994 Arata Isozaki and  Arata‐Isozaki … as a Western intellectual in Japan and as a Japanese architect outside Japan is characteristic of his ambivalent  Isozaki has consistently undermined any  … as a Western intellectual in Japan 

the "Post‐ relationship to both spheres of activity compositional coherence in his buildings throguh  and as a Japanese architect outside 
modern  Tsukuba Center Building wildly disparate classical quotations  Japan is characteristic of his 
Condition" It merged the fragmented and the figural lines of his previous work and introduced the direct citation of lements  agglomerated with fragmented geometries. ambivalent relationship to both 
from Western classical architecture Mastery of postmodernism spheres of activity
…he refuses to construct and "meta‐narrative" within his own work or aound its theoretical ground. modernist dogma It merged the fragmented and the 
… commitment to surface, to process, not form as the only trustworthy generator of meaning in a redically  figural lines of his previous work and 
fragmented, alientated world. introduced the direct citation of 
Japanese forms evolved out of the borrowings lements from Western classical 
Arata Isozaki occupies the cusp of the transition from literal imitation to innovative hybridity, as a Western‐ architecture
inclined architect with a secret passion for traditional Japanese building Western architectural influence in 
Japan after the mid‐nineteenth 
century; an initial period of awkward 
mimicry, succeeded by increasingly 
skilled imitation of Western forms, 
and the subsequent development of 
a unique hybrid of western and 
Japanese architecture.
Junzo Sakakura and Kunio Maekawa 
… Kenzo Tange
… they were Western‐style 
intellectuals who looked to the Wedt 
for their entire intellectual and 
creative impetus.

1995 The history  Tadao‐Ando museum monumental character central compositional theme is provided by the 

museum of  …involve the visitor in an unusual spatial experience, provoking "bodily reactions" dimensional and formal analogy between the 
Chiktsu‐Asuka Ando has sought to create a "dramatic" space, based on the contrast between light and shadow, taking the  tumulus and the museum edifice
spatial and "stage set" possibilities of the Kumamoto museum to their extreme consequences, but also  dramatic space, based on the contrast between 
responding, with different solutions, to the different conditions of the site. "Architecture – Ando has written –  light and shadow, taking the spatial and "stage 
means introducting an autonomous object in a place, but at the same time it means designing the place itself; it  set" possibilities
means discovering the building the place awaits".
1996 Tadao‐Ando It is therefore essential to read the site's individual features – its configuration, cultural traditions, geological  When the economic logic 
implications and natural and spiritual climate – and to pay the utmost attention to the surrounding  is given the most priority 
environment. to the cultural aspect of 
We must always contemplate to create our architectural works to be based on "what is the real richness for  society, "boring 
human‐being". homogenous 
internationalism".
1996 Arata‐Isozaki cultural‐center wood
Center‐for‐ galvanized steel sheets
Japanese‐Art‐ brick
and‐
Technology

1996 Tadao‐Ando museum reinforced concrete …interesting dialogue between the building, the sire and the inhabitants of Gojyo. … fill the entire hilltop with  The important buildings of the past demonstrate 

galvanized steel  trees in order to create a secluded forest … this characteristic, and, from this point of view, 
sheeting I am attracted to materials which age just as we do, growing old and changing with time. studying the way in which exposed cement 
deteriorates is a stimulating problem.

254
 Coded Text from Casabella
1997 Hiroyuki‐ house steel … "device" capable of favoring the interaction of natural elements – landscape, wind, light – within the everyday  the spatial and architectural definition is based  the edifice is closer to the traditional conception of 
Arima reinforced concrete life of the home. on the man‐nature relationship, rather than on  the Japanese house than to present residential 
plasterboard The view has played an essential role in the design of the spaces. criteria of efficiency of function. building approaches.
wooden floorings in  …nature becomes an integral part of the home.
cedar
1997 Yasushi‐Horibe memorial In this silent, white space, where time seems to stand still, the furnishings and equipment that belonged to the 
doctor stand out in all their simplicity, evoking the immediacy of a memory
1997 Tadao‐Ando installation
1997 Tadao‐Ando museum concrete wall … design continuity … and establishing a dialogue among its parts two parallelepiped volumes
glass … technique of distortion of axial alignments accomplished by means of the interpenetration and shifting of  compositional approach repeatedly utilized by 
rigorous geometric volumes, typical of the research conducted by Ando in the past, and employed here with  Tadao Ando
confident skill …play of rotations and interpenetrations of 
simple geometric forms, whose dimensions are 
determined by variously aggregated modules … 
modular repitions
1997 Okayama West  Arata‐Isozaki police‐station zinc plate … avoid the presence of a simple dichotomy. It is the ambiguity of gesture, not a gesture of ambiguity
Police Station glazed façade …checkerboard pattern disrupts the homogeneity of the surface …
All the materials used fully declare their own nature – they were chosen to show the surface of architecture as 
texture itself. Texture directly addresses substance; it is non‐compositional, because it is not divided and 
requires no articulation. In this building, the outlines are ambiguous and the surface materials are not; they 
candidly display their true nature.

1998 Tadao‐Ando museum glass incorporating the natural surroundings The building consists of six rectangular concrete  The mediating spaces enclosed within the double 

concrete The mediating spaces enclosed within the double glass and concrete skins are like the engawa of Japanese  boxes in a parallel arrangement, each box being  glass and concrete skins are like the engawa of 
residences, belonging to both interior and exterior. They are utilized as integral parts of the exhibition spaces,  sheathed in a skin of glass. Japanese residences, belonging to both interior and 
and simulate the spirit of creation while incorporating the light, water, and greenery of the surrounding  exterior.
environment.
1998 Arata‐Isozaki museum Fluid dynamics is the key concept of this design. The lines are gradually deformed towards the 
diagonal street border and the fluid curves 
emerge creating turbulence in places. Simulating 
the fluid geometry of fire and smoke …
The variety of gallery space in terms of its size 
and its room proportion is achieved in the use of 
a deformed grid system based upon the fluid 
dynamics.

1998 Arata‐Isozaki convention‐hall concrete As such, in Nara it is appropriate to plan an architecture as an independent monolith, as seen in many old  The significance of architectural contours varies  In the same way that cupolas define  Against a background of 

glass temples. according to the particular nature of the city; Nara  the skylines of many European cities,  low, surrounding houses, 
This process of metamorphosis epitomizes the principle feature of the design is characterized by its individual buildings, Kyoto by  the skyline of Nara is defined by the  the architecture looks as 
exterior spaces such as narrow paths and gardens,  roofs of temples. if a giant Buddha had 
and Tokyo by interior spaces such as underground  appeared on the ground.
markets, atriums, and the chasms between 
skyscrapers.
As such, in Nara it is appropriate to plan an 
architecture as an independent monolith, as seen 
in many old temples.
In the same way that cupolas define the skylines of 
many European cities, the skyline of Nara is defined 
by the roofs of temples.
The scale and volume of the architecture have been 
measured in relation to that of the Great Buddha 
Hall of Todai‐ji Temple.
Make a ring of seperate boards and bundle them 
up with strips of steel; such is the way a traditional 
Japanese wooden bucket is assembled.

1998 Waro‐Kisho memorial‐hall The design intends for the architecture and the garden to become one, to produce a new place in the campus. 

The old memory is not vanished but weaved into a new landscape. By the layering of old memories and a new 
structure, a sense of place is created and through the continuity of this process also history is created.
… distinction between the exterior and the interior is ambiguous.

1998 Toyo‐Ito community‐ wooden … attempt is made here to increase the degree of transparency throughout the interior by minimizing the 

center barriers between various functions. At the same time we have attempted to transform the internal space into a 
new type of integrated environment, utilizing natural elements as "catalysts": sunlight filtered by wooden 
sunscreens or through skylights, air plants.
1998 Fumihiko‐Maki crematorium brick blend with this scenic environment geometrical forms
steel natural flow and a sense of repose between consecutive activities Openings were minimized in order to emphasize 
concrete The intention was to endow spaces with life by introducing natural light in various ways. the abstract quality of the geometry
materials that have a  Gray materials such as exposed concrete produced with various types of forms, concrete with a monolithic  Space is a synthesis created from proportion, 
natural character surface finish, slate, plaster, granite and steel were selected, as were brown materials such as weathering steel  texture and scale
concrete and wood.
steel
granite
weathering steel and 
wood

255
 Coded Text from Casabella
1998 Kazuyo‐Sejima museum forms of indeterminacy …elusive uncertainty and ambiguity where multiple meanings proliferate. These minimal objets assume basic shapes such 
house metal panels and glass  …this sense of floating, this ambiguity, as nihilism. as cubes, blocks and spheres, and render the 
house walls …they bear a similarity with the very edge, the front line, on which today's contemporary artists are positioned.  presentation of form a monotonous one as if 
dormitory polycarbonate … Indeterminacy identical forms were put into repetition.
Police‐Box …intermediary places that are neither town nor nature. Sejima, herself a reflection of the reality of this  This structure of a simple, square space 
polysemic condition, does not aim towards some set narrative or some hierarchy of value. surrounded by a corridor to which other 
As the spectator moves about an objet, each must decide for herself the nature of the relation between body  functions are attached protrusion‐like …
and object. If basic forms and functions are left bluntly and plainly, what relations, overflowing as they must be 
with change, will link them to the people around them?
Sejima's interests also lie in the relation between interior and exterior.
…structures where human movement can be seen from both the inside and the outside of a building.
Sejima's architecture of lighting, the membranes that separate interior from exterior in a manner reminiscent of 
the semi‐permeability of the cell wall, airy borders that take on translucent forms, the flexible switching systems 
they employ.
… abuilding that necessitated a break between the interior and the exterior, the inside and the outside.
it produces a doubled relation of interior and exterior, a sense of individual families within this communal living 
space and of individuals within the family.
Architecture, conceptually, is a stage for people to act up on; it is a setting on which flow and relations can be 
determined. Movement determines space, which in turn determines volume.

1998 Yoshio‐ house tile, metals, stone, and  combining simple but contradictory figures namely centripetal and centrifugal forms, and space and mass The most basic factor determining the  In spite of these connections to Western  In spite of these connections to 

Taniguchi museum glass These spatial tendencies are informed by a keen understanding of site and material. composition of space is the decision made on  modernism, the traditions of Japanese architecture  Western modernism, the traditions of 
sports‐arena A strong interest in materials and materiality such things as materials, lighting, colors and  lurk just beyond the surface of Taniguchi's  Japanese architecture lurk just 
museum proportion. architecture. beyond the surface of Taniguchi's 
These spatial tendencies are informed by a keen  Behind the skillful and seductive dramatization of  architecture.
understanding of site and material. experience hide quite traditional Japanese 
protocols.
Next, through a dialogue between that newly‐born 
place and architecture, and using centrifugal and 
centripetal qualities as a vector, he creates 
individual spaces. Such a method of design has long 
characterized the generation of traditional 
Japanese spaces.
1999 Arata‐Isozaki loggia steel … structure that would establish a relationship with the urban context, offering not only facilities for the 
glass museum but also new public spaces.
1999 Tadao‐Ando museum
1999 Kazuyo‐Sejima
Ryue‐
Nishizawa

1999 The city as Ritual  … the "rules" of the culture of contemporary Japan, and of Tokyo as its extreme manifestation, as well as that of  A similar discourse can apply to the periodic  the true radical difference between  the true radical 

Practice repetition. Repetition is the reproduction reconstruction of the "ancient" Japanese temples  western civilization and Japanese  difference between 
The very spirit of Japan (and not only contemporary Japan) is "post‐modern", marked as it is by an extremely  where the limit lies in the rigorous use of the same  civilization is not that one is based on  western civilization and 
free – but at the smae time paradoxically limited – attitude toward historical phenomena. All this leads back to a  forms, while the freedom lies in the systematic  sacrifice and the other is not, but that  Japanese civilization is 
dynamic of "imitation ‐repetition" replacement of the materials. the former has been influenced, in its  not that one is based on 
Th continuity paradoxically based on discontinuity is an excat illustration of the dynamic scheme of repitition. history, by the event of Christianity –  sacrifice and the other is 
"Figures" of repetition appear with an astonishing intensity and frequency. a formidable anti‐sacrificial process  not, but that the former 
The existence, in Tokyo, of a space of separation between one building and the next (at least 50 cm, by tradition  that has deviated, if not subverted,  has been influenced, in 
and by law) is the most striking proof; these openings, in fact, are the "materialization" of the radical absence of  its course – something that has not  its history, by the event 
any shed of ambiguity, of any space of form in which the confusion between two diverse entities can prosper.  happened in Japan. of Christianity
The  "distinction" between one building and another implies "individuation". Each building is individual to the  In Tokyo and in Japan, on the other  In this sense, the great 
extent that it is "separate" from the others and declares its uniqueness. This explains and "functionalizes" at the  hand, "in the beginning" there is no  economic growth of 
same time the marked eccentricity of much of the architecture of Tokyo buildings that, through their vivid  logos, just as "in conclusion" there is  Japan and Tokyo over the 
appearance, hope to make themselves "unmistakeable", become points of reference, "orients" in a city without  no telos, because precisely logos and  last efw decades should 
addresses. telos, cause and effect, origin and  not make us lose sight of 
"empty order" i.e. its ritual order. end, deforming things in perspective,  the existence, both in the 
go beyond the "limits". In Japan,  Edo of the 18th century 
instead, things – including Tokyo  and in contemporary 
itself – are simply themselves. Tokyo, of what can be 
called a "ritualized 
capitalism"

1999 Shiro‐
Kuramata
1999 Arata‐Isozaki art‐village The site as a whole was like a sea in which a variety of islands floated. traditional Japanese buildings are one‐story 
conventional‐ structures which extend further and further back 
hall on a horizontal plane.
In the Japanese rock garden the gravel is the sea 
and the large rocks are the islands. But here the 
buildings were the islands.

256
 Coded Text from Casabella
1999 Shigeru‐Ban house paper cores Ban's work is not a minimalism of expression. The expression itself is minimal. Ban designed temporary 
house fabric They were crystallized expressions of the complex and always different conditions of each residential project.  structures using 
house The method was minimal. recyclable materials for 
emergency refuge 
housing. This proposal 
had important political 
significance.

2000 My Point of View  Taut juxtaposed selected examples of traditional wooden architecture directly with modern designers who, due  Taut commented on two interior views of Japanese  For Taut, they represent the second 

on Japanese  to the simplicity and clarity of their backgrounds, could be connected to the finest tradition of Japanese  palaces from the 17th century, underling the  architectural wonder of the world: 
Architecture architecture and who, at the same time, could be counted in the ranks of the exponents of the international  extreme "spatial rigor" of a living culture that was  just as the Greek temple was the 
modern movement. still vital, and of intterest to the West because it  "harmonious, coherent repetition of 
this harmony between the individual and the space leads to that equilibrium, the sole equilibrium  made use of practically no furniture, while the few  an architectonic type", the loftiest 
recommended for the psyche. objects utilized were hidden away in closets or  form of the art of architecture and a 
"The simplicity in all formal choices that is traditionally rooted in the (Japanese) people and the significance of  cabinets, leaving the floors, with their tatami mats,  model for all modern architects, the 
the "void" and of incomplete disclosure in their art … all this, from the outset, has been echoed in their trends of  unencumbered. complete definition of a standard "in 
modern architecture. … This natural link between the ancient and the new produces great hopes for the  "The simplicity in all formal choices that is  a tireless perfecting … with high 
flourishing of new Japanese art." traditionally rooted in the (Japanese) people and  characteristics of technical precision", 
"For me, as a foreigner, it is utterly natural that what I seek in Japanese architecture is precisely Japanese  the significance of the "void" and of incomplete  so the sanctuary of Ise could have a 
architecture, i.e. architecture that is both good and, at the same time, Japanese." disclosure in their art … all this, from the outset,  similar function for the Japanese.
The autonomous pursuit, on Taut's part, of "pure Japaneseness" stemmed from the conviction that the culture is  has been echoed in their trends of modern 
the result of local climate and social conditions – in a certain sense through a purification of external input he  architecture. … This natural link between the 
does not deny – and that in a rigorously self‐critical manner it must continue to ask itself about its own meaning. ancient and the new produces great hopes for the 
flourishing of new Japanese art."
Ise
Nevertheless, the clarity and precision with which 
the ancient structure is continuously renewed, 
because the lower section of the pillars is subject to 
rotting, makes it appear timeless and "modern".

2000 Tadao‐Ando church

2000 Tadao‐Ando museum
2000 Kazuyo‐Sejima museum
Ryue‐
Nishizawa

2000 Kazuyo‐Sejima theater

Ryue‐
Nishizawa

2000 Kengo‐Kuma cultural‐center

2000 Kazuhiro‐ school

Kojima
Masao‐
Koizumi
2000 Terunobu‐ museum
Fujimori
2000 Terunobu‐ museum
Fujimori
2000 Toyo‐Ito house
2000 Kei'ichi‐Irie house
2000 Arata‐Isozaki cultural‐center

2000 Japan Today Arata‐Isozaki Just re‐examine the thought of Kazuo Shinohara on the concept of chaos. From many points of view this theory, 

(interview) which became very popular at the time, seems interesting. In the Japanese city there is no order, not only of the 
buildings, but also of the streets, the open spaces, the context. In fact, we can say that in the Japanese city the 
context doesn't exist. For this reason, every form becomes possible, in any point in the city.
Looking through the Japanese magazines we find many projects that are very similar, based on the use of simple 
forms and translucent materials. This is just a fashion. In our capitalistic society, architecture can be a saleable 
product, just as in the rest of the world.
The word "tradition" has many meanings and connotations.
Now the relationship with the tradition is changing. We need to introduce the concept of "simulation". It seems 
to me that many designs apparently based on tradition are actually mere simulations of it, without touching on 
its true substance.
Architecture can no longer be divided up by nations. There are no longer any national boundaries in 
contemporary culture.

2000 Japan Pavilion at  Shigeru‐Ban pavilion recycled paper The exhibition is organized like a Japanese rock 

the Hanover  wood garden in which installations resembling stone 
Expo 2000 islands present themes on the conservation of the 
environment
2000 Toyo‐Ito library glazing
cultural‐ reinforced concrete
complex steel

257
 Coded Text from Casabella
2000 Tadao‐Ando research‐
center
2000 Arata‐Isozaki
2000 Toyo‐ito
2001 Arata‐Isozaki
2001 Satoshi‐Okada house wood The colo ascribed to the lava black in the memory of the site. In the landscape of between leaves above and 
turfs bottom, the villa stands like a ground upheaval of the site, where the black lava has slept since the ancient 
time. It, in other words, provides a dark band between the greens. The blackness represents "a shadow in the 
forest".
2001 Tadao‐Ando temple
2001 Tadao‐Ando museum
2001 Kengo‐Kuma museum
2001 Kengo‐Kuma museum
2001 Toyo‐Ito office‐building

2001 Shuhei‐Endo train‐station

2001 Shuhei‐Endo train‐station
2001 Toyo‐Ito exhibition
2001 Hiroshi‐Hara stadium The stadium is organized with simple, recognizable elements. The large scale has not prevented great attention 
to detail …
2001 Kengo‐Kuma museum
2001 Toyo‐Ito park
2002 The Imperial  Yasuhiro‐ … lightness of this architecture that seemed to float on air. An inebriating sensation. Katsura, this great masterpiece of Japanese 
Palace of Katsura  Ishimoto classical architecture, not only suggestions, not 
– Interpretations  only associations, but authentic resonances of the 
of a Monument source of modernist architecture.

2002 Satoshi‐Okada house concrete wall enclosure, then to make a comfortable space inside. I try to make the space as much transparent as 

The "nature" objectified in gardens is not simply a passive phenomenon which evokes of human sense, but also  possible except the portion of a traditional 
an active movement to human bodies. Japanese Tea Room of a dim space required.
… not only "a phenomenon of nature to the human sight" but "a movement of nature to the human body". … typically tiny Japanese Tea Garden …
In this case, architecture is, simply, a receptor of nature. … the building composition, I recalled traditional 
row houses particularly seen in the old town, 
Kyoto…
… gardens function as a place for appreciating 
nature of four seasons mainly because the 
Japanese love it.
It is a "wisdom of tradition" to make interiors 
cooled down without any machinery helps, but 
with just making architecture itself.
2002 Shuhei‐Endo house
2002 Katsufumi‐ house
Kubota
2002 Riken‐ house
Yamamoto
2002 Tadao‐Ando library The plan of the library is composed of a square  … to become a new core 
and a circle whose diameter is equal to a side of  around which the whole 
the square. city could grow.
This space is not only the 
center of the library as a 
vessel for books, but also 
the heart of the local 
community, a place 
where one can always 
meet others.

2002 Kengo‐Kuma bathhouse

2002 Arata‐Isozaki cultural‐center

2002 Toyo‐Ito pavilion aluminum construction an extremely light construction, the visual experience of which will vary greatly according to the changing light  To achieve lightness, Ito makes use of traditional 

polycarbonate surfaces conditoins, both during the day and at night. craftsmanship.
… fluidity of spaces – spaces that are not determined by strict functional requirements.
"Blurring Architecture": a fluid architecture such as water, an architecture that strives for transparency and 
thinness.
… the intangible border where architecture stops and nothingness begins; he looks for a feeling of 
weightlessness, for buildings that seem to defy gravity.
…light as possible … buildings that evoke the feeling of fragility and instability.
…grasp the immaterial aspect of architecture.
… attempt to make the impossible tangible.
2002 Tadao‐Ando museum
2002 Kengo‐Kuma house
2002 Takashi‐ temple
Yamaguchi
2003 Toyo‐Ito

258
 Coded Text from Casabella
2003 Architecture or  aluminum panels … the notion of a temporary project is liberating in many ways. extremely complex random pattern
non‐ glass … endlessly articulating dynamic white lines in vivid contrast to the green of the lawn. Various triangular and trapezoidal patterns 
architecture? … art object that is clearly architecture, yet at the same time non‐architecture. composed of myriad lines
The architect and  cube
the engineer

2003 Kengo‐Kuma parking‐garage concrete "architecture that doesn't make a parking lot look like a parking lot"

glass
2003 Satoshi‐Okada house galvanized iron sheet This house is one of the typical examples of Tokyo House condition, if I defined, "Making Maximum in Minimum" building volume and its overall shape are  We architects are always 
metal conditioned within an imaginary sphere severely  examined how to secure 
restricted by both fire law and architectural law  each private realm for 
in the metropolis. living under the social 
restrictions.
2004 Tadao‐Ando
2004 Katsufumi‐ house … pure, transparent spaces that established a connection between man and the environment and to enable  white box culvert
Kubota people experiencing those spaces to liberate themselves from the many preconceptions and stresses of 
contemporary society and to reexamine and rediscover themselves.
…amplify the abstract and nonconstraining character of the space and thereby actualize the consciousness 
latent in the space.
A strong, interactive relationship is established between the "place," the "space" created in direct response to 
the demands of the "place," and the "human being" who determines the conditions of, and lives in, that 'space." 
That relationship generates a new context in which the abovementioned objective may be viewed and promotes 
the convergence of all flows toward the achievement of that goal.

2004 diverse tradition

2004 Norihiko‐Dan industrial‐plant

2004 Naoto‐ house

Yaegashi
2004 Yoshio‐ museum
Taniguchi
2005 Tadao‐Ando art‐center … an architecture that blends into the preexisting landscape, an "invisible architecture" embraced by the earth. … composed of pure geometrical forms that are 
The sense of enclosure promotes in the artists living there a feeling of tranquility and reflection. without a trace of arbitrariness. The simple 
geometry, which is a direct expression of the 
abstract architectural concept, interacts 
repeatedly with the organic reality of the site 
and, after subtle revisions and transformations, 
creates a new context.

2005 Tadao‐Ando house

2005 Shigeru‐Ban art‐center
2005 Yoshio‐ museum
Taniguchi
2005 Satoshi‐Okada art‐gallery

2005 Arata‐Isozaki art‐center

2005 Shuhei‐Endo crematorium
2005 Shigeru‐Ban museum
2005 Kei'ichi‐Irie house
2005 Satoshi‐Okada house

2005 Kazuyo‐Sejima installation

Ryue‐
Nishizawa

2005 Kazuyo‐Sejima civic‐center

2005 Toyo‐Ito

259
 Coded Text from L'Architecture d'Aujourd'hui
date title architect typology material qualities of space, special characteristics  space, form, composition  history tradition West religion, economy, 
sociology
1977 Kisho‐ tower
Kurokawa
1978 Kisho‐ city‐hall The curved lines contrast with the simplicity of the ensemble and give a feeling of calm and protection.
Kurokawa
1978 Arata‐Isozaki
1978 Kazumasa‐ residential‐
Yamashita office
1978 Fumihiko‐Maki aquarium

1979 Tadao‐Ando house glass, brick, concrete play of light at each story and depth which shapes the whole

1979 Tadao‐Ando house glass the interior court is the heart of family life. Glass brick allows light to reach the court while protecting family 
privacy.
1980 Kisho‐ office‐building
Kurokawa
1980 Tadao‐Ando store
1981 Arata‐Isozaki club‐house
1981 Chitoshi‐ clinic
Kihara
1981 Shin‐Toki clinic
1982 Team‐ZOO
1982 Itsuko‐ metallic framework … individual and independent constructions completely separated from the urban planning theme. According to  She considers volume not as an addition of 
Hasegawa her, the telationship between the individual constructions and the town is created on the basis of level surfaces.  spaces but as an assembly of elements
This surface is linked to the composition of the building and thus defines its apeparance.
… used industrialized elements, not only for their characteristics, but also for their neutrality as a material. It is 
her wish to grant architecture the power to criticize the various contemporary social phenomena by means of 
the phenomenon of objects and their conditions, in other words to rediscover the relationship between things 
and the human being.

1982 Team‐ZOO do not seem to have any theoretical or aesthetic preconceived ideas. Everything remains to be invented. as far as form is concerned, simple or complex,  its members spent six months studdying the town, 

Architecture for Team ZOO has nothing to do with these solitary objects which fascinate architects, architecture  they follow no convention, theory nor style. its history and its tradition
for them means getting hold of reality with all their strength

1982 Team‐ZOO apartment‐ informal, anti‐hierarchical and anti‐ideological

building they learnt to work as a group, to draw out full‐size plans and to intervene, themselves, on the construction 
sites. They all love to listen to people and discover landscapes. Nature provides them with most of their working 
material.
The keyword of their type of architecture is to "include", include one another's work, include the know‐how of 
the craftsmen, include dreams, pleasures, desires, include everything from the most unimaginative to the most 
cosmical.
1982 Team‐ZOO house
1982 Team‐ZOO clinic
1982 Team‐ZOO golf‐club
1982 Shin‐ clinic
Takamatsu
1982 Shin‐ office‐building concrete The minute attention he pays to details, the precision in his graphic arts and his obsession to articulate or rather  Although his achievements have completely groken 
Takamatsu encase his materials count as his main characteristics. loose from the traditional Japanese forms, they 
An exceptional feature in his construction is the way his works release tension, a tension which is held within  nevertheless correspond to our vision of Japan, the 
concrete blocks and the high precision devices which lock the smallest openings. one inhabited by samurai, filled with precious 
This explosive imobility, this unbelievable compactness of the masses convey his architecture an imaginary  objects created for mere aesthetic satisfaction and 
presence in the midst of the "vulgar", yet sensitive chaos, which characterizes the Japanese town today. holding instants of pure immobility.

1984 Shin‐ clinic

Takamatsu
1984 Team‐ZOO kindergarden
1984 Tadao‐Ando commercial‐
center
1984 Kazuo‐ house
Shinohara
1984 Toyo‐Ito house
1984 Tadao‐Ando house
1985 Itsuko‐ dormitory
Hasegawa
1985 Osamu‐ housing
Ishiyama
Takayuki‐
Suzuki
1985 Shin‐ clinic
Takamatsu housing
1985 Kazuo‐ house
Shinohara

260
 Coded Text from L'Architecture d'Aujourd'hui
date title architect typology material qualities of space, special characteristics  space, form, composition  history tradition West religion, economy, 
sociology
1987 The  The reinterpretation of Japanese architecural themes and the "deconstruction" of Western order is fusing  elaborating with amazing speed a new synthesis  The reinterpretation of Japanese architecural  The reinterpretation of Japanese  Behind the unceasing 
Deconstruction  through the cleavages, folds and raisings of metallic and fragmented surfaces, born of ironic detachment in the  of space and form. themes and the "deconstruction" of Western order  architecural themes and the  metabolist growth of the 
of Western Space unreal floating space of modernist signs and icons. The ephemeral and ethereal surface of the city with its  The reinterpretation of Japanese architecural  is fusing through the cleavages, folds and raisings of  "deconstruction" of Western order is  megalopolises and the 
labyrinth of disconnected territories, its fragmentation, its colliding and coexisting opposites, is draughting the  themes and the "deconstruction" of Western  metallic and fragmented surfaces, born of ironic  fusing through the cleavages, folds  sacred pillars of the 
new shapes of post‐modernity – at once more radical and more definitive. order is fusing through the cleavages, folds and  detachment in the unreal floating space of  and raisings of metallic and  utopian megastructures 
"the subject is not the central unity … the chaotic and disjointed area where contradictions meet, overlap and  raisings of metallic and fragmented surfaces,  modernist signs and icons. fragmented surfaces, born of ironic  of the 60s, the buddhist 
mingle without ever being resolved. …" born of ironic detachment in the unreal floating  … the key terms enabling the elucidation of present‐ detachment in the unreal floating  conception of a world in 
To varying degrees, all of them constitute a destruction of Western space and a recomposition of the atomized  space of modernist signs and icons. day post‐modernism are to be sought in the  space of modernist signs and icons. constant metamorphosis 
fragments in new combinations. Space too was to be "deconstructed" in order to  cultures of the Muromachi (1336‐1573) and Edo  To varying degrees, all of them  could already be 
enable the free re‐combination of all cultural  (1503‐1867) periods: median spaces, fictionalism,  constitute a destruction of Western  discerned.
values as they exist today, a long time after the  high density, dual signification, ambivalence and  space and a recomposition of the  Metabolist thought, like 
first metabolist manifesto appeared in the works  polysemy. atomized fragments in new  the philosophy or Miura 
of Fumihiko Maki, Arata Isozaki and Kisho  Japanese architects are taking their references  combinations. Baien (1723‐1789), holds 
Kurokawa. indifferently from Japanese and Western thought. Japanese architects are taking their  that time is not in linear 
references indifferently from  progression but extends 
Japanese and Western thought. Their  in all directions in a 
preferences though go to the forces  complex and interwoven 
of destruction in Western thought  pattern of paths.
that, from mannerism to the Baroque 
era, from the crisis of the subject to 
"deconstruction", appear at regular 
intervals to shake the rationality of 
classical order to its foundations.

1987 The Fragments of  Fumihiko‐Maki Varying temporalities, the forebodings of nostalgia, the past and a sort of future perfect crowd around and  What Fumihiko Maki brings to the surface is a  The last works of Fumihiko Maki 

the Classical  Arata‐Isozaki imperceptible point. While the present moves forward it is constantly duplicated in its potential images: the past  new form of reality: scattered, elliptical, with  accomplished in architecure a 
World and the future. deliberately weak links and floating events. revolution comparable to that of 
scattered fragments of a dispersed overall image Fumihiko Maki's buildings look like crystalline  Proust in the novel, Klee and de 
the future and the past, that coexist in the same figure, apparently stable but in reality imperceptible. figures. In effect, these shapes borrow their  Chirico in paiting, or Antonioni in 
optical illusion … From the experience of movement we slip to a pure experience of time. architectonic order, their transparency, their  cinema.
…suspending architecture in an unstable balance between the past and future, silence and speech, movement  reversibility and their interlockings from the  … not in the presence of a classical 
and immobility, presence and absence, materiality and emptiness and existence and non‐existence. crystal. work but of an ironical parody that 
Arata Isozaki's … is marked by a destructive and subversive irony. tapering and blurred shapes seem to float in an  presents itself as a dialogue between 
… a subtle balance between chaos and order  indefinable temporality. East and West, a homage to the 
… transgression and fragmentation form a dislocated system whose fragments turn unceasingly around an  obsession with cones, cubes and cylinders. golden section and to the 
empty center. … the shape and the contents has been broken  positive/negative philosophy of the 
to create interplay without a center, the  Orient.
architectural signification of which is diffuse and 
floating.

1987 Fumihiko‐Maki museum

cultural‐center

1987 Arata‐Isozaki museum

art‐center
sports‐center
1987 The Game of  Kisho‐ "grey space" Katsura villa may be described as a system of  Peter Eisenman
Fictions and  Kurokawa … differentiation of parts as against their overall integration. intellectualized signs Hiromi Fujii has a considerable debt 
Simulacra Hiromi‐Fujii Ambiguous artefacts that deploy infinite networks of floating significations Japanese cultural sign, what is natural is not in  to the literary theory of 
A vague space, indefinite and chaotic, from which sense is generated. opposition to what is artificial. The ideal is to place  "deconstruction", the key idea of 
Hiromi Fujii is not concerned with the messages architecture may transmit but rather with its role as a machine  a work of art in a paradoxical situation between  which is that of difference.
that creates meaning. reality and the simulacrum, in an ambiguous,  Saussure
The abstract grid … it escapes from history and even from presence, which it radically denies. in doing so it is the  floating space where many meanings can be  Jacques Derrida
incarnation of that emptiness, that nothingness (mu), out of which, according to Fujii, space is born. construed.
being, form and time are nothing more than traces on the surface of nothingness. … contemporary transposing of the baroque‐style 
The circular path between the spaces suggests an incessant return to the initial position. Each step forward  esthetic of the sukiya
brings the spectator back to hi‐her point of departure. profound signification of all Japanese works of art 
… game of differences and simulacra … in creating meaning, also confers temporal signification. which is to bring about a rupture, a "tearing of 
ordinary meaning" … in order to bring about an 
outpouring of new meanings in a culture that is 
"deconstructing" itself of leaving its own 
construction incomplete.
1987 Kisho‐ commercial‐
Kurokawa center
museum
1987 Shin‐ house
Takamatsu office‐building

1987 Hiromi‐Fujii gym

261
 Coded Text from L'Architecture d'Aujourd'hui
date title architect typology material qualities of space, special characteristics  space, form, composition  history tradition West religion, economy, 
sociology
1987 The Experiencing  Tadao‐Ando effacing of limits, their nagation, inversion of fading out. The membranes isolate different scenes of the 
of Limits Hiroshi‐Hara Transition from one world to another or of creating a fluid and homogeneous continuity … continuous current of time and make of them, just 
The limit is the ambiguous and contradictory line where opposites coexiist simultaneously: interior and exterior,  as in sukiya architecture, so many "static worlds" or 
fullness and emptiness, opening and closing, presence and absence, reality and fream. isolated moments of time that create what could 
It is only in this context that Tadao Ando's architecture may be understood. be termed "a specifically Japanese form of 
The membranes isolate different scenes of the continuous current of time and make of them, just as in sukiya  eternity".
architecture, so many "static worlds" or isolated moments of time that create what could be termed "a  Ando's architecture, like that of the sukiya, lies in 
specifically Japanese form of eternity". the way it enables static worlds, caught in the 
Hiroshi Hara's architecture effaces the limits between reality and fiction, solid bodies and unreal images, opaque  eternity of an ephemeral instant, to intermingle in 
forms and transparent reflections. multiple superpositions that lead the spectator to a 
transparency and perpetual change of form mental space without limits where " all nature can 
fusion of light and shadow, ambiguity of limits, intentional heterogeneity of materials and of slightly differing  be perceived in a fragment that has been 
measurements, asymmetry or unbalanced symmetry. extricated" (Tadao Ando).
contemporary architecture concurs with the most fundamental currents of Japanese esthetics by taking for its  Hara concurs with Japanese culture's fascination 
theme the expression of amorphous and ambiguous space. for the ephemeral and the transitory, the 
poignancy of things on the verge of disappearing, 
clouds, mist, mirages.

1987 Tadao‐Ando chapel

1987 with Tadao Tadao Ando
1987 Hiroshi‐Hara museum
1987 Japanese  all the works in question bear a certain number of themes: fragmentation, coexistence of opposites, the 
Architecture as  ephemeral, the labyrinth, the simulacrum
Theme
1987 Toyo‐Ito
1988 Tadao‐Ando housing
housing
1988 Tadao‐Ando chapel
chapel
1988 Tadao‐Ando commercial‐
building
1988 Tadao‐Ando house
1988 Tadao‐Ando house
1988 Tadao‐Ando cafe
cafe
1988 Tadao‐Ando commercial‐
center
1988 Time Found:  Tadao‐Ando concrete ambiguous shifts clear‐cut geometry of the cube and the circle immemorial national traditions, with their deep  cross‐currents that refuse to mingle  Buddhist in essence
Time Lost,  translucent screens of  A Japan of perfection through elegance of efficiency and simplicity reconciled at long last. calm and perfect response to age‐old usage with the waters of Europe or 
Modern Times glass blocks ancestral principles an ethic and a "tradition for contemporary architecture"  … Kenzo Tange's generation developed Le  America.
Japanese architects of today cultivate ambiguity in the mingling of registers and cultures Corbusier's brutalist manner to a degree of uncouth  Mingle and run together to the same 
universal history for the fragmented stylistic elements he re‐uses violence that was both expressive and magnificent,  outlet only to separate again and 
between past future with his sotto voce metaphors spirited bya ferocious irrationality that, though it  recede for fear of being completely 
Ando contrives to create closed spaces which he believes will be conductive to the opening of mental space,  fascinated Westerners, they never attempted to  lost.
recesses which are meditative and isolated, far from the maddening clamour of contemporary Japan. equal An entire culture that often journeys 
… laconic purity of old Romanesque chapels it became apparent that all the values of  far and wide only to rediscover its 
ascetic art tuned in to the latent forces of the site rationalism had already been put into use in  own image in the eyes of the 
Silence and concision are the eternal dimensions of Japan that he has introduced into the aesthetics of the 20th  traditional Japanese architecture foreigner
century. … calm rituals, his absolute love of nature … … supreme sobriety of expression, precise in tone,  linear time of Western progress to 
"exact" … inexpressive beauty that was thus  the cyclical time of Oriental wisdom
universal … radically coordinated, interchangeable In the post‐war period … Kenzo 
A Japan of perfection through elegance of  Tange's generation developed Le 
efficiency and simplicity reconciled at long last. Corbusier's brutalist manner to a 
Tadao Ando, who has refined to a rare degree the  degree of uncouth violence that was 
old Japanese canon of the beauty of simplicity both expressive and magnificent, 
spirited bya ferocious irrationality 
that, though it fascinated 
Westerners, they never attempted to 
equal.
Westerners marvelled to find in the 
empire of the Rising Sun the models 
of their own inspirations.
it became apparent that all the 
values of rationalism had already 
b d l

262
 Coded Text from L'Architecture d'Aujourd'hui
date title architect typology material qualities of space, special characteristics  space, form, composition  history tradition West religion, economy, 
sociology
1988 Representation  Tadao‐Ando labyrinthine quality … architecture that is simultaneously both abstract and representational by giving simple  Although I carry on the modernist "tradition" of  Architecture comes into existence only against the  Postmodernism
and Abstraction geometrical forms a maze‐like articulation abstraction, it is human existence that is my  background of histories, traditions, and climates  modernism
give the architecture physicality by introducing nature into the simple, abstract prism. central concern. and other natural factors.
… nature into the architecture. … simple circles and squares for my architectural  Although I carry on the modernist "tradition" of 
forms abstraction, it is human existence that is my central 
… I manipulate architectural spaces. concern.
labyrinthine quality … architecture that is 
simultaneously both abstract and 
representational by giving simple geometrical 
forms a maze‐like articulation
1988 Synthesis of  Tadao‐Ando concrete Synthesis of Opposites … the notion of a framed or layered composition,  ancient concept of oku … Japanese space‐time  … modern society are 
Opposites it resists being absorbed by the profilerating consumerism of our daily lives. wherein the overall stereometric volume is  perception which permits a set of leap‐frogging  always indirectly present 
… categorical insistence on the creation of an unequivocal boundaryy which assures the tightly defined  broken‐up by a trabeated frame association over great distances. in Ando's architecture, as 
topographic nature of his work … the incidence of natural light which is always invited to play across the delicate  "The resultant form is a cube…" implicit in his delimiting 
surface of his concrete fabric, constantly revealing as it moves the ever‐changing inter‐dependency of light,  reinforced concrete walls 
climate, season and time. as in the flood tide of 
hyper‐sensitivity to place chaotic urban 
… countering the ubiquitous monotony of commercial architecture; … on tological space which is capable of  development which 
symbolizing "relations between human beings and things" these elements serve to 
… at once modern yet antique, occidental yet oriental, industrialized yet hand‐crafted. resist.
… animation of architecture through sunlight, wind and rain not the presence of 
association … Time's Building seems to set up a comparable association with remote topographic features  Shinto
although Ando's description at no point employs the term oku.
… spiritual fastness … infinity of the sky. … a cut‐out which permits the distracted consumer, overwhelmed by 
choice, to reflect momentarily on a silent, timeless world lying beyond. … layered terraces …
… building which defies adequate comprehension from drawings and photographs and yet despite the 
provisional nature of this judgment one cannot help feeling that this work is largely an exploratory gesture.
… simplicity, as mysterious and as intense as any of the finer poetic sequences achieved by the architect to date. 
Opaque and yet flooded with light … echoing stone … terminated by an anti‐climax. … degree‐zero experience … 
site of an unresolved conflict
glare‐filled void … representation of the unrepresentable; the space of the absent
… profound Japanese capacity for synthesis; that continual drive towards convincing cross‐cultural expression 
which is so deeply embedded in Ando's work.
… play with opposites: elliptical/orthogonal, light/dark, stasis/process, open/closed, straight/curved, 
symmetry/asymmetry, and last but not least, occident and orient.

1988 Will of  Tadao‐Ando This subtle spatial work, which in fact is nothing more than the eternal struggle around the figure of the right  design tool: a rectangle intersected by the 

Architecture,  angle, stresses not only the modernity of Ando's work but also his project lucidity and his mastery of spatial  segment of a circle
Architecture of  phenomena.
Will … fragmentation into clearly defined spaces in a strongly accentuated unity
… simple act of having a cup of coffee becomes a tranquil event.
notion of sheltered space
1988 My Concrete Tadao‐Ando concrete architecture of light and space The universal geometric force clarifies spatial 
surface which is homogenous and light order and directs the whole of architecture.
surface of the wall becomes abstract, it is transformed into nothing and approaches infinity. … clear space composed of floor, wall, and 
When man encounters such a clean space he feels that he is in a space animated by natural elements. ceiling
… becomes alive with human presence.

1988 Place and  Tadao‐Ando Each place implies a certain way of thinking, each place possesses its own patrimony of memories

Character autonomous architecture … in harmony with the local character.
… something without logic, involved only in everyday experience.
My starting point is always the everyday
1988 Drama of  Tadao‐Ando concrete The play of luminous matter and dark matter … concrete is naked on the outside and illusionary on the inside. suggests the presence of a sphere To the image of a rock garden, that is, a garden to  To the image of a rock garden, that is, 
Secrecy: The  Maxe‐like interior spaces … maze in which truth and fiction are intermingled. dome be viewed, is added the image of a Versailles‐like  a garden to be viewed, is added the 
Architecture of  … hidden rooms and hidden courtyards garden that can be seen in its entirety from the  image of a Versailles‐like garden that 
Tadao Ando … gardens exist only to be looked at. viewpoint of the king. can be seen in its entirety from the 
… hidden house, filled with light and darkness, is totally enveloped in a windowless concrete wall. viewpoint of the king.
His architecture represents in a sense a shadow cast on the earth by a bird in the sky. On the outside, his 
buildings are concrete walls that are as expressionless as a bird. Inside, light and shadow generate a gentle 
drama, and the spaces are like the shadow of a bird. We find true serenity in this soft, shadowy environment.
… the egg and the nest …
… something stirring in the silence of light and shadow inside the building. It was the stir of what was not there.
drama of secrecy … the drama of light and darkness. … illusion‐like space
concrete inside Ando's buildings has lost its substantiality and is reduced to light and darkness.

1988 Tadao‐Ando theater

263
 Coded Text from L'Architecture d'Aujourd'hui
date title architect typology material qualities of space, special characteristics  space, form, composition  history tradition West religion, economy, 
sociology
1988 Building in Chaos Kazuo‐ metal building in chaos forms is everywhere triumphant. two symbols of Japan – the old and the new – are  Behind the gaudy facades, silence is 
Shinohara A punctuation mark between order and disorder, it is the symbol of "progressive anarchy" … dominates and  Chaos of forms is apparent in the systematic use  present. golden and thousands of Japanese 
reinforces the character of the surrounding area. of "additions": two rectangles come together to  … creates effects akin to those that are to be seen  city dwellers sleep more peacefully 
Life is convivial there … form the main body of the building … aesthetic  in the traditional arts. than many of their western 
… attentive to the reality of the Japanese city. "Chaos", "random noise" and "progressive anarchy" of asymmetry …rises powerfully at the entrance to the campus  counterparts.
purely Japanese aesthetic, visible in the relationship between the full and the empty, in the dissymetrical  formal "independence" like a torii at a temple entrance
balancing, and in the occupied or non‐occupied spaces, and which creates effects akin to those that are to be  Centenary Museum also gives form to each  We are reminded of the traditional Japanese 
seen in the traditional arts. function and, with one material alone house, where the extremely fine and lightweight 
posts of the vertical frame bear up under enormous 
and weighty roofs covered with decorated tiles.
The surface of the broken half‐cylinder that crosses 
the entire last floor appears, like the roughly hewn 
binding beam that the Japanese carpenters would 
settle over the roof frame of favoured structures.

1989 Tadao‐Ando chapel concrete through geometry a clear yet by no means monotonous order amid nature.

Theatrical space
frames a portion of the limitless sky
feeling of solemnity
The framed landscape changes in appearance from moment to moment. It is precisely in these changes that one 
senses the presence of what is natural and sacred. The sunlight, the water, and the sky create varied and never‐
ending melodies.
1989 Kisho‐ art‐museum
Kurokawa
1989 Fumihiko‐Maki sports‐complex concrete visual lightness juxtaposition of buildings … collage of elements  two symmetrical 
gymnasiums stainless steel choice of skin was crucial … unexpected formal experience – an  structural shells
architectural promenade. primary structure is 
Curved forms creating this ethereal, floating  simple
feeling even if he tries to "deconstruct" his large  Three structural concepts 
public projects. were established. The 
… link the dynamism of a long plan to a circular  first is that of a drum 
form, which though too static … composed of two 
length‐wise symmetrical plan concentric series of fine 
floating nature of the two giant leaves columns
The second is a concept 
of pillars, of which four, 
in a trapazoidal form, 
carry the longitudinal 
thrust
third concept if that of a 
console

1989 An Urban Oasis Riken‐ apartment‐ urban oasis

Yamamoto building disassembling the typical building
feeling of lightness and joy
uncertain whether it is an indoor or an outdoor space
cleverly layered terraces
birdhouse set in a tree … enjoy nature fully
Nature … as nature changes from moment to moment.
oasis in the middle of the city
delicate elements that are loosely joined. Behind the design is a vision of nature and an awakening desire on the 
part of city‐dwellers to fully experience nature.
… made the dream of a city endowed with nature, a firendly world that allows each citizen to give full play to his 
of her sensibility, that much closer to reality.
1990 Tadao‐Ando art‐gallery embody various values inherent to the site Creating in an historical context means digging up 
concert‐hall building in multilayers what has been buried in time
multilayered areas
1990 Hiroshi‐Hara
1990 A Culture Looking  Itsuko‐ wood Japanese desing and architecture are arousing widespread interest by a liberty that sometimes appears to be  accentuation of asymmetrical figures, the  finding again the immateriality of traditional spaces reduce structures to the 
for its  Hasegawa metal boundless. multiplication of triangles and non‐orthogonal  another aspect of tradition: the somber quality of  minimum
Characteristics Toyo‐Ito accentuation of asymmetrical figures angles. space
Kazuyo Sejima several filters lead from exterior to interior Soft shapes In Japanese symbolism, the right angle designates 
Rather than design spaces to form a coherent  the man's place, in opposition to all other angles, 
whole, they are able to produce exploded spaces  which are considered as being more "natural".
where walls are designed to be completely 
independent from one another

264
 Coded Text from L'Architecture d'Aujourd'hui
date title architect typology material qualities of space, special characteristics  space, form, composition  history tradition West religion, economy, 
sociology
1991 Itinerary of  Tadao‐Ando chapel … the design of the approach‐way which leads to the specifically "sacred" place. constancy of style and a quest for new spatial  The principle of the long sequence of approach is 
Method chapel … a way of creating expectancy … configurations. recurrent in Japanese tradition, but in adopting it, 
chapel desire to capture nature Design principle is not based on complex forms Ando renews the constituents as well as the way 
filtered light … the inversion of relationships is a way of  they link together.
The ambiguity of limits introduces a natural element into the chapel's interior in an original way. methodically exploring the possibilities of using  … the chapel on the water has an approach 
transcendent order simple forms, and of avoiding orienting their  reminiscent of situations that certain Japanese 
renewal towards formal complexities. gardens alternate …
Apart from the search for a certain simplicity in  But the chapel on the water is more directly akin to 
each of the component elements, these are  the grand sanctuary of Itsukushima, with its huge 
assembled in such a way as to create a  torii.
succession of envelopes that protect or mask the 
volume holding the ultimate interiority.

1991 Tadao‐Ando commercial‐ glass two rectangular parallelepipeds

building aluminum cylinder
sports‐center cube
three‐dimensional maze
1991 Artificial  Motoko‐Ishii house the main theme in her exploration of light appears to be an idea of landscape where artificial/natural, 
Landscapes interior/exterior dualities merged
1991 Tadao‐Ando pavillion wood presenting traditional Japanese aesthetics in a 
contemporary adaptation
1992 Tadao‐Ando museum The path runs beside the lake and cuts across the woods, and was designed as an architectural element to  square and a rectangle
enable communication with nature.
1992 Toyo‐Ito museum One of the design objectives was to keep a low profile in view of this historic house, and to conserve the park  Storage areas are on a higher level, in a cylinder 
atmosphere by retaining as many trees as possible. volume …
This element derives in fact from the traditional 
shosoin, where store rooms were placed over daily 
living areas.
1992 Toru‐ house steel the memory of the sea horizon lingers on. The interior is reminiscent of the doma, the 
Murakami concrete … the house is in continuity with its environment: closed when necessary, open elsewhere. hardpacked earth floor of traditional houses, but 
Nature has taken over the exterior space, whose soberness harmonizes with daily life. here the floor is in concrete.
The impression given is of plenitude, transparency and emptiness, in counterpoint to the few elements which 
serenely envelop the space.
1992 The International  Arata‐Isozaki Is a new form of collective life – and thus the creation of a corresponding urban space – possible? Is real architectural 
Quarter at  internationalization possible?
Fukuoka

1992 Toshiyuki‐Kita showroom steel simplicity of pure volumes, well defined by the  Toshiyuki Kita, the most "italian" of 

metal panels play of full and empty space Japanese designers
curved roof that adds a dynamic touch to the 
building's external volumetry.
1992 Yasumitsu‐ collective‐ house symbolizes intimacy
Matsunaga housing each unit the best relationship possible to the exterior
1993 Shoei‐Yoh house glass The use of glass and white surfaces heightens the empty effect of a layering space that is nonetheless convivial The plan reflects a strong Miesian 
influence
1993 Tadao‐Ando conference‐ … aim was to oppose restraint and tranquility – or rather an "invisible movement" – to the highly animated  simple plan in which a cylinder and an oblique  the first european building designed 
center architecture of his Californian counterpart play with a square. by Tadao Ando
everything is a litle pinched spacewise Formal gymnastics are excessive The building's structure is far too 
And then evening comes. You cease questioning yourself about the metaphysics of natural light. heavy (in Japan, Ando builds walls 25 
… the curved walls start to move, the building's frame is effaced before its transparency; everything becomes  centimeters thick, without 
lightweight and immaterial. And Ando's architecture becomes what it is in the magazines, what it generally is:  weatherproofing; here he has had to 
beautiful and fine. bring together two concrete walls 
around proofing and the walls are 40 
centimeters thick).
European norms have stymied the 
delicate balance of Ando's 
architecture. The thick walls, the 
double glazing that has to be carried 
by heavy metal chords whose vertical 
rhythm gives the facades an 
industrial look, and even the prison‐
like hollow of the courtyard.

1993 Masahiko‐ house black box The overall plan results from the laying‐out of 

Inoue interplay of shadow and light the programme's elements on a grid measuring 
Hiroshi‐Nakao Despite this, everything has been done to ensure that the space remains open. However dark it may seem to be,  three meters each side.
Hiroko‐ this black box is also a birdcage cut by untold slits.
Serizawa

265
 Coded Text from L'Architecture d'Aujourd'hui
date title architect typology material qualities of space, special characteristics  space, form, composition  history tradition West religion, economy, 
sociology
1994 Eisaku‐Ushida house
Kathryn 
Findlay

1995 Kobe, the Great 
Hanshin 
Earthquake
1995 Shin‐ office‐building A UFO has landed on the Frankfurter Allee … the fine flower
Takamatsu Strange as it may seem, the four cylinders visible from afar not liftwells but decorative elements.
1996 Toshiaki‐Ishida house metal frame Neutral and bare, its interiors aim at inducing temporary occupants to engage in living habits far removed from  The pavilion is composed of two long,  ˆintended as an update of the tradi onal Japanese 
wooden shingles those of megopolitan standards. superposed volumes tea‐house – a place conducive to the 
concrete "brings in" the surrounding landscape by studied framings. contemplation of passing seasons and detachment 
from the world.
1996 Shigeru‐Ban cardboard Ban maintains a direct elegance whether he is designing private villas or shelters for crisis victims. Sober and  … furniture can be solid enough to serve  Marked by the traditions of his homeland as as by  Marked by the traditions of his  Marked by the traditions 
wooden refined, the former retain the virtues of the essntial hut; the latter, though made for budget and emergency,  structurally and replace a wall. Western ideas, in the space of a few projects  homeland as as by Western ideas, in  of his homeland as as by 
plywood show a concern for ordering and a search for exact proportions. … bare rationalism  A simple figure founds the project: two circles in  Shigeru Ban has shown a rare concern for both  the space of a few projects Shigeru  Western ideas, in the 
cardboard a square. formal rigour and social issues. Ban has shown a rare concern for  space of a few projects 
Its dual symmetry favors the standardization of  … simple boxes, with their carefully detailed  both formal rigour and social issues. Shigeru Ban has shown a 
constructive details. envelopes and subtly serene interiors, are  The bare rationalism of Ban's  rare concern for both 
reminiscent of the tea house. Compositions reminds us that he  formal rigour and social 
"… use of paper in traditional Japanese architecture  trained under John Hejduk at Cooper  issues.
this led me to experiment with the qualities of  Union Ban has directed his 
cardboard" thought to practical 
solutions.
Using this low‐cost, 
ecological material, he 
elaborated a shelter 
structure.
The total cost was under 
$85,000. Ban evokes "the 
political responsibility of 
architects … Modern 
architecture was born 
when people began to 
think about ways of 
building for the masses 
and not just for the 
wealthy."

1997 Makoto‐Sei‐ sculpture carbon‐fiber stems It symbolized the encounter between ideal nature – the mountains and water coureses around the village – and 

Watanabe the sophisticated technologies that produced these 'artifical grasses.'
On this dislocated site, that has no heritage other than the memory of a defunct ecosystem, Watanabe wanted 
to 'test a new protocol for the changing balance between nature and city.'
1998 The Death of a  Toyo‐Ito house concrete … demolished before his eyes to become again a space 'where nothing exists.' opposition between the simple geometric form 
House … space that symbolized their memory and the family link. of the exterior and the idea of a labyrinthine 
Symbolic space underground space in the interior.
images derive from a memory buried deep in the mind The idea of complete symmetry was insufferable 
opposition between the simple geometric form of the exterior and the idea of a labyrinthine underground space  to me.
in the interior.
top‐lighting amplified the image of an underground labyrinth
closed and introverted space
heighten awareness of nature
the house had been a tomb
For twenty years that young girl had to fight against a space that shut her in like a mausoleum.
impression of being in a totally isolated place.
Koji Tagi
'this space radiates erotism'
In spite of our intentions and pretensions as architects, none of us doubts that inhabitants take over the space 
they live in and tame it.
Architects pursue their own logic, which is what enables them to propose a form and a space for a building.
the villa G project brought with it, as a spatial problem, the symbolic problem of a family marooned by the death 
of the father. The life of this family became physically identified with the architectural space.

1998 Nobuko, Sachiko,  Toyo‐Ito house

Fumiko: Mixed 
Stories

266
 Coded Text from L'Architecture d'Aujourd'hui
date title architect typology material qualities of space, special characteristics  space, form, composition  history tradition West religion, economy, 
sociology
1999 Shigeru‐Ban house cardboard In order to make this house of extremely oriental 'simplicity', Shigeru Ban equated the structure with the storage  In order to make this house of extremely oriental  The elegance of the plan, which 
and partitions. 'simplicity', Shigeru Ban equated the structure with  recalls the first houses of Mies van 
Linking the space of the house with the surrounding landscape the storage and partitions. der Rohe, is the result of a very 
This building also evokes the monk Kamo no  intelligent distribution of space
Chomei's 12th century hermitage, whose built‐in 
parts could be entirely dismantled. Therefore, Ban 
reinterprets the classical tradition of Japanese 
architecture but in a different mode.

1999 Kazuyo‐Sejima house insulate and protect the heart of the house cylinder A glance at the machiya – the traditional Japanese  recalls the central rotunda of Andrea 

visual continuity house – gives us insight into the approaches of  Mantegna's house in Mantua
these two architects. Its age‐old pattern is usually 
structured on a clear dichotomy of omote and oku 
spaces – public and private. The former opens to 
the outside and is frequently occupied by a shop 
whose mobile façade elements are part of the lively 
streetlife. The latter retreats to the depth of the 
house and is strictly reserved for the privacy of the 
inhabitants. In the projects by Sejima and Tamaki, 
this distinction is heightened by external 
appearances.

1999 Jun‐Tamaki house insulate and protect the heart of the house sculptural manner A glance at the machiya – the traditional Japanese 

flexible space white block house – gives us insight into the approaches of 
change of light large rectangular space constitutes the core these two architects. Its age‐old pattern is usually 
structured on a clear dichotomy of omote and oku 
spaces – public and private. The former opens to 
the outside and is frequently occupied by a shop 
whose mobile façade elements are part of the lively 
streetlife. The latter retreats to the depth of the 
house and is strictly reserved for the privacy of the 
inhabitants. In the projects by Sejima and Tamaki, 
this distinction is heightened by external 
appearances.

1999 Tente pour  FOB house concrete house is a stop in this journey no bathroom

nomades urbains textile urban house that eludes norms and reverts to its environment, a dwelling whose ephemeral material rejects  inhabitants prefer going to the local sento
permanence.
Archetypal form of tent
urban nomads
1999 Waro‐Kishi house handsome volume
1999 Transparence Shigeru‐Ban …pushes transparency to the ultimate, by the almost complete bisappearance of inner and outer walls.
Perfect osmosis between indoors and out.
immaterialization
stratum opening onto the landscape
supple layer

1999 Kengo‐Kuma restaurant Kuma's drawings have an intrinsic value. … architectural discourse that is radically abstract but immediately  … binary composition of micro‐solids and micro‐ Kengo Kuma designs places marked by purely 

house intelligible. voids … Japanese cultural values: a Noh stage, a bamboo 
museum … architectural vocabulary as spare as this is admirable. … dialectic between essentialist abstraction and  house, the Hiroshige museum and a pavilion‐
… dialectic between essentialist abstraction and the perceived reality of a material. His effects are polyphonic. the perceived reality of a material. His effects  restaurant.
… bring together materials, places and effects. are polyphonic. … rediscover and re‐express the true essence of 
… constantly changing natural elements: wind, rain, light. … bring together materials, places and effects. Japanese architecture by using bamboo as both a 
Kuma has chosen to explore the primordial relationship between the building and its environment. He has  … constantly changing natural elements: wind,  structural and non‐structural element.
returned to a timeless vision of architecture as the interaction of material and form with the elements of nature  rain, light.
and the immediate environment. Kuma has chosen to explore the primordial 
… an architecture of pure sensations, in which materials and detail only signify in their sensitive values. relationship between the building and its 
the architecture, instead of being a mass, is a simple immobile entity, fragile and perishable, an immaterial  environment. He has returned to a timeless 
relationship between the built and the non‐built. vision of architecture as the interaction of 
architectural project towards pure immateriality. material and form with the elements of nature 
and the immediate environment.
… an architecture of pure sensations, in which 
materials and detail only signify in their sensitive 
values.
the architecture, instead of being a mass, is a 
simple immobile entity, fragile and perishable, 
an immaterial relationship between the built and 
the non‐built.
architectural project towards pure immateriality.

267
 Coded Text from L'Architecture d'Aujourd'hui
date title architect typology material qualities of space, special characteristics  space, form, composition  history tradition West religion, economy, 
sociology
1999 Takashi‐ temple metal glazed surface set in "a garden without water" two smooth, massive blocks All of these things amplify one another without 
Yamaguchi glass glazed surface set in "a garden without water" clashing with traditional aesthetic principles, the 
the architect arranges contrasts: voids and  respect of which is never literal.
solids, slenderness and force, wood and 
concrete, shadow and light

1999 Toyo‐Ito house industrial materials Toyo Ito, seeks an architectural equivalent for the archaic simplicity which distinguishes the very old processes  Japanese craftsmen are extraordinary

steel sheets of dying and weaving which are what the clients practice. The products leaving their ateliers are 
… connected in a very simple way with its surroundings characterized at their best by their astonishing 
the building directly harmonizes with today's Japan by using unfinished and rough up‐to‐date materials as they  perfection.
can be found easily in each builders suppliers all over the country.
Their connection with the outside and above all their relationship with the realities of present‐day Japan are 
reflected by the specific properties of the materials and their corresponding art of detail.
1999 Kazuyo‐Sejima apartment‐ at first glance to be the triumph of uniformity. Looking closer one discovers within this uniformity an  new relationship is preformulated through the  social conscience of the 
building extraordinary freedom intelligence of the spatial arrangement project
She is eliminating, thus definitively the idea of an encapsulated entity social‐housing project
system of the independent units
starting‐point for a new relationship between its inhabitants and the environment
1999 Takehiko‐ installation
Nagakura
1999 Toyo‐Ito media‐library … an extreme lightness and transparency, and apparent fragility that is at once graceful and dizzying
1999 Shuhei‐Endo house Nature and expression of material are exploited to their full
1999 Kisho‐
Kurokawa
1999 Eisaku‐Ushida house experimental house
Kathryn  liquid material caught in a state of equilibrium
Findlay

2000 The Tea‐House Murielle  … concept of simplicity, the tea‐house symbolically became a place of retreat hidden away in the heart of the  The senses are stimulated by a spatial reduction. The tea ceremony, influenced by concepts derived  The tea ceremony, 

Hladik city. The unfolding of the ceremony is broken down in  from Zen Buddhism, expresses an ideal of  influenced by concepts 
The tea‐house is a minimal envelope. time and space in accordance with the place of  abstinence and poverty. derived from Zen 
The senses are stimulated by a spatial reduction. the beginning and the place of the end. … concept of simplicity, the tea‐house symbolically  Buddhism, expresses an 
The edifice is thought of as being temporary … system of interconnected timber components became a place of retreat hidden away in the heart  ideal of abstinence and 
spatial proportions were rigorously codified of the city. poverty.
Sen no Rikyu
The tea‐house is a minimal envelope.
The unfolding of the ceremony is broken down in 
time and space in accordance with the place of the 
beginning and the place of the end.

2000 "Fitting In": Small  l rapid cycles of demolition and reconstruction, lack of public space, extreme density, bizarre and experimental  This fragmented structure has its origins in the  Tokyo was never subject to the kind  The central paradox of 

Sites in Urban  FOB architecture, chaos, and so on idiosyncrasies of historical city design, and is  of restructuring operations involved  Japanese architecture is 
Japan The tiny lots and constant replacement of building stock vindicate the most perverse and indulgent designs  perpetuated by both cultural traditions and  in the transformation of major  that a cityscape of such 
whose only concession to "context" is an equivalent sense of fragmentation and volatility anomalies in the current planning laws. European cities from mediaeval  incredible heterogen is 
The traditional urban fabric of nagaya (longhouses)  towns into nascent modern  produced by apparently 
and moachiya (townhouses) has mostly  metropoli. conformist society.
disappeared, but the lot divisions remain.

2000 Japanese Hotel  Axel‐Sowa hotel plastic These architects, inspired by the Buddhist  … increasing distances 

Capsules philosophy of impermanence, imagined urban  between the family home 
visions whose superstructures were simply used to  and the workplace, and 
provide a framework for the perpetual changes of  between residential 
an evolving system. districts and the city 
Capsule hotels may well be only viable physical  center.
manifestation of Metabolist ideas. Their anonymous 
designers have done 
better than architects in 
capturing the energy of a 
society on the move, 
creating a new 
miniaturized urban scale 
that expresses 
accommodation as 
furniture.

268
 Coded Text from L'Architecture d'Aujourd'hui
date title architect typology material qualities of space, special characteristics  space, form, composition  history tradition West religion, economy, 
sociology
2000 An Interview  Kisho‐ Taking impermanence into consideration also implies a particular appreciation of beauty in relation to age. we founded the Metabolist movement, with the  … with the end of the Middle Ages, 
with Kisho  Kurokawa Adapt to a changing environment aim to reconstruct the body of architecture  the role of the individual in 
Kurokawa according to a new paradigm. The principle of life  occidental history becomes 
and living beings redirected architectural practice  increasingly important in art, law, 
toward questions of environment, of constant  political systems… While Modern 
change, of symbioses and metamorphoses which  Occidental societies are based on this 
affect the whole of society. long tradition of individualism, 
In Japanese philosophy, the word mujo denotes  Japan's modernization was a rapid 
impermanence, the perpetual alteration of each  one, which occured during the Meiji 
thing, the existence of which is only conceivable in  era, but it did not give the same 
terms of an endlessly provisional state. This  central position to the individual.
concept has had a profound impact on Japanese 
esthetics.

2000 "The Square, an  Tadao‐Ando museum nature/culture confrontation archetypical forms that are meant to have 

Atemporal and  Jean‐Michel‐ symbolic value
Pure Form" Wilmotte square
Masakazu‐ cube
Bokura purified external form
spatial richness of the place
2001 Osoresan, the 
"Terrible 
Mountain"
2001 Shigeru‐Ban house
2002 Japan in Crisis,  "Ten Lost Years" is a 
Japan on the  phrase often used to 
Move describe the crisis that is 
unsettling the Japanese 
economy.
2002 Eating at Home 
in E‐Land
2002 An Interview  Toyo‐Ito just one material … reinterprets the relationship between nature and technique. For Ito, lightness and fluidity are more than  … importance to this type of rapport between 
with Toyo Ito:  aluminum aesthetic values; they are the conditions of sociability in the information age. structure and ornament
Looking for a 
Second Nature
2002 Japanese Light  Itoya‐Yoshida wooden Masaki Endo In the 60s Ikebe pursued the development of a  modern Sukiya style
Structure steel developed the aesthetics and methodolgy of light structure into a state‐of‐the‐art technology series of rational steel construction methods for  we can see the aesthetic prototype of Japanese 
wood housing light structure
steel frame
aluminum
2002 Masaki‐Endo house steel Natural unit simple geometry perpetuate a tradition that sees the house as a 
house flat‐iron Natural unit might be described as an acoustically optimized screen The roof and floor of the "K" House are carried  shelter first of all rather than a piece of real estate
house fiber‐reinforced  cushion slightly detached from the ground by a large number of slender components 
polymer sheets mobile‐home parked on top of a hill distributed over its four external walls. An 
"accordion" arrangement ensures the rigidity of 
the façade
A single double‐curve surface separates its 
private space from the street

2002 Kazuhiko‐ house aluminum aluminum has all the characteristics of a material for the future, what with its combination of technical 

Namba performances and environmental qualities.
Kai‐Workshop The house is all‐aluminum
upper parts are covered by photo‐voltaic solar panels with perforated metal strips around their edges
The project is an encouraging example of partnership between industry and architecture

2002 Kazuhiko‐ house metal The metal structure is light weight and the slab is as thin as possible assemblage of metal‐structure box houses.

Namba The structure is composed of a system of rigid 
Kai‐Workshop portal frames
The metal structure is light weight and the slab is 
as thin as possible
2002 Architecture‐ house design workshop and a  Circulations spiral around the living space, 
Workshop dwelling enclosed in a double skin lit by skylights. This 
interstice functions like a climate‐regulator, 
providing heat control for the central core.

2002 Atelier‐ house "pocket in the environment"

Cinquieme
2002 Atelier‐ house concrete The spatial configuration was defined by the  The floor slab extends beyond the enclosed spaces, 
Cinquieme metal frames client to ensure that the main rooms would have  a modern‐day reinterpretation of the nure‐en, the 
ideal exposure to sunlight. terraces that surrounded traditional Japanese 
Two distinct volumes houses.

269
 Coded Text from L'Architecture d'Aujourd'hui
date title architect typology material qualities of space, special characteristics  space, form, composition  history tradition West religion, economy, 
sociology
2002 Junya‐Toda gallery The impermanence of the site prohibited the architect from putting down roots. … simple diaphanous glass box that plays on 
… simple diaphanous glass box that plays on opacity and transparency – a fragility in keeping with the ephemeral  opacity and transparency
nature of the surrounding urban fabric.
 The designer has also expressed the ambiguity of limits between interior and exterior, and accentuated the 
gallery's immaterial presence.
2002 Atsushi‐ museum aluminum Every year a mirage phenomenon takes place 
Kitagawara library there, in the bay of Yatsushiro. This weird 
Toyo‐Ito atmospheric event, which is referred to in 
mythologies as ancient as the Nihon shoki, inspired 
the facility's designer Atsushi Kitagawara
These blades that shield and structure the 
building's surfaces are reminiscent of the sliding 
wooden‐lath screens in traditional houses.

2002 Mikan kindergarden wooden wooden box with an easily identifiable volume Wood is used throughout and imparts warmth to 

absence of spatial hierarchy the kindergarten while introducing notions of 
tradition and contemporaneity.

2002 Kengo‐Kuma onsen wooden The façade is formed of two layers: a screen 

wooden made of vertical wooden laths and a second 
acrylic glass screen of translucent acrylic glass.
2002 An Architecture 
of 
Impermanence
2002 Atelier‐ workshop wooden With this project, while conserving the traces of history and the transparency of spaces, he has created a new 
Cinquieme scenography of ruins, which redefines the memory of the quake in time. The title of the operation – "Reviving 
Katsuhiro‐ the Completely Collapsed House" – reminds us of Buddhism and the cycle of reincarnation.
Miyamoto
2002 Atelier‐ memorial pay tribute to the memory of the landscape
Cinquieme unpredictability of nature
the sensation of a "second nature"
2002 Ryoji‐Suzuki It is the relationship between objects that enables us to see space.
… Tokyo in the constant mutation of its space and its buildings, where places are transformed, disappear and 
enter into gestation, and can even be places without places.
2002 Displacing Mount  Mount Fuji is to Tokyo what the Eiffel Tower is to Paris or the Parthenon to Athens – a time‐honored  For … Japan's modernization had to grow from the  Mount Fuji is to Tokyo what the Eiffel 
Fuji stereotypical image of Japan. But there is one major difference. Is it nature rather than culture that the Japanese  "essence" of Japan itself. Tower is to Paris or the Parthenon to 
are proud of? In contemporary times, the image of the  Athens – a time‐honored 
It is absence again, or rather impossibility, that is celebrated in the miniature Mount Fujis that sprang up  Shinkansen bullet train has become almost  stereotypical image of Japan. But 
throughout the city of Edo. inseparable from the view of the mountain. … the  there is one major difference. Is it 
dual imagery of Japanese culture, anchored in both  nature rather than culture that the 
future and past, national progress and traditional  Japanese are proud of?
culture.
2002 Sibuya, Shinjuku,  Japanese people don't 
Ikebukuro: Three  just go to the station to 
Stations in Tokyo take trains but also to 
consume – 
simultaneously or 
exclusively – goods, 
services and sensations. 
The internal layout of 
train stations ensures 
them a role as an urban 
thoroughfare, an 
antechamber of public 
space.

2002 FOB Homes:  FOB house … house as consumer item: inexpensive, convenient and disposable.

Manufacturing a  … unique houses for wealthy clients has little effect on the general condition of Japanese housing …
Market The FOB Homes system is partly an attempt to reunite Modernist aesthetics (minimalist white boxes) with 
Modernist ideology (democratic, affordable design).
Perhaps only in Japan, where simplicity has always signified luxury, such ambitions are plausible.

2002 Interview with  Kazuo‐ terra cotta By the 1970s, critics began to refer to this atypical practise of architecture as the "Shinohara school". natural inclination towards geometrical figures My so‐called "empty umbrella" house, built in 

Kazuo Shinohara Shinohara fabric As of the 60s I came out for the idea that there is beauty in chaos The white house, the incomplete house, and the  1962, grew out of a re‐reading of the minka – the 
compacted‐earth concrete house initiated my research into the  traditional workers' dwelling.
cube. At a time when traditional houses were held in 
… focused on geometric forms contempt, I took a contrary stand and used them as 
a starting point for new architecture.
2002 Frank Lloyd 
Wright in Japan

270
 Coded Text from L'Architecture d'Aujourd'hui
date title architect typology material qualities of space, special characteristics  space, form, composition  history tradition West religion, economy, 
sociology
2002 Tadao‐Ando theater it is no longer the solid but the void that determines that architectural figure rough cut of volumes
study‐center relationship between that users and the architecture cylindrical main volume
shopping‐
complex
2002 Riken‐ housing neighbourhood relationships
Yamamoto
2002 Kei Ai,  care‐house
Nishinomiya, 
Japan
2002 Kengo‐Kuma house
Shigeru‐Ban house
2003 Masaki‐Endo house steel giant cocoon egg‐shaped volume
fiber‐reinforced  envelope nonetheless ensures osmosis between interior and exterior
polymers
fiber‐reinforced 
polymer sheet
2003 Japanese Theme  Images of run‐down 
Parks: Occupying  theme parks are 
Home Base symptomatic of the 
changes that are taking 
place in the local 
entertainment industry 
there.
2003 Henri‐ house
Gueydan
Fumihiko‐
Kaneko
2003 Hotel Claska,  the can live and work in a simple, harmonious and elegant environment Not so long ago Japanese architects were liable  In the past decade the 
Tokyo, Japan or  to show a certain disdain for interior deorating  economic down‐turn that 
How to Live  work, especially in the case of housing, which  has hit Japan has 
Downtown they saw as secondary to the construction of a  demoralized the people.
handsome colume. … proposes a life style 
and a model of refined 
comfort.
… many run‐down 
buidldings in big 
Japanese cities have 
been abandoned.
In tokyo, 40% of the 
population lives alone … 
nearly 30%. These people 
are mostly young, single, 
salaried workers.

2003 Strange Sacred Ryosuke‐ Church on the Water "Every encounter occurs only once in a lifetime."  In English or French, the connotations  The oldest Buddhist 

Ohashi It does not confront nature. It becomes a particular part of nature. This is the motto of the Japanese tea ceremony. of "half" are often negative. temple in Japan, the 
Church of the Light in Osaka is architecture that transgresses into the deeper layer of nature. It is not an attempt  This is the format we find in a famous haiku by  The "stranger" in Baudelaire's poem  Horyu‐ji in nara, dating 
to go "back to nature", but "forward into nature". Basho: Aki fukashi kokoro no yoru ya yojo kan  is a person who is fundamentally  back to the 7th century, 
"four‐and‐a‐half tatami" room to show the element of the "extra half" in Japanese culture. (Autmun day/close friends meet/four‐and‐a‐half  different from others has a peculiar 
room). I pointed out that the "excessive  asymmetric layout for 
In the tea ceremony we find this "extra hall" …  strangeness" of European sensitivity  which no precedent is 
never simply symmetrical might correspond to this "extra half" found in China.

2003 Profane  Kazuyo‐Sejima museum glass curtain Amidst these glass walls that efface or reflect is born a floating presence that blends interior and exterior, real  circular building 112.5m in diameter Throughout the 20th century, the 

Cathedral: the  Ryue‐ and virtual boxes and a cylindrical volume displacement of elites, wars, de‐
Kanazawa  Nishizawa colonization and the swift evolution 
Museum of 21st  of contemporary society and 
Century Art technology changed the very notion 
of art. The norms of Western art 
inherited from the Greco‐Roman 
tradition were no longer as dominant 
as they had been.
open museum
They took cues from European and 
American museums such as the 
Kunsthaus at Bregenz (Peter 
Zumthor, 1997) and the Beyeler 
Foundation near Basel (Renzo Piano, 
1997).

271
 Coded Text from L'Architecture d'Aujourd'hui
date title architect typology material qualities of space, special characteristics  space, form, composition  history tradition West religion, economy, 
sociology
2005 housing … relationships between family members and the dwelling, between the dwellings and the hamlet or even  Since the 50s, the Japanese Housing Authority has  Nevertheless, one shouldn't forget  70 different floor plans 
between the hamlets themselves, were as varied as they were changing. Based on this observation, he learned  provided flats designed based on this standard  that, just like the Canal Court in  for the 420 flats (48‐
to respect empirical practices in his own architectural. floor plan. Tokyo, the new district in Peking is  113m sq) in block I to 
Flexibility and interpenetration are the two words that characterize his work. not the fruit of modernist thinking or  satisfy the needs of 
the adoration of the international  residents with quite 
Style, but rather a free reflection that  different lifestyles.
respects life's mobility. On the first floor, SOHO 
(small office, small home) 
type flats
2005 Ken‐Yokogawa teahouse sober appearance The teahouse has seduced Japanese architects  teahouse that mixes foreign materials
sophisticated techniques since the sixteenth century.
effect completely different from the Japanese tradition Yoshio Taniguchi and Tadao Ando, even design 
but it responds well to a contemporary taste which prefers clarity pavillions which synthesize traditional canons and a 
But the Heisei teahouse reminds us of the importance of craftsmanship which involves effort, time and quality,  contemporary aesthetic.
the conditions for an existence in all its fullness.
spaces that can be enjoyed both simply and timelessly, without yielding to the nostalgia trap.
2005 Toyo‐Ito office reinforced concrete Does an ideogram for the idea of 
shop luxury exist [in Japan]? … Yes, the 
root is kou‐kyuu, which signifies "high‐
class". But in japan, unlike in the 
West, luxury products serve less as 
indicators of social status.

2005 Jun‐Aoki metal meshes nuanced set of veils, patterns, moirés and meshes … like diaphanous screens, between the object of desire and  inside the store, a total surface of 

its potential purchaser. 3340m sq is structured according to 
Skilled craftsmanship Adolf Loos's idea of Raumplan.

272
 APPENDIX II
( Diagrams and analysis generated in KH Codder )

273
 Diagrams and analysis generated in KH Codder on the data collectet from
Architectural Design between 1977 and 1999

Chart of most the represented architects in Architectural Design between 1977 and 1999

16

14

12

10

number of articles per architect in Architectural Design from 1977 to 1999

274
 Chart of the most represented typology in Architectural Design between 1977 and 1999

40

35

30

25

20

15

10

typology

Chart of frequency of mentioning materials in Architectural Design between 1977 and 1999

35

30

25

20

15

10

0
metal/steel aluminum concrete wood glass stone

frequency of materials mentioning in articles

275
Co-occurrence network diagram focused on centrality, generated in KH Coder from the
Japan-ness code of the Architectural Design articles

276
Co-occurrence network diagram focused on communities, generated in KH Coder from
the Japan-ness code of the Architectural Design articles.

277
Co-occurrence network diagram focused on centrality, generated in KH Coder from the
Japan-ness code of the Architectural Design articles. (diagram with higher parameters)

278
Co-occurrence network diagram focused on communities, generated in KH Coder from
the Japan-ness code of the Architectural Design articles. (diagram with higher parameters)

279
Co-occurrence network diagram focused on centrality, generated in KH Coder from the
Japan-ness code of the Architectural Design articles. (diagram focused on adjectives)

280
Co-occurrence network diagram focused on communities, generated in KH Coder from
the Japan-ness code of the Architectural Design articles. (diagram focused on adjectives)

281
Multi-Dimensional Scaling diagram generated from Japan-ness code of the Architectural
Design articles.

282
Multi-Dimensional Scaling diagram generated from Japan-ness code of the Architectural
Design articles. (diagram focused on adjectives)

283
 Diagrams and analysis generated in KH Codder on the data collectet from
Casabella between 1982 and 2005

Chart of most the represented architects in Casabella between 1977 and 1999

35

30

25

20

15

10

number of articles per architect in Casabella from 1982 to 2005

284
 Chart of the most represented typology in Casabella between 1977 and 1999

30

25

20

15

10

typology

Chart of frequency of mentioning materials in Casabella between 1977 and 1999

14

12

10

frequency of mentioning materials in articles

285
Co-occurrence network diagram focused on centrality, generated in KH Coder from the
Japan-ness code of the Casabella articles.

286
Co-occurrence network diagram focused on communities, generated in KH Coder from
the Japan-ness code of the Casabella articles.

287
Co-occurrence network diagram focused on centrality, generated in KH Coder from the
Japan-ness code of the Casabella articles. (diagram with higher parameters)

288
Co-occurrence network diagram focused on communities, generated in KH Coder from
the Japan-ness code of the Casabella articles. (diagram with higher parameters)

289
Co-occurrence network diagram focused on communities, generated in KH Coder from
the History and Tradition code of the Casabella articles.

290
Multi-Dimensional Scaling diagram generated from Japan-ness code of the Casabella
articles.

291
 Diagrams and analysis generated in KH Codder on the data collectet from
L'Architecture d'Aujourd'hui

Chart of most the represented architects in L’Architecture d’Aujourd’hui between 1977

and 2005

35

30

25

20

15

10

Number of articles per architect in L'Architecture d'Aujourd'hui from 1977 to 2005

292
 Chart of the most represented typology in L’Architecture d’Aujourd’huibetween 1977
and 2005

70
60
50
40
30
20
10
0

typology

Chart of frequency of mentioning materials in L’Architecture d’Aujourd’hui between

1977 and 2005
16

14

12

10

frequency of mentioning materials in articles

293
Co-occurrence network diagram focused on centrality, generated in KH Coder from the
Japan-ness code of the L’Architecture d’Aujourd’hui articles.

294
Co-occurrence network diagram focused on communities, generated in KH Coder from
the Japan-ness code of the L’Architecture d’Aujourd’hui articles.

295
Co-occurrence network diagram focused on centrality, generated in KH Coder from the
Japan-ness code of the L’Architecture d’Aujourd’hui articles. (diagram with higher parameters)

296
Co-occurrence network diagram focused on communities, generated in KH Coder from
the Japan-ness code of the L’Architecture d’Aujourd’hui articles. (diagram with higher
parameters)

297
Co-occurrence network diagram focused on centrality, generated in KH Coder from the
Japan-ness code of the L’Architecture d’Aujourd’hui articles. (diagram focused on adjectives)

298
Co-occurrence network diagram focused on communities, generated in KH Coder from
the Japan-ness code of the L’Architecture d’Aujourd’hui articles. (diagram focused on adjectives)

299
Co-occurrence network diagram focused on centrality, generated in KH Coder from the
History and Tradition code of the L’Architecture d’Aujourd’hui articles.

300
Co-occurrence network diagram focused on communities, generated in KH Coder from
the History and Tradition code of the L’Architecture d’Aujourd’hui articles.

301
Multi-Dimensional Scaling diagram generated from Japan-ness code of the
L’Architecture d’Aujourd’hui articles.

302
APPENDIX III
( Transcripts of interviews )

303
Interview with Arata Isozaki

March 25th 2015

Arata Isozaki’s home, Minato-ku, Tokyo

Interviewers Nikola Nikolovski and Kaon Ko

Nikola Nikolovski: After Expo 1970, the Japanese economy suffered several turbulent years
that also affected the Japanese architecture scene. Japanese architecture is completely
absent in the international architecture press until 1977. Can you elaborate on this period
from your perspective? You were one of the rare Japanese architects that kept contact
with the international architecture community. Because all of the press and...

Arata Isozaki: Yes, well, it is my understanding that to Europe and the world... in their
investigations of Japan, there was not much contact and such things were not really
presented until 1970. Around ‘77, well, now that question, um...

NN: From ‘77 nearly all of the Western countries were examining Japan.

AI: Hmm. What can I say about ‘77? It’s never really crossed my mind.

NN: After a silent period of seven years, the big comeback of Japanese architecture in the
international press happened in 1977. Architectural Design published an entire issue
dedicated to you. The year before, 1976, you had a remarkable presentation at Art Net
Rally, organized by Peter Cook, that was noticed by the editor of Architectural Design.
Can you tell me more about your presentation at Art Net Rally and give me some insight
into the Architectural Design issue?

AI: What kind of articles were there up to 1970?

NN: Up to the 1970s there were many magazines that report what happened in Japan as
“Modernist architecture,” like the Metabolist movement. Like, for example,
L’Architecture D’Aujourd’hui was connected with Jules Sakakuras, so there were many
articles published on modern Japanese architecture. Especially until the Expo. And Expo
is kind of the final report on Japanese architecture. Afterwards, somehow, the press
becomes silent.

AI: Those seven years where it’s completely missing.

304
NN: Yes. It’s completely missing. I found, like, a total of 10 articles and all of these 10 articles
are not on relevant topics about Japanese architecture. There was an article about love
hotels, about some kind of a theme park in Japan, but nothing substantial that can talk
about the Japanese discourse. There’s only one article that is published in 1972, in
L’Architecture D’Aujourd’hui, about Japanese houses. Japanese houses.

AI: Japanese houses?

NN: But it’s in 1972. But apart from that article, I didn’t find any articles talking about…

AI: Japanese houses in general or…?

NN: In general. There is an article on Minka house and several modern architects, but none of
those names are, like, world-famous Japanese architects. So, for me, it was kind of... I
couldn’t understand this period. And I looked at the economic situation in Japan and I
saw that this crisis happened in the‘70s.

AI: Yes.

NN: So I interpreted that maybe because of this crisis, somehow architects were kind of more
closed and looking more in Japan at what’s happening and how to deal with all these
socio-economic changes in the society, because the ‘60s were a very kind of heroic age
for Japanese architecture. Like, in a way that the projects were very positive, looking up
to the future. And suddenly there is this silence in the ‘70s. So, for me, I think, from what
I’ve looked at, you were probably one of the rare architects that during the ‘70s still kept
his contacts. I know that in 1968 you did a Milan Triennales. So I assume that these
connections in the ‘70s—-‘60s kind of jumped into the, let’s say, late-‘70s, this art. So I
want to know, what were you doing during the early ‘70s and how…? What was your...?

AI: At least, I think there were various things happening with the Metabolists. Kenzo Tange’s
activities in the post-’70... Well, in the pre-‘70s, I think there was a big change in style.

There wasn’t one important meeting. For example, I can think of various reasons for this.
In a sense, internationally, the avant-garde drove Modernism after the ‘70s. This was the
peak of Tange’s work domestically. In ’72-’73 the Oil Crisis occurred and Japan’s
conditions changed domestically. That really cut off the momentum of the ‘60s. So that
really changed architecture. And there was this policy, a big policy, by Tanaka Kakuei, the

305
Prime Minister of Japan. He tried to reform the country. It also influenced various
changes.

The ‘70s, internationally, was a period of chaos. The leaders in architecture were engaged
in different things. I view myself as more associated with art and design and more culture
than what was seen in the pure architecture magazines. Around that time, maybe around
the beginning of the ‘70s, Tange was working in Bologna, Italy, and Algiers. He was
more concerned with urbanism, no so much architecturally.

Well, I should probably clarify the international and the Japanese political and social
climate at the time. In the ‘70s the Chinese Cultural Revolution lasted 10 years. In Japan
something similar happened for about 5 years. It’s not the same, but it changed the
climate. Something similar was happening in the U.S. too. So this was the time when
culture, design, and philosophy shifted. President Nixon visited Mao in China in ’72. It
was a really big deal that the U.S. and China made that connection. Prime Minister
Tanaka also visited China later and signed a treaty. With this move in China, the
American Post-War Occupation was over, but they still kept their military bases and they
still had Okinawa. In ’72, Okinawa was returned to Japan. There was a smaller version of
Osaka Expo in ’75, but I didn’t participate because it was very political. This was kind of
a big political deal because the Americans were still keeping their military base. So these
two things, the Okinawa Expo and the Osaka Expo were very politically important.

From ’69 to ’73, I wrote essays and reviews for Art Magazine. I wrote essays and I did
research and took contact original materials I got from all the architects. And one-by-one
I published in the Japanese periodical Art Magazine. Not architecture. Maybe every
article in the magazine is around 72 articles. To summarize, I published this in ‘75.

A couple of days ago there was the Kenzo Tange symposium. I talked with three people,
Naito Hiroshi, Kitayama Kosei, and [???]. We were the same age. In ‘69 we tried to enter
Tokyo University. There were no entrance exams because of the student revolution.
They were cancelled, so we went to Kyoto University, Waseda University, Yokohama
University, etc. It became apparent that they were reading these articles when they were
still in the magazine. They made copies and passed them around. It was a bit
underground. Tange’s next generation read my articles to understand what was
happening internationally.

306
 Because I wrote this as a critic, the last chapter would have been on myself. Obviously I
cannot do that. That will be an appendix in AD.

NN: So during the ‘70s, instead of exporting Japanese architecture, you were kind of more
getting the influences from the West?

AI: Introducing to Japan more influences, but some of them I already talked with, a team of
exclusivity group. Maybe with Christoph Alexander, Hans Hollian, Akimura, and two or
three others who were invited to show at Expo in Osaka. Some of them I invited.

At the time, the younger generation, I didn’t say it to the Metabolists… But anyway, I
had a concern with new art and tried to keep in contact with the outside and to introduce
important works and information to Japan. That’s what was happening.

NN: So after the period of seven years we talked about just now, Japanese Architecture
Design publishes this entire issue dedicated to you. A year before that, in 1976, you had a
remarkable presentation at the Art Net Rally organized by Peter Cook in London. So the
editors of AD noticed that exhibition, they mentioned it, and that’s why they invited you
to do this issue on you, which is the first others, of a series of other issues, dedicated to
other architects. So can you tell me more about your presentation at Art Net Rally? And
can you give me some insight about this publication of AD—how did it happen? Who
did…?

AI: As I mentioned before, in 1968 it was a politically charged time. At the Milan Triennale, the
“Electric Labyrinth,” it was my first time showing work in Europe. Although I had
visited before, it was my first time showing my work. There I met up with many people
like Peter Cook and Hans Hollian. At that time, in ’69, I tutored at UCLA with Peter
Cook, Ron Herron, as visiting professors. It was a teaching program. That’s how our
personal connection was developed during this time.

Peter Cook spent half of his time teaching at AA School. And then he made the Art Net.
Around that time I met up with Cederic Price. My understanding of Modernism is a
result of these movements, such as Futurism, Cubism, CIAM, all of the Kenkuchi
group’s manifestos. The ending of Modernism was modified by the Metabolism
movement. The movement I mean is the avant-garde approach. The ‘70s was really the
time that ended this design and creation. After that, I think, it became up to the
individuals to express their own ideas. The one thing individuals should make is a

307
 network. Peter Cook’s Art Net is that network. It really becomes the exchange of ideas
that marks the pre-‘70s and post-‘70s era.

At that time this generation was not working on these large buildings, the kinds of
architecture projects that are featured in magazines. Magazine-worthy projects were not
available to us. We were working on things that were more theoretical. Arch’l periodicals
were more of an underground movement. And Tange was a major figure in this. So that
AD issue is very rare, even for that issue to have featured me.

From ’72-’73, Emilio Ambaz, a designer, curated an exhibition at the MOMA in New
York. His exhibition was “Italian New Landscape.” Or something like that, I forget the
name exactly. It featured interior design, furniture and products, like Sotass. So that was
the time when architects clarified their ties with design and the arts, and products too. At
the Smithsonian, in Washington, D.C., America’s national museum, there was a L’Art
Decoratif branch. There was a plan around ’73 to move it to New York as a Design
Museum. The first exhibition there was “Man Transformed.” Today it is now the
Cooper-Hewitt. In ’75 there was another exhibition “MAN transFORMED.” Hans
Hollian conceptualized it. At that time Sotsass, Hollian, and I were the core curators.
Buckminster Fuller and some others were involved. This was my first time making
connections in New York. Even though the exhibition featured more European
designers, I stayed connected to New York people. Philip Johnson was my number one
connection. And Peter Eisenmann too. Those two were so interesting, these Americans.
So that’s what happened in ’75.

NN: 1978 was very important for two exhibitions. One exhibition is the “MA: Space-Time,”
that you organized in Paris, but I’m more interested as well about another exhibition, “A
New Wave of Japanese Architecture,” organized in New York. I want to know, what was
your role in this exhibition? Besides taking part in that, can you tell me more about your
relationship with Kenneth Frampton?

AI: At that time of “MAN transFORMED,” Peter Eisenmann and I were friends. At the
Institute for Architecture and Urban Studies (IAUS) this school had a similar method of
thought. I made designs, individuals gave discussions on Japanese New Wave. In ’78,
maybe it was seven architects? The New Wave of Japanese architects.

NN: I think it was 10 or 11. I’m not sure. I think it was more.

308
AI: Well, anyway, that period was my connection at IAUS and they organized touring exhibitions
and lectures. I made several visits to universities in the states, inviting Japanese architects
to celebrate. So that is… I don’t remember who else. Ito was…?

NN: I remember Ando was included. Hara was included. Maki was included.

AI: Ando, Ito, Maki, of course, Hara, and Aida, Fuji… I think. I don’t know. Yes. Maybe several,
maybe 11. I don’t remember, but among them seven are major.

NN: Yes.

AI: They did work. In exactly the same year I had, in Paris, my exhibition. That is another story.
And that story was the exhibition’s completely new versions that the Japan Society
organized, the exhibition team in the United States. Maybe three or five stops which
celebrated. That is another thing.

NN: What was your relationship with Kenneth Frampton? Did you start it from this moment?
Because he has written as well about your work.

AI: I had my interest in Japanese classic culture almost from the beginning. I had an interest. I
already organized Nihon no Toshiku Bunka… Japanese Avant Space, or something like
that. Around ’63 at Kenchiku Bunka I specially edited a show. That’s when I became
very popular, through that kind of scene. I had studied lots of Japanese classics and
finally, at the same time, I had many connections in the contemporary arts—artists, and
so on. Not only art—composers, designers, all those kinds of cultural figures and artistic
figures. Big people. Lots of connections.

In the mid-‘70s—I don’t remember the exact year—’76, in Paris, at Festival Autumn, an
autumn festival of art. Every year they started with it. In ’77 or ’78 there were special
issues on Japanese contemporaries. At that time I was asked, with the composer
Takemitsu… Takemitsu is one of the most famous contemporary music composers. If
you look at Kurosawa’s Ran, etc, that is his music. Anyway, Takemitsu and myself were
asked to organize performance exhibitions in Paris, based on Japanese contemporary art.
At that time, I thought, not only contemporary art, not only traditional art, and all those
kinds. I thought the concept “wa” is kind of the most specific character of the island of
Japan and the traditionally created kind of sensibilities of getting time and space. Have to
be, have to behave with space and time. Maybe it’s quite difficult to explain. Anyway, in
such a way, I thought what we have learned so-called modern architecture is more than

309
 these discourses written by Gideon. His famous book is Space, Time, and Architecture.
Space, time, architecture—these three keywords. If we can, when we look at something
architectural or the concept of space, what is time about? How the architecture will
agree? So these three keywords… If we learn these three keywords to understand,
criticize, make total discourses on modern architecture. That’s my understanding of the
book of Gideon’s.

In Gideon’s book Space, Time, Architecture, there are three keyword concepts that
basically translated how we understand modern architecture discourse. These concepts
really made the framework. It wasn’t only Corb, Mies, and Aalto who framed modern
architecture. It was really about these three concepts on how we understand architecture
post-Kant. It’s a philosophical and scientific understanding of the influences.

The logic, which is derived from the English words, in Germanic-speaking languages,
which is of the same culture, verses Japanese. There is a big difference, right? For
example, the way we write this, time or “jikan,” “ma” is here. It’s like chronos, space.
This is “kukai,” usually translated as space, and “ma” is here. So we always add the “ma”
in the concepts of time and space. I read Gideon’s work in English as well as many
modern architectural texts, but when I started discussing it with international architects
about these concepts, there was a big difference that I feel between it, because Japanese
people always add the “ma”. That’s how I focused on this to be theme of the exhibition.

Among Europeans, there was the understanding from Greece to Rome, all the way up to
the Byzantine Empire, of architecture as understood through time and space. But the
idea only entered Japan about 100 years ago, at the end of the 19th century. Until then
there was no concept of “time,” “space,” or “architecture.” When I started to study my
connections with the international architects, from the ‘60s onward, the issue was how to
convey or to think of these differences.

NN: Ok.

AI: It’s going a bit off-topic, but talking about these linguistic differences: In Macedonian, the
language is taking elements from Russian, Greek, and Latin. So, in a larger sense, of
course it’s European, but it’s also of the Western and Eastern. Even what was going on
in China. So maybe, as a Macedonian, you’re linguistically kind of in a superior position
to understand, right? Do you feel that?

310
NN: Yeah. Like, these mixes, or what?

AI: The language is a result of these mixes.

NN: Yes, yes. It’s primarily a Slavic language, but it has a lot of influences from Europe. Yes.

AI: So you can understand the meanings of, in a way, Japan’s geopolitical/linguistic position as it
relates to China and also how the Balkans area relates within Europe. They can be
compared for those reasons. In discussions of culture, there’s always the major, which is
China for us, Europe for you. So, you should really think about the way we talk about
culture, or how you think about it, because you’re native in the Macedonian language.

NN: It has this because we have always been, like, living in the Orient for a long time, being part
of the Ottomans, and when we kind of adopted the Western culture, we had to kind
of… It was always something. It was different. It was belonging to us, but not
completely.

AI: And so you don’t really have a side. As Said said, you’re between the Oriental and the
Occidental.

NN: In the middle? Yes, yes. Between the Oriental and the Occidental. The Balkans re
basically… we believe that.

AI: It’s very interesting, that position.

NN: Thanks. I understand. Let’s continue briefly with Kenneth Frampton.

AI: Kenneth? Actually, there’s a book coming out at the end of this week. It’s based on the text I
wrote for the Kanazawa exhibition. I discuss it with the historian Hiroyuki Suzuki. In the
book we also discuss this topic. But I met Ken Frampton originally in London, sometime
in the ‘70s. Frampton relocated to New York soon after that. But in ’83 there was the
theoretical exhibition… At the GA, I had several monographs. There was one that
featured the projects of ’79. The descriptions are written by Kenneth Frampton. There
was another one that was in the ‘80s, until ’95, and Frampton wrote the text for GA. I
read it and didn’t want to publish it, so it didn’t come to be. After that, in the next issue,
from ’95 onward, it was written by somebody else. That’s why this period was not
published. In ’83 there was a symposium at Cooper Union in New York, about the
Tsukuba Center building. We had an argument about the theoretical differences between
us, so we had a falling out. We kept our relationship, but it’s no longer close. In this book

311
 that I mentioned, Suzuki Hiroyuki talks about why this conflict happened and everything,
so you have to read it next week. I think it’ll be good.

NN: I have a question about your work, actually. So, on the basis that Japanese culture has
always appropriated and hybridized elements from other cultures, I would say that you
are the most Japanese out of all Japanese architects. I would say that your bold
hybridization of European Classicism, I find it more Japanese than actually Post-modern.
How would you comment on this? And then I want to ask you another question as well:
What aspects of your work you would define as most Japanese?

AI:I make use of words like “wa” and “space.” In London, for “MA,” I used words like “ma”
and “wa.” I can’t give an explanation for the various things with Classicism. Basically my
standpoint is now, well, to explain…

[Re-reads question.] It is very important and complicated.

NN: Yes, it is.

AI:My understanding of Japanese culture and of Japan is as a hybrid. I agree with that. Why the
structure or the construct of hybrids? This is not really discussed much. The original
Japanese “wa-fuu,” based on the classic, the original, there is that, but I think the focus is
on getting the outside, what is external to Japan, incorporating, transforming it, and
adapting it to the Japanese sensibility and habits. That process is the most Japanese thing.
What came into Japan, what came into existence here before, and what will come can all
be incorporated into something Japanese. So I think that there’s no need to look for the
original. In the past it has been discussed, but, again, not so clearly, Japan as a hybrid, the
singularity. I never think of the “wa-fuu” when I’m working. For example, in China, if
I’m working there, I will reorganize everything based on what the clients are thinking or
what materials are available there. That’s why I think of myself as a kind of transformer.
And this is really the singularity of Japan, Japanese culture, and that manifests also in the
international designs today here, or in IT or the computer chips that we produce. Things
like that. They’re constructed basically in the same way. I call myself the “transforming
apparatus.” I’m the mediator, the machine to transform. That’s the way I work—I design
and I think.

NN: Very lovely answer.

312
NN: The West has often contextualized Japanese architects and applied Western filters when
analyzing Japanese architecture. For example, your work has been placed in the Post-
Modern discourse. Let’s say architectural design, when it talks about Japanese
architecture, talks about Japanese architecture inspired by their urban environment. And
then Kasabella, for example, uses one or two Japanese architects to represent the whole
Japanese architecture. Considering that Japan has a different history, would you say that
it needs a different approach, maybe a non-discursive approach, and shouldn’t be looked
at and systemized in the same manner as Western architecture? What’s your opinion?

AI: That’s a difficult question. For the first part, an important feature of Japan… The
situation… Just a moment. It’s a little complicated. I need to think.

To put it simply, Europe has an outside and inside view. Japan has inside discussions
without the relationship with the outside. Largely because of various things in its
complicated history…

AI:The upcoming, the GA, which is quite a unique exhibition in Kanazawa. I was interviewed
about “How did I view it?” and I touched upon that topic in the interview. The
relationship between the inside and the outside and such things explored at GA.

Kaon Ko: I also wrote something similar in Domus. But it was very short.

AI: I see. And then where…?

KK: Where? Domus. Anyway, later.

NN: Japanese architecture is often discussed in relation to Western architecture. The West has
often been “the mirror” or “a defining other” for Japan. Would you say that this
relationship goes the other way around as well? Is Japan “the Opposition” that dares and
succeeds to challenge and question the bastions of the West?

AI: It’s the same question, right? This considerably abstract question is addressed in my book
“Japan-ness in Architecture,” a book with MIT. The section titled “Modern Japan”
contains the answer to this question. It is most likely the last chapter. Or is it the first? I
don't quite remember. In any event, the basic problem is when the term “Japan” appears
Japanese people think of Japanese architecture like this; You are you. He is he. It
becomes a matter of tautology, there's no meaning. “Japan” is a framework seen from
the outside.

313
 Historically speaking, Japan as a nation gained independence from China in the 7th
century. Only then did it use the term “Japan” to define itself. Previously, Japanese
people used words like “Yamato” and “Wa.” There are always differences between the
outside view and the inside view. Migayrou and Ponpidou see it differently, those
curators. In France, Modernism is a little different. For these people, their idiosyncratic
view of Japan is conveyed through their exhibitions. For me the exhibitions are never
clear. The materials are lacking. The information from Japan is not conveyed. Japan is
said to be an inverted image, I think. I saw them in France, wrote about this in London. I
was dealing with only four contemporary architects. This year I didn’t speak about it.
Nowadays, in France, there aren’t only four people. At exhibitions by acolytes there are a
lot of things being assembled… In your time there are many derivations.

The outside viewpoint is not considered. Only the internal viewpoint.

KK: Concerning the exhibitions spoken about in lectures, the inner and outer viewpoints, you
have also spoken about Ponpidou and Migeru’s 20th century architectural views. Could
you talk a little bit more about them?

AI: Ponpidou and Migeru were the curators, you know.

KK:Regarding viewpoints on the origin of the establishment of Japanese architecture, it first

began as a Post-War comprehensive retrospective from the point of view of the West. In
other words, why does it seem that awareness of Japan’s archives was low until relatively
recently, when Europe and America have currently obtained the original historic
blueprints and models?

AI: In the 19th century, there was Japonezri, in other words, various Japanese things like ukiyoe,
yoroi, kabuto… It was popular to have collections of this sort. This is known as
“Japonezri.” Before that it was “Chinoisri” - Chinese things. Then, the next Japanese
Boom was known as “Japonica,” around the 1940-50s. Then it was Metabolism. Today
it’s called “Cool Japan.” Then after “Japonica” came “Japonesque.” “Japonezri” was a
European collection of Japanese things, in which the West exoticized the east. There was
a fascination with Japanese things. “Japonica” was from America with Japanese “wafuu”
and other things like modern aesthetics. Americans saw these things like Cutler, Roland,
Isamu Noguchi, and so on. Yoshimura-san with the “wafuu residences” and such. So
many people in America were able to see this. In the ‘50s, Japan was in opposition to this.
“Japonesque” took place around the 1970s. It influenced Roland Barthes, the French

314
 author. He came to Japan. Maybe it was ’67, ’68, or ’69? He came two or three times.
“Empire of Signs” was the book. My “MA” exhibition was influenced by him. It was my
response to his views of Japan.

In the 1980s, the “Japan-fu” campaign, or “Japonesque” started. In the ‘00s it’s called
“Cool Japan.” “Japonesque” was post-modern. Wa-fuu kimono and Western clothes... all
these things were mixed together into a Japanese style known as “Japonesque.” This was
happening within Japan. But “Cool Japan” is a tourism campaign, with the aim of selling
Japan to the outside, however it isn`t so successful right now, featuring animation and
games, etc.

Throughout the last century the same phenomenon has occurred over and over, each
time with the “Japanese boom” being called a different name. Within the context of this
ebb and flow, architecture is more or less the same. Why was Japanese style popular in
the ‘50s? Why was the mizokuteki style popular in the ‘30s? And after that, what do you
call it? Your teacher …Japan's wafuu design style... Everything is connected. The inner
and outer aspects, which are being discussed. And when you see it as a broader wave, a
cultural wave, not only as an architectural question, you can see the connections and
relationships; Architecture as a part of the larger culture, which can be seen to exhibit the
same relationships between inner and outer influences.

In my opinion, it's much like fashion. I'm not sure how you would call this... this
occurrence. That is the reason I chose the term “Japan-ness” for my book.

KK: One question is that, in Japan there wasn't this archive like in Europe and America,
which had obtained originals...

[Sounds of curtains in the background]

AI: No. no. It fell.

KK: In any case, Europe and America had obtained these originals that formed the basis of
these exhibitions. After all, there is the problem that an exhibition could not take place
without originals.

AI: For places like art museums, the blueprints or things made directly by architects, even
duplicates can be used for an exhibit.

315
KK: Yes, that's right. And since those times, the Western exhibits having collected various
samples, and this relates to what you mentioned about Japonezri and Japonica. Upon
looking at these exhibits, what do you think is important about these exhibits?

AI: I really can’t say anything about this. But Pompidou, Pompidou had a lot of my things. And
I lent him many things. Regarding this way of doing things, Japan... Japan had never
done this sort of thing. There wasn't even a thought to do such a collection. Pompidou
was fairly quick to do this. Other countries began to archive as well. Japan was very late.

KK: Metabolism was primarily foreign influenced.

AI: It's not a matter of the way in which things were viewed at that time, but rather Japan
had not even the thought of doing such things.

[Laughter]

KK: As you mentioned, about Metabolism, those movements were slow to arrive in Japan.

AI: I also mentioned this during GA. In 1986, Pompidou held a “Japan Avant-garde” exhibition.
Many of my works were shown there. I also went to this exhibit. I went to see it. I
thought, and this was before “Orientalism,” I thought this was “colonialism”. I thought
it was... It was an exhibition made by one country about another.

For example, while France was on the cutting-edge of avant-garde, Japan was studying
and engaging in futurism and cubism and modern architecture.

To put it grandly, the flow of avant-garde, which had its origins in France and Germany,
made its way to Japan and began to fade away around the 60's. However that was the
time when American avant-garde was being copied in Japan. That was around the end of
1970. To do a Japan exhibit abroad is a form of colonialism.

For that reason I did not want to have my pieces in the exhibits. I fought with them and
took my piece out of the exhibit by hand.

To put it simply, looking from France or from Japan, post avant-garde or post-colonial
was the context in which Japanese exhibits were constructed. Japan was slow to react.
This post-colonial… Before it was colonial.

Architectural design during the 60's ...The things that left Europe reverberated to Japan.
To some extent I feel that you can see that happening.

316
 From my point of view, France, and I might be considered traitorous by saying this, but
there was nothing special after the 1950s. I should be careful not to say anything too
insulting. America...The whole world... And Japan...

To say it in another way, from the ‘80s, France had started going downhill. Germany had
already been going downhill for a while and America had been as well ever since the
Vietnam War.

So the outside … If you look at it simultaneously you can see why Japan was chosen as
the subject for exhibitions.

This might be a narrow minded viewpoint.

NN: In your book On Japan-ness in Architecture, you give extensive insight into the essence of
traditional Japanese architecture and you talk a lot about the conception of modern
Japanese architecture, how that translated into the early modern period.

AI: This question, basically I agree with and how I describe today. This is… My question is in
the book… Space. I selected only four architects. Not talking about the differences and
how to, how this generation transformed, so-called Modernists, which was received in
the 1930s and ‘40s, around then. Horiguchi did good designs. Paul Sarte, a Western
Modernist, and Japanese traditional things. So the only possibility was to put together—
but not integration. Kenzo Tange called this traditional Japanese and Western Modern.
He integrated. That was a building in Hiroshima, that kind of significant building. And
we came up to the peak of the Modernists in the 1970s. After that, I designed Gunma
Museum of Art, which is only a frame, but a large-scale frame. It’s connected much more
to the environmental situations, not architecture itself. And bigger frames and minor
frames. Vinyl elements put together. Basic structure and supplemental structure.

If you learn Japanese kanji and kana, mixed syntax, that is a kind of Japanese creation.
Japanized Chinese language into Japanese ways. So this is the typical example of Japanese
situations. And my idea of the large-frame is basically based on modern technology and
minor parts are kind of adding, by each different situation. It could be changed. It could
be replaced, add a larger frame, just setting the basic structure. Seijima, after 20 years,
around ’95, she designed the building. She didn’t care about any of this, such as frame
and structure, only program diagrams. Just built, beautifully arranged, like a public
building or a public apartment in Gifu or so on.

317
 So this is the forth example of putting together Western meets Japan, integration, and
reducing those elements. A kind of reduction, like I said, into the void and so on. With
adding additional smaller elements. Seijima didn’t care about this kind of constellation,
just space, just diagram, and almost completely melting into the environment. Auto-
mixing. So that kind of manner continually. And I don’t know. This year is the 5th
[inaudible], every 20 years. I don’t know who can do it next.

NN: So it’s something that always melds with the surroundings, with the place where it’s built?
It’s kind of organically growing from the place where it’s built.

AI: It is. I think an ideal solution could be something like that, but Kenzo Tange always liked to
Christernize all the total elements into one single monumental piece. And, of course,
there are some derivations and some access to those. But anyway, he hates integrations.
I’m kind of receiving Westerns, introducing Japanese traditions and hybrids to combine
all those. And Seijima is more diverse. But I cannot explain exactly how these ways of
transformation goes from generation to generation. Maybe about 100 years after
receiving Modernism and how to digest it into society. How to transform Japanese…
Not style, but anyway…

Of course, every epoch has different tensions, different structures when the society is
politically changed. But anyway, if you look at this kind of thing, every time this kind of
structure has disjunctions and at some points there is continuity, but every time radical
change always happens.

NN: The West has often contextualized Japanese architects and applied Western filters when
analyzing Japanese architecture. For example, your work has been placed in the Post-
Modern discourse. Considering that Japanese architecture has a different history, would
you say that it needs a different approach, maybe a non-discursive approach, and
shouldn’t be looked at and systemized in the same manner as Western architecture?

AI: Personally, my work is based in the 1960s. Different things were taking shape with my work.
During that period the number one concept of my work is grounded in the Post-Modern
discourse, from about ’70 until ’95. At that time I was thinking about society. In ’90 I was
Tange’s helper. In the 90s the world became digitalized. After that, of course I also
became digitalized in my work.

318
 From ’68 until ‘89 was the Post-Modern era. My work at that time was Postmodern, not
Post-modernism. Postmodern and Post-modernism are very different. Post-modernism
is a certain style. That was Jenck’s style. But I have a different opinion. A lot of the work
I did at that time, in Shizuoka, is classified as Postmodern. It’s not Post-modernism.
Postmodern and Post-Modernism, they’re very different, I think.

NN: Considering that Japanese architecture has a different history, would you say that it needs a
different approach, maybe a non-discursive approach, and shouldn’t be looked at and
systemized in the same manner as Western architecture?

AI:Yes, it is necessary for Japan to have a different approach from Western architecture. Jencks
we mentioned, the American and English historians never really talk about certain things.
For example, Peusner as well as the next generation Reyner Banhan were concerned with
different problems. These were important people I think. The following English
generation, Joseph, Colin Rowe, and so on, were concerned thinking about honor and
various things. Americans were concerned with history as criticism.

Later, the next generation, Kenneth Frampton, blended theory, architecture, and English
history. For Frampton the focus was technology. I appreciate what Frampton did with
Gideon. However, now, in the ‘70s Jencks came onto the scene as part of an old
movement that I was cut off from and which ended in the ‘70s. If you look at his book
he has always been connected with this movement up until the present time. He was
Post-modernism. There was the continuation of Modernism because Post-modernism
became popular in fashion and design.

As for the question of Frampton, Frampton wasn’t very busy. He was concerned with
technology. With critical regionalism, he started to follow the same path as Jencks. They
were both friends of mine but we held different points of view. If we had a discussion
then I would state my opposition.

With the movie Rem directed, everybody knows that Rem was making fun of Jencks,
which is what makes the movie interesting. However, Frampton doesn't appear in the
film for reasons I can only speculate, after having watched the film.

KK: I wanted to see the long version. But wasn't sure if it was released yet.

AI: They only added 10 minutes to the movie.

319
KK: As it is now with typically Japanese things, why does it appear that the views Japanese
people have of Japanese things have gradually started to overlap with the views of
Westerners?

AI:My explanation is that in ’95 globalization occurred. Throughout the world with the Internet,
networks could be made. That is to say internationally, simultaneously the West entered a
little more. I mean, the events that occurred in Iraq were instantaneously known
throughout Japan. The Syria incident too. For everything happened concurrently in the
world. Up until ’95 this phenomenon did not exist. Simultaneously everything was
digitalized. The dichotomy of East and West, Japan and Europe, the two sides during
this period changed their dispositions. I think its nature changed. I think that this turning
point can be traced back to '95.

320
Interview with Fumihiko Maki

Nikola Nikolovski: So yeah my first question will be that after ten years of period of studying,
teaching, and practicing in the United States you returned in Japan and established your
office in 1965. How would you describe the architecture scene at the time? What did you
find- [most provocative and challenging in that moment?]

Fumihiko Maki: I didn’t have any provocative … [speaks to assistant]

… I just give you a chart [that will] explain my position in architecture in relation to what
I have done or contacted in the United States as well as Japan. Do you read Japanese?

NN: Uh, no. I don’t read Japanese.

FM: I see. No it’s in English mostly, so no problem.

NN: So you would say you didn’t have any problem in opening an office?

FM: Well, challenge is always what you establish. Challenge is not coming from other places. …

[explaining the chart] You see the yellow part is my career starting in the University of
Tokyo, Harvard, Washington University [in St. Louis], Cranbrook, GSD, I was teaching,
and then came back in ‘65 to establish. And Tange is below. And also MIT had a joint
center for urban studies where I have some contacts, but Harvard University had an
urban design conference in ’54, the first one organized by Sert, then an urban design
program initiated by Sert and I participated for lets say about several years, to teach, but
then I decided to come back to Tokyo in ’65. But also quite a few urban design programs
have been set up in other places, like the University of Pennsylvania. And Eisenman
started the Institute of Architecture a little bit later, in the 1970s and also you can see at
the top how CIAM, Bauhaus is central. So you can see where I was, and then urbanists.
There are several kinds of urbanists. One especially concerned one is Sert, Maki, Otaka,
Alexander, Team X; symbolic: Corbusier, Tange, Kahn, Kurokawa, Kikutake, Isozaki;
visual: Lynch, Gordon Cullen, England and eventually historical: Rowe and Rossi. So
that-

NN: So, who would you say had the most influence in your-

FM: I was not the influence. I influenced myself.

321
NN: You influenced yourself, shall we say. Ok, so you ran your office for 50 years and have seen
many changes on the architecture scene in Japan, but as well in your personal style. How
would you describe your work during the ‘80s and early ‘90s?

FM: That wouldn't be changed because I was always interested in first human beings, and
architecture must serve for human being. And I have explained or talked [about] this
through my group of Manifesto Metabolism, and also we always felt the individual,
individuality is more important than anything. Because I tried to not say “Oh, this is
architecture.” I was not interested in … I was interested in how we can make good
environment, good investment, human activities. This has not been changed at all, never.

NN: Through the course of fifty years, never.

In your work in the ‘80s, I notice a preference for collage and fragmentary heterogenous
composition. Especially the Spiral Building echoes the urban context of Tokyo. Can you
elaborate more on this and how this relates to the general discourse of the time?

FM: Well, you have visited Spiral?

NN: Yes.

FM: Okay. And you must have seen the façade. The façade is a collage of elements developed in
modern art and architecture in, let’s say, 1930s on and like surface or grid or white
columns. All those things, a collage on the façade. But it also reflects the time when
urban façade could not necessary to be mission or sculptural. Instead we tried to express
the spirit of time by this one. But using the glass and metal basically, for this composition.
But also it’s more important to say that there is a number of facilities, starting with café,
exhibition space, some commercial space, and small theaters, then restaurants – it's a
hybrid building. It’s a small scale but significant hybrid building of that time. Rem
Koolhas, in the “Delirious New York” explains this, the hybrid system would be coming
soon to metropolis and in a way, while he was only talking about, we have realized this
hybrid in Tokyo in 1985. I think this is significant for that reason. And now you can find
all kinds of hybrid building, even on a much, much bigger scale. Let’s say you go to
Midtown Tokyo and also Roppongi Hills, any place, even at a small scale, you are piling
up different functions. This has not been there so often before 1908s and Tokyo has
initiated this, and Spiral is one of those examples. This I can say, the most significant part

322
 of the building in the light of the changing lifestyle and uses of space in Tokyo and
elsewhere. That’s it.

NN: Apart from being a young architect at the beginning of your career in 1960s, and already
being famous and established in the ‘80s, you probably didn’t have so many challenges.
Like, how can you explain the differences in your work, what was similar and what was
different in your work in the ‘60s and in the ‘80s? Because I see those two periods as …

FM: ‘80s and ‘90s and ‘00s and ‘10s right now, I don’t subscribe a particular style in architecture
because the most important thing is how you can make a good building in a given site
under certain problem and I use all kinds of technique and developed ideas, developed in
modern architecture. That’s it. So it’s a hybrid of many thoughts and ideas. Therefore,
you can’t make, let’s say you have done this 1970 – 1980s I have changed to this way, and
‘90s I did that way. This is not where I can describe my work, because my work has no
style and only tries to make the good building in the given site under the certain problem.
And that’s it.

NN: Would you say that the materials changed during the ‘80s? Because…

FM: Materials changed, yeah. For instance, I like to use glass and metals, like Spiral or TEPIA,
but in latest project or Aga Khan, the museum in Toronto, his Highness, my client, asked
“Get me five pages, letter,” before we started architectural design. And he said, “In
Islamic architecture, it must be very sensitive to natural light,” so natural light of course.
In any other architecture, natural light is very important. But, it… the Toronto weather is
not necessarily to be very suitable to make some materials like marble, because it doesn’t
help. Many famous fail to use the marble for their exteriors. As you know, Alvar Aalto.
And also to be museum, it must have a kind of a wall to protect the important objects, so
exterior must be solid. But then how you can make it sensitive to natural light. It’s a two-
story building, and you could make just a box, but instead I use this way to reflect
changing light on the surfaces. But in order to have, you can’t use a black granite. It must
be white. Only to be white, you can make a very sensitive such changes. Two-story
building, sometimes you *** but I didn’t use ***. And but to where you can find whitest,
whitest granite, that was a search. So we all went to all over the world and found out
Brazilian granite called margherita. Then we used that. So while Spiral is a composite of
certain Modernist elements, Toronto, Aga Khan Museum, is white granite. That’s it. So I
use granite, according to problem and weather and so on. And I didn’t use glass for the

323
 façade as a predominant element but in *** in WTC we tried to make the sculptures
optical* glass, to distinguish itself from others. There are so many bad buildings in New
York. We like to make it to be identified with this carefully detailed glass. So some places
we are using stainless steel for our project, in Singapore, but we are doing Bihar Museum
in India. India has developed iron first, so why don’t we commemorate this iron curtain,
so we use a curtain for the entire façade. So always the appearance of the building
depends on what I think the best for the place. That’s all.

NN: So, to summarize, can we define your architecture as always sensitive to the environment,
to the conditions of the environment?

FM: Sure. Sure. So next time, if I’m given a museum in some place, I may use completely
different materials. It may not be all white granite. It may not be curtain, but something
appropriate to… And also budget.

NN: And what is your challenge in a spatial and compositional aspect? What do you find as a
challenge in that? What is your approach… You always …

FM: So I said, in a given *** to be the best. But to be the best is always a challenge. Yeah.

NN: Okay. Being trained in Japan and abroad, you have worked at home and abroad, and your
work has Japanese and Western influences. To your opinion how has the Japanese
architecture critique received your work? And how your work has been contextualized in
the greater Japanese architectural narrative?

FM: I don’t… Because I don’t just… You know… critiques I receive from Western journalists
are not as important as what I think. What I do think about architecture. It doesn’t
influence me at all. Because I appreciate some of the nice comment. It’s okay, yeah. But
it doesn’t…

NN: Also positive critiques, I’m thinking like how usually people write about your work in Japan.
This is my question.

FM: I just don’t read so carefully.

NN: You don’t read so carefully.

FM: Because if… [laughs] It’s more important to receive nice commission according to idea of
… but you see, I did first author** project for Aga Khan. I have done nothing before. I

324
 haven’t ever set big volume *on?* book to Mr. Aga Khan. But somebody thought “Oh I
don’t…”

NN: Mr. Arakawa, you said…?

FM: Highness Aga Khan. And I’m sure somebody, client is always searching somebody to
design. Sometime they organize competition. I quite often won competition. So that’s it.
Or sometimes, I commission, and in this case, client think there must be somebody to
design. We don’t want to have a competition. So then there must be a search and maybe
they might be influenced by reading Maki Architecture in some place. Somebody might
have seen my work in Japan or elsewhere recommended. And I receive a call from Aga
Khan Foundation, “Why don't you design the building in Autumn*?” while I was
designing a building in autumn*. I receive another call from Aga Khan Foundation, “We
are planning a museum in Toronto, and since we like your work, why don’t you do it.”
That was the second commission I received. Then there is a project in London. This
time they invited a sphere* of architects including myself, and they made a presentation
of what each architect would do if they are selected. And I made my proposal in his
headquarters outside the palace and I received commission. So that’s all, you know.

NN: But you would say that you don’t care about the critique, what the critic writes about
you…?

FM: I don’t. Because sometimes it’s nice to receive a comment, but it doesn’t change my attitude
to next buildings I do. Why should I? If they don’t like something, if they like, I accept it.

NN: Okay. I would say that probably during the years you have established communications
with many other architects, as well foreign magazine editors. Can you tell me about your
relationship with the international community of architects?

FM: My international– this is the beginning of international communities, yeah. But many of
them, unfortunately passed away. For instance, all members of Metabolists – Kurokawa,
Kikutake, Otaka – passed away. So are all Team X members: Giancarlo De Carlo, Peter
and Alison Smithson, Jaap Bakema, Georges Candilis, and Shadrach Woods. All those
people are gone and now, being the age of 80, it is difficult to make association with
architects [in their] 30s or even 40s, unless I have a chance to meet somewhere, always.
For instance, I was judge of international competitions about 15 times. Then we always
meet together for a few days, but I’ve forgotten some of their names, but…

325
NN: No, I was more asking about the older period, like during the 80s or 90s. Which architects
did you communicate more with? Like you said…

FM: Ah, Team X. Team X.

NN: Team X would be your association.

FM: Yeah, sure. And also, some 80s– some of the people, like Kevin Lynch, Venturi – he is still
alive. But he is not active anymore. Yeah. It’s very sad.

NN: Okay. Which magazines have you been contacted [by] often?

FM: Which…?

NN: Magazines. Foreign magazines.

FM: I subscribe to magazines and Architectural Record from the United States. Before there
have more magazines, but now only one, and also…

NN: Were you friends with some of the editors of the magazines?

FM: [shakes head]

NN: No. You would say no.

FM: But in European magazine, I once had a chance to deal with several projects published by
Aila* in Italian. I don’t know if it exists…

NN: I actually found your work in Casabella, Architecture d’Aujourd’hui, and Architectural
Design. So very often during the 80s they have published many of your buildings. That’s
why I wanted to talk with you. Especially Casabella had, and I’ve seen texts from you
inside Casabella.

FM: I see. I see. Not anymore. [laughs]

NN: Actually the last– I stopped looking at the year 2000, so your last building I found in 1998.

FM: I remember Casabella published Kaze-no-Oka Crematorium.

NN: Yes, Kaze-no-Oka Crematorium. That was the last thing. Before that… How… Ok, my
question is as well again about the international press, what aspects of your work you
think have been most interesting for the international press?

326
FM: But you find that. I don't… [laughs] You see, I’m not too conscious about what other
people say.

NN: You’re not too conscious about…

FM: Because what do you mean if somebody said “Oh, it’s great.” And should I repeat the
greatness in my next commission. You can’t, because as I said, the architecture is to be
the best under a given condition. That’s it. So other people’s opinion doesn’t influence
me at all. As I have said repeatedly. Which…?

NN: Number 7.

FM: Okay, “which aspect of your work…” That you find out and you just write down. I’m not
interested.

NN: So do you think that there is a difference in how the press has talked about your work in
Japan and outside of Japan?

FM: Yes. You know, this, talking about it– first, if you like to be genuine critic on some project,
you have to see it. Because judging from pictures always very erroneous. Because, this is
my experience. I see some building in a photograph. Then I decide to see **. You get
sometimes great disappointment, because the picture doesn’t tell you exactly what the
building, but also sometime the real building, visiting is far better experience because you
can find something better than through photograph. This is why. And some people say,
“Oh, your building is better in actual reality, than looking at photograph.” The second
big question is, the real value of architecture is tested by time. You can’t– because, you
see, the generous comments only after a few months or years, but to be a good judgment
on the building requires time, sometimes ten years, fifteen years. And then, I always said,
time is a final judge of architecture, so journals always try to say something right after
building was completed. It’s wrong, often, so– but, I just don’t give a high value on
comments given by somebody right after it was completed, unless they visited. I
appreciate the comments by people who really visited the building, but– just, some
people looking at pictures, and so I just give too much value on– because of my
experience.

NN: Okay, would you say that foreign magazines rarely visited your buildings? Or you don’t
know that?

327
FM: Depends on them. Sometimes they visit and say something. For instance, I have a
monograph done by a foreign critic, but critic visited most of my work in Japan or
elsewhere. So I’m pretty sure some of those…

NN: Because one thing that I notice is, Hillside Terrace for example, is one of your most
famous buildings. But in foreign magazines this building was not published many, during
the time, in the 80s. On the other hand, buildings like Spiral, Tokyo Metropolitan
Gymnasium, TEPEI, other buildings have been published a lot. But not Hillside Terrace.
What do you think is…?

FM: Oh, sure. Sure. Because– the reason is Hillside has been developed over 25 years. It’s, we
call it “slow architecture,” and after 25 years there must be some comments. But also,
some people made a comments in the early stages, like Swiss magazine, I think, did it.
But you are right. Because it is the building to be a comment very difficult unless you on
each stage or you are looking back at what Hillside Terrace has done over 25 years from
1970 to 1995, 25 years. But it’s ok, because people appreciate, you know. People living
there, people having something, activities there – they all appreciate. That’s good enough.
Even if it’s not noticed by– because I am not interested in this, how do you call it,
“iconic…”

NN: …buildings. And you’re not interested in media attention.

FM: No.

NN: Probably on many occasions you have presented your work abroad. In these lectures, talks,
interviews, what is the most reoccurring question about your work? What was the
audience most interested in? [repeats question several times]

FM: First of all, they’re coming to my lecture because they are interested in my work. [laughs] If
not, they are not coming. So, all of them are interested. But, the one I presented in 70s
different from 80s, the one we presented in 80s different from 90s, and the lecture I give
today is completely different from 70s to 80s. So it is very difficult, you know. Because
unless I use the same lectures over fifty years, it’s impossible. Because we always present
the recent projects, and the recent projects could have some reaction or no reaction, and
that’s it.

NN: What was the usual reaction of the audience? Especially about, let’s say the Spiral building?
[repeats question] Or the Tokyo Gymnasium?

328
FM: Oh, I see. I always point out, in Spiral building I show a esplenade where people are sitting
on chairs looking up outside. That scenery has never been changed, while the other part
of the building is always changing: different exhibitions, different kind of people, and
sometimes owner of restaurant changes. But this scenery has never been changed, and
the reason is, it is a place you can have privacy. Friedrich Nietzsche once said, “Solitude
in a public place is your home.” So people are always looking for some place to be alone
and thinking about something, I don’t know. But I always show this scenery to public.
And I gave this important things that Nietzsche said, “Solitude is my home.” I gave a talk,
only I didn’t explain all Spiral, only I show the scenery. Somebody young, Australian,
they came to see me after I gave the talk. “Oh, I was always sitting on that chair while I
was in Tokyo.” So the place must have an international endorsement. That’s it. So I can’t
say, because I’m not asking “How did you like my…” Never. So they only say that
[mimics applause*]

NN: How would you describe your Tokyo Gymnasium building?

FM: I only show the Tokyo Gynasium building in relation to Zaha Hadid, the new national
stadium. Because– But Tokyo Gym– we had to under the very severe restrictions in
terms of height, volume, etc. see. And suddenly, Zaha’s came up. I think it’s a ridiculous–
In relation to that I talk about Tokyo Gymnasium.

NN: No, no, I am more interested in the 80s, when you produced the building, not about the
current state. I am interested about the 80s, the moment when you, how were you
inspired? What did you want to…?

FM: But I think Fujisawa Gymnasium is more important. It was also published in the foreign
magazines. Because it’s one of the first times we used stainless steel for climbing, for a
roof. And then we received a commission to do Tokyo Gymnasium. So it was a little bit
more ambitious project, and we tried to do our best on the given site and under the very
severe restrictions of volume, height, etc. I visited that place last year. It’s a very quiet
place when it is not used, but outdoor grounds, just next to the gymnasium– some boy
and father were doing catch-ball. Also I went to a restaurant and introduced myself as
the person who designed it, and the café owners appreciated. Of course there are always
people coming to– just having– and also sometimes I see sports activities in Tokyo
Gymnasium. That is when there is a tense championship of something, then I have a
chance to see how the place is being used, it’s okay. [laughs] Yeah, that's all.

329
NN: How would you describe, like – the National Museum of Art in Kyoto, Spiral and TEPIA
– do they have a lineage together?

FM: No. You see, Kyoto is… I tell you how I get this commission first. I interned in a
competition called the Kyoto International [Conference Center], owned by Mr. Otani,
whereby I participated in a competition and I received honorary mention. That’s all. But,
one of the judges was the head of the National Museum of Modern Art. He liked my
work. He gave me the commission, and we went to search for a possible site. Several
options existed, and finally we decide to have a building, and next to a big red torii, and
this is properly first building also with crowded surface by stone, granite, because– I told
you about Aga Khan Museum. It’s quite different, but also granite, because it needs a
wall. So we tried to make a quiet building in relation to a Heian shrine, the environment.
That is my recollection of Kyoto, and there is still being used, and it need repairment [sic]
always, some **end because made in of course very big subject**.

NN: There is one text that I found from you. It’s called “Progress and Tradition in Japanese
Architecture.” So you talk that progress was seen as a symbol of Westernization–

FM: I couldn’t understand you. May I take a look on the…?

NN: Yeah. With the blue.

FM: This is in Japanese 新建築 [Shinkenchiku]?

NN: No, this is in Architectural Design.

FM: Oh, I see. [reads silently for 30 seconds] I don’t know if this person has seen this project or
not.

NN: No, no. This is your text on progress and tradition.

FM: Oh, I see. I don’t remember.

NN: You talk about the Western influences in Japanese architecture, and the tradition in
Japanese architecture, in this text.

FM: You see, I must have written the same thing, because our traditional thinking in architecture
is very similar to what Modernism develop in the West in architecture. For instance,
simplicity and ** to use of material. Also development of sight line. Those things are
quite different from Western Classical architecture too, so it is very natural for us to use

330
 both things without too much consciousness when we produce something. You could
say it’s a Modernism, but also reflect our ideas and tradition of Japanese architecture. But
we do those things unconsciously, not over-consciously. “Oh, since I’m a Japanese
architect, I have to make something Japanese.” I don’t ever say that, because at the end,
somebody says “It shows a certain Japanese character,” that’s okay. But you can’t
question further, because I have done it unconsciously, in the use of, let’s say,
asymmetrical composition, as such. Asymmetrical composition – I like it, that’s it. Some
other peoples’ asymmetric composition I don’t like. Or some of them are great. It all
depends on them. So you can’t really summarize by words those things.

NN: But, if you talk about architecture, your architecture, do you have certain aspects that are
uniquely Japanese in your architecture.

FM: I don’t think so.

NN: You don’t think so.

FM: I don’t think so. I don’t think– people like to interpret that way. It’s okay, I let them to do
that. And if they said my architecture is not really Japanese, it’s okay. I *** it. But most
important thing [isn’t] what other people said, the more important thing is what the
building is.

NN: Would you say that your architecture is the product of an artist? So you don’t approach
architecture as a discourse, as a style? You approach as an artist who has his own…

FM: No. No. Artist? I don’t think art. Art has no responsibility to society. You make something
and if they like, they buy you at high price. If they don’t like, it becomes just trash. But
architecture cannot be, because you are using somebody’s money, not your money, like
your house. So the things which were produced must be strong and well-used. It is the
architects responsibility to clients who gave them money. But also, the building, as I said,
in the next ten years, twenty years, must well appreciated by society. It is architect’s
responsibility to society. So we have two– Art doesn’t have any responsibility, so
completely different. Because you can make an arty building, that’s okay. But architecture
is not art. Because it was your ethical position.

NN: Last two questions. Do you think Japan-ness in architecture exists?

331
FM: Have you read my “Modernism of the Open Sea?” I gave a copy to Prof. Kuma. You have
read it?

NN: Not all. And if you have to define, how would you define it? This is the second question.
Japan-ness.

FM: I don’t think I’m entitled to say such things. You’d better ask Prof. Fujimori.

NN: So you don’t think that Japan-ness– do you think that Japan-ness in architecture exists or
not? 日本的 [Nihon-teki], does it exist?

FM: Unconsciously the Japanese-ness may appear, not only in my building, but in other peoples’.
That’s a job* you have to well summarize. Not me, you know. I told you, I’ve never been
conscious of Japanese-ness. It comes out unconsciously in my project and you can
interpret as you like. I don’t have to explain to you or… Kaze-no-Oka has a certain
openness, a depth of space, and we tried to use a certain material– we wanted to bring
natural light in, and the use of some primordial materials and succession of those spaces
will give you a certain impression. If you like to call this “Japanese-ness,” you are
absolutely right. But if you don’t like, if you say it’s not Japanese-ness, it’s okay. That
doesn’t change my attitude.

NN: No, I was asking you more about the general discourse in Japanese architecture.

FM: I don’t, as I told you. Did I tell you? I refuse to give your Japanese-ness as such as a general
topic. I’m not entitled.

NN: You don’t feel entitled.

FM: I’m not entitled.

NN: These were my questions. If you want to say anything else…

FM: No.

NN: Thank you very much for your time.

332
Interview with Itsuko Hasegawa

March 5th 2015

Itsuko Hasegawa Atelier, 1-9-7 Yushima, Bunkyo, Tokyo

Interviewers: Nikola Nikolovski and Kaon Ko

Kaon Ko: In 1979 you established your atelier, and prior to that you worked with Kiyonori
Kikutake and Kazuo Shinohara. How would you describe the architecture scene at the
time? What did you find most provocative and challenging in the architecture scene in
that moment?

Itsuko Hasegawa: What was most provocative for me is working on the first sketch with
Kikutake when I would go to his office. My absence seemed to have caused an
inconvenience for the office, and there was a phone call to the Tokyo Insitute of
Technology, to Prof. (Kiyoshi) Seike, asking me come back to the office while attending
school (at the same time). But Prof. Shinohara said no, so I decided to focus on the
schoolwork.

It was also the occasion that Kikutake and Shinohara met, for the first time. They didn’t
speak the same language, so they had me sit in the middle and act as a translator. At the
time, Shinohara had just started discussing “new functionalism”, while one of the
philosophies of Kikutake was that “space discards function” – he rejected the European
modernistic idea of creating architecture from function. It was always Shinohara, who
would get more upset. They are of the same generation, but they just didn’t speak the
same language. It really surprised me. I found it most provocative and although I hadn’t
written about it previously, I try to these days.

KK: How about yourself? Where in that spectrum did you see yourself?

IH: It was around the time that I was just entering Shinohara lab, so I was much more
influenced by Kikutake. It was easier for me to translate Kikutake’s words, but I couldn’t
understand Shinohara’s. So that also prompted him to be upset, that I didn’t get some of
what Shinohara was saying.

333
 Even though they belong to the same generation, one is working on houses (Shinohara),
the other, on public buildings (Kikutake). Their attitudes towards society, their sensibility
for architecture – I was amazed how contrasting they could be. This was the situation in
which I was entering Shinohara lab. That night was a big incident, at least for me.

At Kikutake office, I worked on large scale public buildings. Before I went to his office,
in third year of undergraduate, I saw his Skyhouse. When one works on so many large
buildings, the users, the citizens, become vague. You only see the work of the architect.

I thought that it would be clearer if I worked on houses, that I would like to work on the
scale of houses. That’s why I went to Shinohara lab. Back then, only the famous
architects realized large buildings, starting from Tange. Then (Arata) Isozaki, (Kisho)
Kurokawa, (Fumihiko) Maki, and so on. I felt that beyond such visions, something was
lacking as architecture. And that was the user, the people. In making of sakuhin (the
work, but with more emphasis on the artistic work), I thought there was no difference
between Kikutake and Shinohara. One regards the projects as artistic work, the other is a
Metabolist, but either way I did not see the people.

Nikola Nikolovski: How was starting her own work? What were her ideas?

IH: Even when working on houses, they are Shinohara work, which is the making of sakuhin.
Just like working on large scale buildings, I still couldn’t see the user. Later I told
Shinohara that he was my anti-example, of what not to do, which really irritated him.

I wanted to create something where the users, flesh and blood, are in sight. It could be
achieved through communication or citizen participations. To hear their voices in
making of architecture was important to me. At one moment, I realized that for both
Kikutake and Shinohara, their starting point was the Japanese lifestyle, the lives in minka.

That is why, as I was about to start in Shinohara lab and after the ‘incident’ of that night
with the two, I drove from Aomori to Okinawa alone to visit all kinds of minka. It was a
grand journey, lasting one year. Shinohara scolded me and told me to get back to the
university as soon as possible.

When I saw Kikutake and Shinohara argue with each other, I thought that the traditional
Japanese lives were at the root of their work. I began to work on houses since belonging
to Shinohara lab, and I’ve set my aim to not create architecture as object, because the
minka is also at the root for me too.

334
 The Japanese lives inside minka are highly flexible: The space could be used for funeral,
weddings, hinamatsuri (girls’ festival with dolls on March 3), otsukimi (moon viewing),
host parties, and on some days, empty. Every minka had this large multi-purpose void, a
large space that is created when one opens up the shoji screens. I saw this multi-
functional void in every region throughout Japan, in the year of travel. This is why I
created large voids within the small houses, to carry on that diverse Japanese life systems
afforded by the void.

KK: One of the most provocative features of your building is the extensive use of metal. How
did you start using metal? What prompted you?

IH: It began with Kuwahara Residence, in Matsuyama city. The client owned a company for
construction materials, and there were aluminum pieces in the workshop. They were not
exactly perforated metal (punched metal, in Japanese). You may not remember, there
were metal screens on the bus behind the driver with sakura-pattern openings. That was
the only pattern available then, but I asked for circular openings. The way I explained
was that it resembles the Japanese koshi-grid, but the perforated metal would have a
more interesting effect with light. Like sunlight flickering on the ocean. I asked them to
create 30 different opening patterns on aluminum. I arranged them by the stairs to study
the effect over time to decide which one to use.

I also found the soft, fabric-like stainless steel at this company, which dealt with many
metals. Although they initially requested the house to be made in concrete. In the end,
there are only few walls of concrete while the rest is steel structure.

KK: So you’re saying that even though the company dealt with many different materials, they did
not imagine the application of these materials in architecture?

IH: Yes, that’s right. I transformed the materials in the workshop to architectural materials. They
are not shown here (in the book), but I applied some of the flower-patterned panels in
the interior screens of some earlier houses. And for furniture. In this house (Kuwahara),
I used the material uninhibitedly.

I grew up near the ocean. In the very beginning of spring, the water glitters in this special
way. I wanted to create a scenery like that. That was the basic intension for this project,
while the client understood it simply as a replacement of koshi-grid.

335
KK: The intention to recreate way the ocean glitters led you to experiment further with metals
and their variations?

IH: Yes. The changes in light, and also shadow, throughout the course of day gives one the
sense the time. The passing of time can be represented well with perforated aluminum.

This apartment building where I used to live also had perforated metal, along the
hallway. When I’m tired on a Sunday and get up late to go to a movie, the afternoon sun
from the west would fill the hallway, reminding me of Morocco. There were some
summer days that the light was just blinding. The light envelops the space in the
afternoon, and in evenings the light would change into oval droplets. I could sense the
time of day and the seasons, while I lived there.

KK: Nature plays a major role in your work. Can you elaborate more on that, especially in
relation to metal as a material that usually is more associated with the artificial and
manmade?

IH: I talk about architecture as second nature, which is not the meaning of habit. I’d like to
make architecture as a new and contemporary nature.

The changes in light, as I discussed (ties the nature and manmade). When the sky is pink,
the aluminum also turns pink. It mirrors the color of the surrounding light by absorbing
it. That’s why I don’t use stainless steel. I’ve also used colored glass, which changes
constantly with light. Again, it reflects the change of time.

NN: So architecture creates new nature, or architecture creates new reality in a way, second
nature?

KK: Or architecture as a reflection of currently existing nature?

IH: I’m hoping to have architecture reflects the existing nature surrounding us, and also to bring
architecture closer to our sense of nature, how we envision it.

It was at Rome University where I saw the strongest objection to my approach with this
second nature. In Europe, and perhaps in all regions where Christianity dominates, man
and nature stand in opposition. They stand separately. In Buddhism, on the other hand,
man and nature are unified: Humans are part of nature, plants are part of nature, stones
in the garden are part of nature. That is why it led me to regard architecture as second
nature, instinctively as a Japanese. At Rome University, when I was scolded by the

336
 audience that architecture as a manmade artifact should not be mixed up with nature;
how dare you talk of them as unified? They’ve invited me several times after that, but I
have no intention to go there again – though they have sent letters to me in recent years,
that they now understand what I had meant.

The philosophy of seeing the world in duality or to seeing it as one are completely
different. The idea of landscape, for example, is understood philosophically in European
gardens such as for palaces, etc. Japanese gardens are aimed to be closer to and
mimicking nature, where the work begins with placing a stone, for example. This is the
fundamental difference and reason why ‘second nature’ doesn’t translate well for the
western audience.

KK: What was the initial reaction of the Japanese critique to your work? How was it accepted
and contextualized in the Japanese architecture scene at the time?

IH: The people who mainly commented my work are Koji Taki and (Takehiko) Higa, who
graduated from Kyoto University and came to work at my office. These texts are in
Japanese only so you may not have read them. Most of my works haven’t been received
well in Japan.

The early works – the small houses – were reviewed very positively, such as Midorigaoka,
in Juutaku Tokushu (magazine).

Shinohara has been known to say that minka is a mushroom: The mushroom releases the
spores, and when it lands on the ground, it adapts to the climate and conditions of the
soil, resulting in the growth of unique mushroom. Likewise, minka is a result of the
climate of the land, made by the local carpenter, for a specific purpose. It is impossible to
find identical minka in Aomori and Yae-island, Okinawa. Because it is a mushroom.
Throughout Japan the climate varies, sometimes by 20 or 30 degrees; you cannot make
all buildings in concrete. So methods of insulation and construction vary too. To this day
I still cherish the idea that minka is a mushroom. I’d like to use local materials, and if I'm
working in China, then I’d like to use their material. It is possible to carry the ideas of
locality and also be a global architect.

Here is a competition for office and public residential building in France, just across the
Seine, for which I won the first prize. My concept here was the urban mushroom,
covering the building in vegetation. The area had plenty of trees along the Seine. The

337
 mayor and people from Louvre came to see it, and I talked about the minka, the
mushroom. They got it, and it can be understood globally.

But when I was visiting minka, Shinohara told me, “I forgot about the mushroom and
minka. Let’s move on to modern concrete buildings. Come back (to the university)
soon.” I had planned to tour around for 2 years, but he threatened to kick me out (of the
lab), so I went back after a year.

KK: How did Koji Taki and Higa review your work, and what did you think of their critique?

IH: The first time Taki had an official talk, he titled it “Feminine na Kenchiku (Feminine
Architecture).” It was included in SD1, published in 1985 with my computer-generated
drawing on the cover before it was common to do so. This drawing of a residence was
made on a 65-bit computer. Around the time, 1985, was a phase where most thought
that architecture should be rational, and should be discussed rationally. I believe it was an
international trend, with Structuralism and such. In the talks with Taki, I had a feeling
that we can go beyond that – to the more intuitive, the ordinary and traditional lifestyle,
addressing continuity, and be inclusive of all aspects. He thought that this is a very
feminine approach and also found it valuable. Shinohara was just turning to a more
rational approach, and so did Issei (Kazunari) Sakamoto and Toyo Ito, around this time.
They were just beginning to be armed with logic. Taki was not against it per se, but he
regarded the other current based on intuition, sensibility and continuity (of traditions), all
of which he called feminine, is equally valid. It gave me courage.

Higa came to our office around the time we were wrapping up Shonandai project. But he
came to the office interested in my early houses, for which the theme were on emptiness
(or void) and nature. He continued to analyze the work through that lens, regardless of
the scale of work. In a way he always brought me back to that starting point.

There was a time Eisenmann and I lectured together in Mexico. It was when Shonandai
was reviewed very poorly; in Japan the critique was that public buildings should be
representative of power but that Shonandai looked like an amusement park for children.
The aim of the project for me was to delete the sense of authority, and actually I wanted
to place all functions underground. Eisenmann, who had visited the building and aware
of the negative reviews, told me that in the inside the children’s museum, theaters, etc.
created a wonderful void. He also told me that he appreciated the surrounded open space
(plaza), that Japanese take great care in creating the interior spaces. I was surprised to

338
 hear him commenting on the Japanese sense of interiors, because I saw him as a figure of
obscure buildings, who would not pay attention to such aspect.

KK: What did you think of the negative criticism toward Shonandai?

IH: At the time, Shinohara hadn’t yet worked on any public building. The youngest was
Kiyonori Kikutake, of the lineage of those representative of power. The leaders of the
country, prefecture, or the city would name the buildings after themselves. Look at
Tokyo Metropolitan Government headquarters. It was required for architects to make
symbols of power.

Shin Takamatsu, who received second prize (for Shonandai competition), proposed a
proud, very large-scale tower building on the site in contrast to my park-like proposal.
That’s what people expected of public buildings. This project violates the way public
buildings had been constructed and how big-name architects had operated. Even the
young designers criticized me for building this way.

One of the most repeated comments was that there are only people here. Seventy
percent of the building is underground, and the ground level spaces were occupied by the
crowds. Without seeing the underground spaces, the reporters commented that
architecture does not exit here, only the people.

I believe it was BBC reporter who interviewed an old man sitting on the bench what he
thought of the building. This project was received positively in Great Britain; University
of London even awarded me a prize for it. The old man told the reporter that Hasegawa
did not make this building alone – we all made it together. The reporter rushed here to
this office to ask me, you don’t mind a citizen saying that they made it together? Aren’t
you failing to act authoritatively as an architect? I answered that it is not like Britain, that
I am not Foster.

After this project, Japanese architecture scene changed rapidly. I was in my 40s then.
Competitions for public buildings that followed were no longer closed to some powerful
architects but had opened its door to younger architects. (Tadao) Ando and Ito had not
yet made any public buildings. In that sense, even though it was not received well, this
project was very sensational and triggered subsequent changes.

Isozaki even called me to criticize it. I had hosted many workshops with the residents,
who were against underground architecture, and to find a satisfactory point for all.

339
 Isozaki scolded me that such populism has no place in public architecture. But I wanted
to see the users, to hear their voices, unlike Kikutake. The criticism for this approach was
fierce. These days, the younger generation take it for granted, right? The award I
received in London evaluated this approach, that it had not been seen in Europe or in
most places, really. Yet the European class system is even more rigid; they could not
believe that an architect would talk to the user, face to face. One philosophy professor
from the University of London told me that democracy is an abstract idea, and does not
involve talking to the citizens. He commented that Hasegawa, from a Buddhist nation,
engages with democracy quite literally.

Architects in Europe belong to the upper levels of the hierarchy. Foster has the title of
Sir. I think it is difficult for women. Zaha once asked me why I can get so many projects
while she had none; that has completely reversed now. It’s a male dominated realm.

KK: Do you remember when your work was published abroad? I found an issue of
L’Architecture d’Aujourd’hui from 1982 that presents 6 young architects, and among
them are you, Team Zoo and Masiiliano Fuksas. In the article it was written that you aim
to rediscover the relationship between things and human being. What were the reactions
to your work by the international audience?

IH: Which project was introduced in that article?

NN: Aono building.

IH: The base of it is.. who was the president of France who was in charge of “Grands Projets”?

KK: Mitterand?

IH: Yes, Mitterand. He organized an exhibition for forty international architects under the age
40. I’m not sure if Team Zoo was there. Fuksas was included. There, one of the most
well received projects was Aono building.There was a blue catalogue, which was
prominently displayed. Mitterand invited me to a dinner party at the Élysée Palace.

KK: Did you go?

IH: No, no, I wouldn’t go. I was still poor, but it was required to dress in an evening gown and
wear real jewelry. Not all of us were invited, only around six or seven. People who saw
the exhibition was surprised to see the Aono building exhibited so prominently.

340
 Kurokawa, who had an office in Paris, was not happy with the selection for this
exhibition. I wonder who else from Japan was included in the exhibition? He said there
are other Japanese architects who should be shown. The secretary of Kurokawa office
gathered the same generation of other architects, such as Ito, and organized an exhibition
next door. He resisted the choices of Mitterand, but the architects Kurokawa gathered
were better known (than me). I’m sure Mitterand himself did not select the architects,
but it was clear that the architects were recognized nationally (by France). Many of them,
such as Fuksas, went on to have successful careers. Following this event, they asked me
to do many lectures at Pompidou, Louvre, etc., all over the country. I was able to visit
many towns throughout France.

Itsuko Hasegawa goes to get the catalogue.

IH: The exhibition was in 1982. It is around the time I moved into this office. I was working in
an apartment in Shinjuku for about 3 years before that. This building was designed for
my brother, but I took it over; he moved into an apartment. After the building was
completed, I thought, how convenient that it is close to Akihabara. I had just begun
using the computer for drawings. It’s also closer to the airport, for Matsuyama project.
We are now using this building for free, although he owns it, because all the loan has
been paid off. I plan to convert this into gallery spaces and whoever wants to lecture can
use the ground level room, because there are so few available for free in Japan.

Anyway, Kurokawa had organized the exhibit, proclaiming that Hasegawa is not the only
architect in Japan!

KK: Do you know much about the Kurokawa-hosted exhibition?

IH: There is so little that I know, because I didn’t get any information about it. At this time, the
French academic society IFA (? please check) also organized an exhibition for me, which
was a big deal for a Japanese architect. I think Kurokawa must have felt something
against the selection and endorsement of the French. So Takamatsu, Ito, Ando, (Kijo)
Rokkaku, etc. were included. I don’t know but more must have been represented there.
The 40 under 40 (?) exhibition was known internationally, but domestically, Kurokawa’s
move was perhaps better known. Kurokowa’s secretary in France was a very energetic
woman, who worked for Rem (Koolhaas) afterwards. She is still quite active.

341
KK: I assume that over the years you have established communications with many foreign
architects, scholars and magazine editors. Can you tell me more about your relationship
with the international architecture community?

IH: Some time after this exhibition in Paris, I don’t remember exactly but perhaps around 1985,
there was an Oslo exhibition invitation through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. A house
was offered and open for transformation. I enveloped an old house entirely in
polycarbonate panels. I provided a small terrace, but basically I wanted the suburban
greenery to be viewed through the filter of the polycarbonate. Rather abstract way of
seeing nature. For the exhibition space I printed the images on Japanese washi paper in
scroll form, so I could set it up myself in Norway. The exhibition later travelled through
Scandinavia, to Sweden and Finland. Every time I would go to lecture.

I was also invited to lecture at Sci-Arc, where Thom Mayne was. Shonandai was under
way, and I wanted to apply fossils on Shonandai’s rocks and stratum. When I had visited
California long before that, there were Native Americans selling fossils on the streets. I
accepted to give a lecture because I wanted to get the fossils, but by then, selling on the
streets had been banned. So I drove to Arizona to purchase the fossils. That was one of
the earliest lectures I remember, and the first time I talked about Shonandai.

NN: I’ve seen the lecture on the internet.

IH: How terrible! Did you see me singing? I was discussing the image of forests and woods that
inspired my project, and someone commented that it wasn’t clear, that they didn’t
understand the image of Japanese forests from what I was showing. I must have been
drinking before the lecture; I burst into a Japanese children’s song (which begins with
lyrics on forests). I don’t remember the lecture at all, but only the singing. I was so
embarrassed. Thom always reminds me of this incident.

NN: How about your connections to Great Britain?

IH: Peter Cook came to Tokyo for the occasion of Archigram exhibition. I went to the party
hosted at Isozaki’s house, where everyone became friends with Peter.

And there was a Cardiff Opera House competition, for which I won first prize. Cardiff
Opera has a long history of more than 200 years, and there is a tiny opera house which
travelled around the world on ship and even came to Tokyo. I saw it, so I called my
scheme Ship Opera. Foster destroyed it, though. He called me one day on the phone

342
here. I couldn’t quite understand English, but he was talking about wanting to
collaborate on part of the project. The way he asked to collaborate, though, was so
forceful that I said something like, no, let me think about it. If I had said yes, the project
would’ve happened and my life would’ve been very different.

The result of the international open competition was that I got first prize and Zaha got
second, out of several hundred. The first and second prize winners could move on to the
second phase. Rem, Foster, Rogers and Moneo ended up joining for the second phase
too, but I won first prize again. I think that after I rejected the idea of collaboration,
Foster wrote articles and made advertisements with the message that British people want
a project by one of their own. It even drove one of the superiors of the opera house
insane and sent that person to a psychiatric institution. Foster destroyed the project
single-handedly. One newspaper article he wrote said that the project can not be left in
charge of a ‘far-east kabuki woman’.

The opera house people, instead of delegating to Foster, decided to appoint Zaha. In the
end, however, the cost issues did not allow the project to be realized, to this day.

Apparently this was the first postwar project using Queen Elizabeth fund, which must be
one of the reasons people wanted a domestic architect for the job. They must have felt
bad for me, and decided to give me an honorary award at the University of London. I
didn’t want the award, I wanted the job. Anyway, there was a big party for the award
ceremony, to which Foster and Zaha came. In the welcoming speech, Foster said that no
British architect has received this prestigious award; why would Hasegawa get it? He is a
man of authority, in a society of class and hierarchy. Japan has imitated such ways and
their system, from Le Corbusier onward. While I was a student (as an undergraduate),
everyone studied Le Corbusier. I was fed up with it, so I studied Aalto on my own. I
worked on a collective housing project for my diploma design project.

Just as I entered Kikutake office, I went to meet Aalto. I had already paid tuition to
research on Aalto at the Tokyo University of the Arts (Geidai), but Kikutake persuaded
me to work at his office. So at least I went to see him, and have lunch. My research on
Aalto ended there.

When I visited him, I first entered from Italy – that was the route of the time. Traveling
northward, I visited many of Le Corbusier architecture. The buildings were in such bad
shape that they looked like rubbles, although they have become showrooms today.

343
 Nobody was using them. Now they’ve been restored and occupied by professors or open
for visitors. Not back then.

I went with Ito, in Buenos Aires, we went to see a clinic and house for a doctor. There
was an architecture student there, who told us that the house was too modern for the
client’s wife. She couldn’t sleep there, couldn’t use the kitchen. For decades the house
was never used. There is a film about it, I believe. The house was under renovation to be
converted into an architectural association building, when we visited. Le Corbusier’s
architecture was not in use in Europe nor Argentina. It really made me think what
modernism was.

KK: Around what year did this take place?

IH: I would have graduated at 22, so it must’ve been around 1965. It was the first time I went
abroad. It was 360 yen to a dollar. I met many prominent architects through
introductions, starting with Gio Ponti. Then, before I met Aalto, I traveled through
France and Switzerland. I wanted to see the architecture that everyone had talked about,
but almost none of them were in use. After a long time, when I went to lecture in France,
the buildings were restored and occupied. I think Le Corbusier buildings were meant to
be a kind of status symbol, the ability to own his architecture. I think there aren’t many
who saw his architecture at the time, in such shabby state.

KK: Which aspects of your work have the press found most interesting? How do you think your
work has been represented abroad?

Would you say there has been a difference in the way your work is represented in Japan
and abroad? If there is a difference, what would that be?

IH: There is a difference in how they evaluate. Most thought negatively of Shonandai, but
Tange’s review was positive, which was marveled me. As I was saying, Tange was one of
those who made public buildings as a symbol of power, but he told me that he
incorporated systems such as piloti to make the architecture more open. He said that
Shonandai is truly open and free for people to stop by, and that is what he had really
wanted to achieve. Tange is the one who sent me to Harvard to become a visiting
professor; everyone who hears about how it happened is amazed. Rem Koolhaas and I
were visiting professors at the same time and we shared a room together. Rem didn’t
think that Tange, the most important architect in Japan, would be supportive of my

344
 work. Japan is surprisingly conservative, but abroad – such as in Great Britain – they
endorsed the process of communicating with the citizens as true democracy. I’ve
received such partial reviews abroad, but very few in Japan evaluated the work.

Maki, Isozaki, (Shozo) Uchii, Seike, and someone from Osaka were the jury for the
competition. A group of big names. Although they selected me as the winner, when the
project was completed, none of them would discuss it in a positive light. I was really
taken aback.

KK: What was their criticism to the project? What was their basis of choosing your proposal?

IH: They said that it did not represent power and that it was populism, but they must’ve been
able to decipher that during the competition. But after it was completed, the critics did
not review it positively, so neither did they. It is a regrettable tendency of the Japanese –
people without autonomy, without identity.

After the building was completed, however, there were many invitations for international
competitions such as the House of Parliament in Wales and also in Scotland. Both
invitations came around the same time, and I couldn’t handle both. I chose Wales,
because I know the area quite well. Then it was followed by a competition related to
London Tower, urban theater, etc. I often competed with Zaha. Perhaps they have had
enough of me with the Opera competition, and I was always awarded second prize. At
least they paid me for winning the prize, so I could manage.

I also went to Germany. There were so many competitions invitations, before (Kengo)
Kuma, before Ito or Ando. I finally won first prize for a competition in Paris, after the
Opera.

I continued to work on these competitions until I got the Niigata project, completed
around 1960. Its competition was held in 1956, I think. I worked on the scheme while I
was at Harvard.

There is something I don’t like to talk about much.

Quite a few office staff went to Niigata for construction administration, and were many
phones to communicate with them. We had rented an office there, since I had 45 staff
then. So we had reorganized a lot. One of the fax numbers that we removed was bought
by a woman at Japan Women’s University. There were so many correspondences and

345
 invitations from abroad, but she never once told us. For 10 years, until we got email, she
withheld the information from us. She said that there was fax everyday and it was a waste
of her paper. We offered to bring her paper, asked if we could pick up the faxes, and if
we could buy the fax number back from her. She rejected every offer, and kept all the
information to herself. That’s how I was left out of the scene for 10 years, without any
information from abroad, during which no more invitations came anymore. I learned of
it much later, although my staff knew about it and were scrambling to do something
about it. During a lecture at some place, perhaps the fashion institute, I met her. She said
it gave her pleasure to get rid of the faxes.

So after Niigata, there were no information on competitions. After we got email, there
were some wealthy countries who invited me for competitions, but I grew sick of
working on global architecture.

KK: Did that happen gradually, or was there something that prompted it?

IH: Looking at the competition brief, they want a brand – like Zaha or Itsuko Hasegawa – that
is, rather than making good architecture, it seemed to demand a nationally symbolic
object. There was a time when I participated on a competition in Vietnam with Zaha.
There were many computer generated drawings, and the staff were choosing which one
fits best for this occasion. It has nothing to do with locality. It is same as Yoyogi
Stadium. I think there are many architecture like that, especially after the computer
became a main tool and global architecture spread, when it is so easy to transform
various shapes. It celebrates the branding of an individual architect, which is what the
competition brief seems to be asking for.

My wish to visit the site and understand its local conditions counters what is being
demanded, I thought. Many oil-rich countries have contacted me, in the latter years of
Niigata. There was only one that I was interested in, for a library. They said we’d like to
ask what your design fee is up front. I told them a rather high percentage, because they
are from a wealthy country. Their answer was that Rem had the lowest fee so we decided
to go with him.

From about 2005 – Niigata was in 1995 so approximately 10 years later of no contact – I
got invited to several Chinese competitions, particularly in Shanghai. If we win the
competition, they also would let us work on construction administration, so I

346
 participated. China is also politically driven and not necessarily judging by design,
however.

Even in Japan, after Niigata – I’ve been told it’s my fault – the competition (for public
buildings) changed from anonymous design competition to proposal form. In the latter,
the participants are judged by the background and number of staff in the office, etc. My
resume isn’t great and I don’t have many staff most of the time, so I began working in
China as work in Japan dwindled for me. It is difficult for me to work on large scale
projects, though.

KK: What aspect of your work would you define as uniquely Japanese? You have discussed your
view on nature and ideas of Buddhism, but if there is anything else you would like to
elaborate.

IH: Not all Japanese architects take this approach, but when I began working on Niigata
competition, I went there to research about the place. I would go to the library, read
about regional history, look at the nearby Shinano River, study the history of the river,
and so on. The theme for the project was archipelago. In the place of the current
artificial river, there was a natural river in the past with many islands on which Noh,
festivals and other public entertainment were held. I recreated 7 islands on top of the
parking lot, of different sizes. Unless I had gone to the library to research about the river,
I wouldn’t have known it.

Every time I would go to the place and how to root the project to its locality. It is
possible to be a global architect with locally driven projects, I think. It doesn’t matter
where. The reason why the new olympics stadium project by Zaha has come under
strong criticism is that she has no idea about its context and its environment, no? Isn’t
that why Maki is angry? I would like to undertake at least some basic research about the
place. Today it is so easy to get information on soil conditions or the site online. You can
get so much information. The stadium did not have to tear down apartment buildings
and be so big, although they have cut down the scale. I can’t work a project without any
research, whether it is sited in Shanghai.

Here is the latest project in Shanghai called Park Office, with lace-like enclosure. I’ve
been told that there has not been such feminine office building and that it looks like
women’s underwear. But I went to a museum there, and the library, and Chinese people
used to wear lace of these patterns as outerwear in the summer. There are not many

347
 greens, so I planted a lot of trees. The making of natural environment is appreciated in
China, as well as here.

In China, there are no housewives. Married couples work too, so about 60 - 70% of city
halls and offices are women, including the leaders of the departments. But the office
buildings, like Japan, follow the American and German models of glass-clad exterior and
masculine plan. I made the building consciously more feminine, and they didn’t dislike it
– since I was invited to the next competition.

NN: So do you think that connecting with the local is what makes your building more Japanese?

IH: It’s an international phenomenon.

NN: So what would be Japanese, or there is no such a thing as Japanese?

IH: Whatever I do, seen from the international audience, is Japanese. Basically the most
important aspect for me, such as when designing a house, is the climate – if the place has
high humidity, what the temperature range is, etc. From Hokkaido to Okinawa, Japan has
very dissimilar climates. In the center there are mountain ranges (running north-south),
resulting in different conditions on the Japan Sea side versus Pacific Ocean side. The
importance of climate is equally important when working on international projects. For
example, in France, the air conditioning is typically used only for winter. There is no cool
air, often in office buildings too. Each town, each country, has their own climate.

This recently completed project in Shizuoka incorporated local Tenryu wood, and gravel
found in the region, etc. In Suzu, a region that used to be underwater until about ten
thousand years ago, its diatomaceous earth contains a lot of seashells. I used the earth to
plaster the walls and floors. Shonandai also used a lot of local earth for the surfaces;
Kuma recently commented that he was surprised to see walls and floors made of earth
there. After all these years! It’s not only aluminum.

KK: Do you think Japan-ness in architecture exists? And 12. If you have to define and elaborate
Japan-ness in architecture, how would you define it?

IH: Japan-ness or national history are included in our lives even if we don’t consciously think
about it. Everyone person owns it, I think. There must be some Japanese way of
thinking, not for those making imitated style architecture but everyone who is making his
or her own architecture. It is an undercurrent in our thoughts. I still use earth, plaster,

348
 but also aluminum. I like tatami too. I can’t bring myself to use vinyl leather. In
Kumamoto Art-Polis, where I worked with some others including Issei Sakamoto, we
worked on rental apartments. They had to cut the construction cost so we were asked to
use vinyl leather. Everyone complied. But just like in Nagano where I worked on public
housing, I couldn’t do it. I had the walls plastered, although some people were angry.

The renters took notice, and my apartments filled up first. There are also lots of people
with allergies (traditional Japanese plaster does not contain chemicals that trigger allergic
reactions).

NN: Why do you think foreigners are so interested in Japanese architecture?

IH: What I think, after visiting Europe and the US, the people making architecture are the elites,
very few on the pyramid. In Japan, the making of single-family houses created many
architecture related jobs, not all of whom are distinguished. The kind of education they
received didn’t matter. One did not have to have graduated from the University of Tokyo
to make buildings throughout regions of Japan. Perhaps it’s an Asian tendency: People
just work on what they like. People who like houses design them. In Europe I think that
only the upper class people can become architects, who are far removed from ordinary
people’s lives. Japan’s architecture is based on single-family houses and that’s the biggest
difference. All countries must have had the same history in the past, of architects making
houses. But in the more recent past, architects have turned into particular kinds of
people. In a sense, I think that’s what set them back. I mean they are behind, because
they became less aware of users and unable to make what the people really wanted.
Traditional way of living is still at the heart of what Japanese architects make. Japan had
imitated the European system and created its share of elites, but it did not stop the others
throughout the country to continue making local architecture.

349
Interview with Hiromi Fujii

March 18th 2015

Fujii Architects Studio, Shinnishida BLD.3F 2-7-6 Minato, Chuouku Tokyo

Interviewers: Nikola Nikolovski and Kaon Ko

Nikola Nikolovski: After several years of traveling and working around Europe in 1968 you
established your office. Your early works were produced during the 1970s. How would
you describe the architecture scene in Japan at the time? What did you find most
provocative and challenging in that moment?

Hiromi Fujii: You mean within the architecture industry?

Kaon Ko: Yes, around the time that you started working in the field.

HF: I think explaining why I decided to go to Europe at that time might be the best way to
answer your question.

I left for Europe in 1964, the same year as the Tokyo Olympics. I think there were a lot
of reasons as to why I decided to go, but the one which I can still say with conviction
would be my desire to experience “architecture” spatially firsthand. That was probably
the biggest reason.

Japanese history professors at the time simply explained the spatial composition of
European classicism/neo-classicism through phrases such as centricity, totality, and full-
functionality. What I really wanted to know after I left university was just how they could
create space with that centricity, totality and spirituality. How were they applied to
making of walls or columns? How did they solve the problem of having a floor? That is
what I wanted to experience. Then there was the fact that, speaking from the present,
classicism and neo-classicism would become my enemies, and you can’t fight an enemy
you don’t know.

My strong feelings on the subject brought me to Milano, Italy in 1964. This was 1960’s
Milano, so we’re talking about Gio Ponti, Rogers, Franco Albini, etc.—a new kind of
architecture utilizing new technologies. Milano was at the center of industrialization of
architectural world. It was a high point for the industry, with industrial design and

350
 architecture garnering global recognition. I worked for two and a half years in
Mangiarotti ’s office. During my time there, I was able to learn a lot and gain a great deal
of experience. I wanted to know in concrete terms, rather than abstract, how one can
express space through an object. At the time, Japan could only ever explain European
architecture in words, or more accurately, as a concept. Of course, that kind of
architecture didn’t exist in Japan at the time which may have made things difficult. But
the reverse was also true. European architects had no solid idea of what Japanese
architecture was, what sukiya was beyond the abstract. So I went to Europe.

This was during Japan’s rapid economic growth, with the 1964 Olympics and the Osaka
Expo ’70. It was a time when prevailing attitudes towards architecture considered it
mostly in terms of building technologies. It was difficult for people to talk about its
connection to human emotions or spirit.

There was a lot of backlash and frustration towards this thiking. Speaking of which, there
is that exhibition in Kanazawa. Or is it over already? Migayrou said it well in the
catalogue. Does he have that catalogue with him?

NN: I don’t have it here.

HF: Migayrou wrote a great piece about it in this book. Reading this will give you a good idea of
architecture in Japan at the time. Isozaki -san doesn’t have it quite right. But Migayrou
really put it well, about Japanese architecture.

KK: Right.

HF: Reading this should clear everything up.

KK: Okay, moving on to the next question. The most characteristic futures of your architecture
are spatial compositions made of cubes, squares and abstract grids. L'Architecture
d'Aujourd'hui comments that with abstract grids you escape history and deny presence;
by doing so you incarnate the emptiness, the nothingness (mu) out of which space is
born. Can you comment on this? (the use of cubes and abstract grids)

HF: I think that people did not really start to understand Japanese architecture until after Tange
for what it is. And I thought, “They haven’t even seen this ‘new architecture’ they are
discussing.” They were trying to understand this architecture through their preconceived
notions of Japan as “the country of Zen,” or through Buddhist concepts like “mu

351
 (nothingness)” and “kuu (void).” I definitely did not start creating my work with some
sort of “zen-like” notion in mind like “mu” or “kuu.” And it didn’t come from the denial
of history either. For me the dominant thought was that we should recreate ‘architecture’
by returning to its origin in time. When people talked about history at the time, they were
referring to a form or some abstract, metaphysical idea of history. No critics or historians
were talking about the conditions of layered time from the starting point (the origin). I
wasn’t denying the past; I wanted to reconstruct history from the very beginning. After
all, even if humans deny the past, it doesn’t change. You can’t erase your own shadow.
That’s why that writer at d’Aujourd’hui had it wrong. At the time, Japanese critics were
laughing at that comment. Deconstructivism does not deny human presence, but rather
attempts to recreate it. That’s why Sartre’s existentialism was torn down by Derrida. It’s
because Sartre thought about presence too much within the framework of the shells of
historical figures. Derrida tries to reevaluate presence in the framework of the real as is -
the object is born from philosophy. That’s why my work is not denying presence, but
rather creating it.

You know, d’Aujourd’hui covered the Miyajima Residence around the time it was
completed. Their critique said that the house embodied Japanese “ma (space)” and that I
was simply trying to contemporize sukiya-zukuri. But that’s just how the formalists in
Europe at the time saw it. Nobody thinks like that anymore.

KK: Well, very rarely you might run into that kind of person.

HF: The idea that Japan is special in some way, that something can be “Japonesque.” I think it’s
wrong to look at Japanese culture as recursive or regressive. Leave that to the tourism
industry.

I started by using grids. I think the Chururi project from 1975 is the first one where I
consciously used cubes and you can clearly see them appearing in my work. Although the
use of grids or cubes is essentially the same, I realized through this project that they are
perceived differently. I think that Japan still doesn’t understand my use of grids, although
Migayrou recently got it right in this book. “Fujii has recently started to consider the
concept of gaps and space.” I want to tell him that it’s not a recent development; I’ve
been thinking about it ever since I started using grids. I’ll be sure to let him know if I see
him again.

352
 (Gesurturing to a picture?) One of the reasons why I drew the grid lines here is danpen
(fragmentation). It’s not easy to explain in English, but danpen does not mean
fragmenting the whole, but rather, represents the parts or elements. An element is within
the whole, like a bolt or cogs in the mechanical system. The ‘danpen’ is an element that
no longer functions in the whole organization. But it doesn’t devalue the organization as
a whole, a problem here or a broken part there. There’s not really a word for that in
English which is why I use the word “fragmentation.” By fragmenting, I can give rise to
‘gaps’ and ‘unrest’—in other words, ‘blank space.’ That is one of my goals in using grids.
The reason is that the way that culture, as made by minor historical figures, has been
suppressed. Human agency wants to be free from this oppression. That was the biggest
reason that I started using grids—I wanted to interact with this environment, this “world
of things.”

There was still the problem of space for me, and I tried to create cubes through space. I
used edges. “Organization” means that everything is bound together, correct? Pardon the
exaggeration, but the world of classical and neo-classical architecture is one in which
everything is connected. The whole is linked together in a variety of way. It detests any
gap or space arising within the organization. But that’s the world of gods, the world of
kings. They dare not allow any blank space or gap which would force you to think about
the order they have created. So my world is one in which I used the concept of “edges”
to place gaps and other objects within the whole, in order to escape from this world of
order. Chuzuri? was my first attempt. Those gaps contain the same emptiness and blank
space as my grids. That emptiness and blank space belongs to a world devoid of meaning.
I came to understand this world through emptiness and blank space, this method of
open edges . This is what I refer to as “open composition.” We Japanese were wrong in
the way we translated “composition.”

KK: Oh really?

HF: “Composition” isn’t simply creating and placing something in a certain space. Real
composition requires emptiness. We had it backwards. That is what I was trying to
express with my cubes.

Probably easier for me to just show you. Take a look at this. In a gridded space, there is
no way to see the world lying behind that. Isn’t blank space nothing more than the parts

353
 we can’t see? The world behind the grid is the one that we can’t see, but might be able to
infer—this part connects to this, etc. What I mean is layering blank space.

This was a residential project called “Mizue no.1.” I also created a lot of blank space here.

This is a picture of the Miyajima Residence, the first and biggest project I utilized grids in.
It might be difficult to understand how fragmentation is being used here in the context
of your question, but you see here, I’ve severed the connection between these two parts.
This work probably gives you the best understanding of fragmentation in terms of the
space.

This one is almost too much of a picture, but you see the window here. That window is
“ku” space. Here I am using grids to enhance the concept of blank space. The grids role
is to position that “unseeable world” as a frame. I want to make people reflect on the
change from a meaningful world to a world oppressed.

I am actually organizing my works for the last time right now, so you came at the perfect
time. I have all this stuff out. Like this drawing. Okay, this one is of the Miyajima
Residence. Anyway, you probably have a more concrete idea after seeing them.

That’s what’s different about my use of grids and cubes. There’s nothing religious or
Buddhist about it like “mu” or “ku.” (Daruma story)

Which is to say that since we cannot deny history, my work is not about denying
presence, but rather recreating presence, and trying to fix the mistakes of history by
returning to its source. It’s not construction—it’s architecture. That’s why I’m saying that
the critic at d’Aujourd’hui had it wrong.

KK: So they’re wrong.

NN: It’s good to know, actually. Because this is what happens in many cases, it’s always
connected with religion or history and not always there.

HF: Where’s the question about “how did non-Japanese view your work? That wasn’t it, was it?

KK: That’s coming later.

HF: That’s how it always is, though. They have this concept of Japan, they get caught up on
Feist’s differences between Japan and Europe, and it affects the way they view Japanese
culture. That’s the only way they can see it.

354
KK: Well, many of our questions actually related to that, but let’s move on to the next. In an
issue of Architectural Design from 1989 you have text titled Dispersed, Multi-Layered
Space. In it you compare French and Japanese gardens, as represents of Classical and
Multi-layered space. Can you tell me more about the significance of multi-layered space
in your work?

HF: To me a layered world is a world of edges, a world with no concept of connectivity. That
kind of world, a world created based on the concept of edges, can be found within the
traditional Japanese garden. In some respects, these places were a place for monks to
undergo training. Or at least that’s how I see them, as a meditative space rather than a
space for enjoyment. Since Japanese gardens exhibit this kind of layered space, I naturally
compared them with what is, for me, the classical representation of a garden—the royal
garden in France. Comparing the strong centrality of the royal garden’s space with the
multi-layered space of Japanese gardens, I found it was easier to explain.

KK: How is that expressed in your own work?

HF: This is exactly the point which I am addressing in my work. At the time I wrote this
piece… Which page was it again…. Yeah, this was definitely my understanding of multi-
layered space at the time.

When you think about it, even the Miyajima Residence is layered, as the whole thing is
essentially made up of layers. Sure, this corner is connected here, and this one. I was
often told that the subject of the grid is not a logical or holistic perspective, that it
doesn’t add up to something. But I would have to disagree. The way the grids are laid out
means that the individual is never surrounded on all sides.

KK: Not surrounded by the grid?

HF: I have probably spent more time explaining this than anything else, but the most famous
example of a world surrounded by the world of the grid would be Mondrian’s New York
Boogie Woogie painting. That is, the painting fragments New York, while the exterior
frame is rotated 45 degrees. It is constructed entirely of fragments.

KK: Okay.

HF: Within that definition, we have Western architecture. Everyone says that Western
architecture is defined by its unity and centralization. It organizes fragments of things

355
 into a coherent shape. In response, Mondrian made the world depicted inside separate.
(Points out some things in the photo.) The difference is just placing the fragments or
integrating them as a whole. Mondrian and Hejduk, by rotating the frame, declared that
they are creating the world of fragments. Similarly, my grid doesn’t function to unify but
to simply disperse the fragments. The grids are my method of dispersing the space.
Fragmenting it. The rest is left up to the individual to reconstruct into the whole not
dependent on the nation or authority.

That is what I am trying to say in this essay. Monks understood the garden to be that
kind of space and used it for aesthetic training. Compare that with the French royal
gardens…

KK: You mean at Versailles?

HF: Right, the gardens at Versailles are the king’s gardens. That’s why the veranda where you
can get the best view of Versailles is the king’s room, right in the center. All royal palaces
are like that. They have a big royal garden and right at the center is the king’s room. That
way, the king has the view of the entire world, he is capable of conquering the world.

In contrast the multilayered space is not surrounded; it is unframed and unlimited. That
is why the space remains liberated despite being connected. That is the theory of modern
architecture. Modern architecture helped liberate the space. I think that De Stijl played a
large part in terms of modernizing space. It is open, neither surrounded nor unified. It is
just there, with a difference between this and that – the “difference” discussed and
popularized by Deleuze and Guattari.the individual parts are different but not
subordinate, and they remain as individuals. The space is recreated in the same manner.
The space I am talking about here is the liberated space. That’s a multilayered space. That
is how the space is being recreated.

I talk about liberated spaces here.

Also, this part about floating significations in Kurokawa-san’s work…

KK: Yeah, that is really difficult to understand. Laughs

HF: This French critic or whoever wrote this is speaking from preconceived notions to some
extent. There are a lot of famous architects in Japan like that. There is perception that
“ambiguity” exists as an architectural concept. The idea that “ambiguous” composition

356
 endows your work with a sense of freedom and makes it appears more contemporary. Or
it’s ambiguity in the sense that you can’t identify the object or a word that has double,
contrasting, meaning. Many architects used that technique to contemporize their work.
So I think that this writer is still caught up on that preconceived idea about Japanese
architecture. He was oblivious to the fact that there could be any Japanese architect
addressing issues such as - “things existing for the sake of themselves,” “returning to the
source to recreate the object,” etc.

Speaking of which, I think that a large problem for the culture of Japanese architecture,
and of architects, that they do not return to the source anymore, because of their
skillfulness in imitation.

KK: They choose not to return?

HF: It is kind of fashion, fusing these styles into what became “Japanese-style architecture.”

To Europeans, seeing such phenomena, regarded it to be representative of “ambiguity”. I

know you know what I’m talking about.

Then “ambiguous space” came to dominate Japanese architecture, and those who
participated in that way successful of Japanese architects. This French critic is speaking
from that bias.

I feel like my explanations today are a lot easier to understand.

YF: laughs You certainly are easier to understand today than usual.

HF: I mean, that’s really the heart of “imitation.” When Isozaki talks of “ ‘Wa’ architecture”, I
want to ask everyone what they think of it.

KK: Did you read Isozaki’s text about “wa”?

NN: Yeah, yeah.

KK: What do you think he wants to know?

NN: I don’t know.

KK: He’s talking about the difference, like, between kenchiku and architecture.

NN: I have to think about it.

357
HF: He hasn’t read it yet, has he?

KK: (to Nikola) Do you want to see it? (to Fujii) He says he has read it once.

HF: I am not saying that the problem of “wa” should be entirely rejected. Isozaki-san should
have addressed what the next step might be. What’s the point in bringing up “wa” at this
point? “Wa” is Japanese culture, it’s what created that whole Meiji Restoration. I wanted
him to talk about what we should do about Japanese culture NOW. I expect someone
like Isozaki-san probably has the answer.

KK: Right.

NN: It is very ambiguous. For me it’s about the role of architecture. Because during the 20th
century architecture changed its role so many times. And in between, Japanese
architecture discovers what architecture is, because it was introduced very late. I mean,
into Japanese cultural discourse. So there’s always this “What’s the role of the architect?”
I think that as well, the question in the West is “what is the role of the architect?” And
then Japan being introduced to architecture late 19th century, this debate always
constantly moves. So there is this ambiguity of “what is the technique?”

KK: I think he’s questioning the use of the use of… Why discuss the ‘wa’ architect now? What is
the relevance now? Because he thinks it’s kind of gone backwards since it has kind of
been discussed since the Meiji Restoration. That ‘wa.’ And why…

NN: Why he chose to discuss it now? Maybe because… I think this is something which is
completely unknown to the Western audience. It still creates puzzles and it is something
that the West doesn’t have at all. In architecture there are many meeting points. But there
are certain points that are completely different. And I think that the concept of ‘wa’
doesn’t exist in the West. We as architects, as a profession, we can find very much
similarities. So your work can probably be similar to many other Western pieces, but
there are certain aspects of your work which maybe sometimes come from the culture
that you belong to. And I think that ‘wa’ is one of the things that the West doesn’t have,
never had, and probably, I’m not sure if it will ever have some of that.

KK: (to Fujii) He is saying that even if there are aspects within the Western oeuvre that resemble
Japanese architecture or architectural projects, from a Western perspective, there aren’t
really elements of “wa” present in terms of the cultural background. But from a Western
perspective, he doesn’t know how to interpret that. Maybe that part that still remains to

358
 be deciphered is the “wa”? Also, he was talking about the fact that the concept of
“architecture” didn’t exist in Japan…

HF: It is about how we comprehend the world in which we don’t quite understand all the things
incorporated into our culture and yet these things seemingly coexist. Being conscious of
it, though, is very European I think. There has been a fear among Japanese, since Meiji
Restoration, towards Europeans, with “Black Ship”" being probably the most
representative example. Loaded with cannons we feared for our lives. There was a sence
of fear associated with the disparity between our civilizations—as well as this culture of
trying to catch up and close this gap between ourselves and America/Europe. Like,
European culture infiltrated what Japan saw as Japanese culture? The reverse might have
also been true. But there’s a kind of obsession with the need to figure out the other; that
I-don’t-know attitude doesn’t cut it anymore. Europeans have a habit of always
considering the subject within their historical continuity. This is true for each individual,
on the individual level.

KK: Right.

HF: What Migayrou is saying here is that Japanese are different in this respect. When it comes
time for change, Japanese raze everything that came before. We are continually
dismantling.

That’s why we Japanese destroyed our own shrines and temples after the Meiji
Restoration. To start over with something new. And we have done it time and time again.
World War II was the same. Migayrou captures that really well. I mean, what’s the
difference between a European “wa and the kind of “wa” a Japanese person sees. I think
there’s a big difference in the way Europeans evaluate Japanese architecture of today and
the way Japanese evaluate their own architecture, at its core.

In Japan, people who are clearly trying to return to the origin are still seen as weirdos.
(Laughs) There are definitely people who say so; I have been told so. Those who are able
to concord with terms like “ambiguity” are highly skilled and intelligent.

I think that I’ve gotten away from the question quite a bit. Also, I want to say that I’m
going to do my best to explain everything you are asking, but there is probably a lot in
here you may not understand clearly. So even after this interview, feel free to e-mail me
or come by again. You will probably understand it better that way. Next is question #5?

359
KK: Yes.

HF: Am I a deconstructionist and why? It was that kind of era. The four years I lived in Europe,
from 1964 to 1968, was a time of great cultural change. There were the student riots in
Japan, and also in France, right? The part of the cultural upheaval at the time which I was
most interested in was literature. I’m not the kind of person who writes novels or even
reads all that much, but when I returned to Japan in 1964 , Chuokoron-sha had started
publishing special feature on Levi-Strauss’s structuralism on their “Chuokorn” magazine.
I think that was Japan’s first introduction to structuralism and it led to a Levi-Strauss
boom. Anyway, what had first captured my attention was this new type of novel called
the antinovel. Naturally, I thought that a novel couldn’t exist without a narrative, but
then this new type of novel comes out of France which turns that common sense on its
head. The first one I read was The Erasers by Alain Robbe-Grillet.

KK: Robbe-Grillet?

HF: Right, The Erasers by Robbe-Grillet. It’s a novel without a story. Which is to say that a
novel without a story has no meaning-based content.

So I read that, and I became so interested in this so-called “anti-romanticism” genre,

then Levi-Strauss’s structuralism, and then semiotics, and so on. When I say “semiotics,”
I’m not talking about it in a linguistic sense like Peter Eisenmann’s idea of generation,
but rather the connection between language and signifier, like Saussure, Barthes, or
Jakobson. These were the people I was interested in. My ideas at the time would later
connect to what Deleuze and Guattari were saying in the 1970’s.

Right around the time I was in London, I was with Peter Smithson and he said to me,
“In terms of architecture, this big hulking mass like the British Museum don’t really add
up to anything. And why you slice it, people feel oppressed from that kind of
architecture; it needs to be broken down. That’s basically the concept behind his
“fragment” philosophy. I agreed with him, of course. One method to achieve that is the
fragmentation of the space through the creation of gaps and blank spaces.

Is there anything else I should say about it? Regarding people who are deconstructionists,
I’m sure you are familiar with Guattari?

KK: Yes.

360
HF: Guattari was so interested in my project he actually came to Japan. You know, he was the
kind of person who wrote novels and essays that liberated the mind on the page. But he
was also interested in space, so he gathered a bunch of Paris’s young architects and held
this sort of research group to study about mental illness. He came to Japan because he
was interested in my work— how the multi-layered space and fragmentations are
connected —as a way to treat people with schizophrenia and other mental conditions. So
we talked through his interpreter, Riki Miyake , at the Yamanoue “Hilltop” Hotel in
Ochanomizu. Interesting, eh?

KK: Very interesting. Laughs What did you talk about?

HF: Space. Schizophrenics have lost their sense of unity, their ability to gather and organize
information. One treatment is for them to connect spaces they inhabit. They also lack
the ability to remember things holistically. I think Deleuze made it clear when he said
that “disparity” and “memory” are the same thing.

KK: Disparity?

HF: Guattari told me that blank space, gaps, and fragmentation are necessary to returning their
ability to remember. The day after he came to visit, Guattari couldn’t take the pain from
his illness. I bealive it might have been pancreatic cancer. The night in Ochanomizu was
rough; a doctor had to be called in and translated by Miyake. He passed away only two to
three months after that. I think he would have been capable of some really interesting
stuff if he was still alive.

KK: Truly.

HF: This is all relevant information, yes?

KK: Very much so. Moving on to the next question, what was the initial reaction of the domestic
critique to your early work? How was it accepted and presented in magazines during the
1970s and 1980s?

HF: Japanese people didn’t know what to make of it at first. To be fair, though, I also wasn’t
very good at explaining it then. At the time it was first presented, I wasn’t able to clearly
explain my reason for utilizing grids the way I can explain it now. The reason is that I
was still very much experimenting at the time. But now I’ve spent the last 60 years

361
 explaining it, so. Teiji Ito actually wrote about my work in the Sunday Mainichi saying,
“His architecture looks like someone covered the walls in tiles from a public bathroom.”

Those were the very early days. Chris Fawcett gave my work a proper introduction and
review. Have you ever hear of him, the young British architect?

KK: No, I haven’t.

HF: Fawcett associated with the group of Peter Smithson. Smithson was from that town, on the
border of Scotland and England. What was it called?

KK: On the border?

HF: Yeah, his hometown. It’s a big place. Anyway, he was born there, and went to the university
there where he met his wife Allison. There were classmates. They started working as
Allison-Peter Smithson, the sort of focal point for the British school of architectural
thought .

KK: I know Smithson. Not sure about Chris Fawcett, though.

HF: So Chris Fawcett contacted Peter Smithson and asked Kazumasa Yamashita to let him do
research under him. He came to Japan and in the course of working for Yamashita and
doing his research, became the most interested in my architecture. This was around 1972.
HE came to visit the Miyajima Residence, etc. Are you familiar with AA Quarterly?

KK: That’s the one called AA Files now?

HF: Right, the name changed. So Dennis Sharp (the editor) had Chris Fawcett write about this
new kind of architecture and that was my first international exposure. This was in 1974.
It was a good article.

So that’s how it was in the beginning. No one really understood.

Yuri Fujii: This is it, 1974. This is the cover.

(This part has a lot of shuffling of papers and small talk, and in all likelihood, is not very
important.)

NN: I was wondering: can I get a copy of this page and this article? This is ’74?

KK: (To Fujii) Can we get a copy of this later?

362
HF: This was my first time to be featured internationally.

KK: But at the time domestic critics didn’t know how to critique your work?

HF: Yeah, they didn’t understand it. It was still a time where Japan didn’t understand
architecture as a specialized field.

YF: The first time one of your layered pieces was featured in Japan was in Toshi Jutaku.

HF: That’s right. Oh, speaking of which, this is for his doctorate thesis, yes?

KK: Yes.

HF: What is he writing it on again?

KK: His main thesis is about how Western media represented Japanese architecture. How,
through publications, their perspective… (To Nikola) Like, how Japanese architecture
was represented in Western media?

NN: Yeah, yeah.

YF: You said that he’s looking at journals over a 50 year period?

KK: Right, he’s mostly… (To Nikola) Your main focus is, like, the 70’s?

NN: 80’s and 90’s. But starting from late 70’s. But I’m trying to understand how it started.

HF: What architecture are you looking at?

KK: (To Nikola) What other architects are you…

NN: That I’m looking at?

KK: That you’ll write about.

NN: Itsuko Hasegawa, Arata Isozaki, and I did an interview with Maki, but I’m not sure how
much I will write about it. I would like to do one with Ando, but I don’t think it’s
possible.

HF: Ah, those guys. Then this should definitely come in handy for you.

KK: Definitely. (To Nikola) You should take a look at these.

NN: Yeah.

363
YF: In that case, what countries are you looking at? America? The U.K.? France?

NN: I have Casabella from Italy, Architectural Design, and Architectural d'Aujourd'hui from
France. So I have UK, France, and Italy.

KK: Those are his primary sources.

HF: I would also suggest Oppositions as a magazine which was widely read at the time.
Researchers and curators around the world would definitely look at Oppositions.
Architectural Design is also very good, too.

YF: Is there a specific reason you did not include the U.S.?

NN: There is a reason. I never found a magazine with 50 years of continuity. Like, a magazine
that has a critical approach, but at the same time a long span. And it was really
convenient to find the European magazines because you can follow the line from the
50’s to 2005. And Oppositions, for example, was only in the 70’s, I think? Maybe early
80’s. And there is this magazine, Progressive Architecture, the way they edited their
magazine didn’t fit my research. They have more news segments, as well as the fact that
PA stopped publishing in 1996. So I felt it’s too early. I wanted to at least have until the
2000’s.

Once I selected these three magazines, I got a lot of data. I have, like, 600 articles. So I
think going with more than 3 magazines is too much I think for this research.

HF: Okay. So this is sort of getting away from what we were talking about before, but I want to
return to talking about Peter Eisenmann and me. His early career and mine shared a lot
in common. I don’t know if we were mutually cognizant of the commonalities present in
each other’s work, but we shared this attitude toward so-called anti-classicism and
deconstructivism where we were both trying to figure out how to fragment the whole.
We grew apart after that, though. We had different ideas about how to connect
fragmentation in our work. The point where we diverged was on how to create a
fragmented space which would return human agency and identity. I haven’t confirmed
this with Peter, but one difference is that in his work, the organization is created by the
identity of each individual. There is this sense he is trying to systematize that world. I also
think that he is systematically calibrating it. For me on the other hand, I am not
systematically assembling the fragments for human presence, but rather connecting the
fragments to continuously generate space.

364
KK: You mean generation?

HF: Yes, a generative space, that is unified with the lives. A space that is always moving. More
than the presence or organic unification, the moving space is really my focal point. I have
been working on a bunch of drawings to represent this idea, which I will publish sooner
or later. That’s the difference between the two of us.

Peter Eisenmann’s architecture is quite systematic, with an academic approach. In my

case, I want to conclude the simple process of braking down, of fragmentation, while
maintaining the infinite connectivity.

But that is expressed in my spaces, that humanity will continue to change, continue to
grow. Change is an endless process. It is not a static existence, nor a whole to be unified.
Honestly, I think Shusaku Arakawa understood that line of thinking best, may he rest in
peace. Although our strategies where completely different, I mean, he had a crazy
strategy for achieving that.

KK: Yes, he did. Laughs

HF: But I think that we shared a lot of the same concerns.

That is the difference between Peter Eisenmann and me.

NN: I think #7 was answered… I think this was answered.

KK: The first time your work was featured in a Japanese publication was Toshi Jutaku, and
overseas it was AA Quarterly.

HF: Right, AA Quarterly in 1974.

YF: Yes, as far as we know.

NN: I think we answered that question as well…

KK: I think you have already answered this one for us, but we found that your work was
presented on the exhibition New Wave of Japanese Architecture in New York 1978.
What were the initial reactions to your work by the international audience? You
mentioned Chris Fawcett, but what kind of reactions were there aside from that?

HF: You are asking specifically about the reaction at New Wave? Most of the people who
understood my work thought of me as a rationalist. There was also one question which

365
 comes up each time no matter what: “You country has its own kind of architecture,
sukiya- style. Why don’t you make that kind of architecture?”

KK: (To Nikola) Should I go on to the next one?

NN: Yeah, yeah.

I think that #8 is kind of answered… Maybe about Kenneth Frampton?

HF: Right, Frampton. You said you’re writing about that. Some others who were associated with
my work would be Aldo Rossi, Tafuri, Guattari… Huh, everyone’s dead now, aren’t
they?

YF: They all got old.

Frampton has got to be ninety-something…

KK: He’s already over 90?

YF: Am I wrong?

KK: (To Nikola) Do you know how old Frampton is?

NN: No.

YF: Okay, so maybe “ninety-something” was overdoing it.

HF: Right, so those people, at any rate.

KK: Are there any journal editors who you were close to?

HF: Papadakis was my friend. He always used to say to me, “Fujii, you always try to substitute
the discussion of architecture into some philosophical exercise. Architecture is about
technology.” I would reply, “I know that, but what is important for mankind is to
consider how that technology is used, not pointlessly discussing the importance of
technology.” Often we would go out for food in London and always end up fighting.

KK: What did you think about that piece being featured abroad?

HF: When it was introduced overseas?

I don’t really distinguish between Japan and abroad. I always get asked what I think
about different countries or differences in culture, but I don’t think a life lived in say,

366
 Macedonia, is that different from one lived in Japan. I say, “that’s where architecture
comes from” and most people just go silent at that point. People in Europe or Japan
think that they have to live in a certain way, in a different way from each other, but
fundamentally that’s not true. The only thing that’s different is style. And that’s not big
deal, really. Or at least I think so.

Just going back to Eisenmann for a second, I think that the organic world that he is
trying to create represents a new kind of relationship. It’s not that “old” kind of organic,
at any rate. Similarly, I woul appreciate if you coud understand my work with a keyword,
“generative” to describe the relationship with my work.

Regardless of whether it’s Peter or I talking the relationship of architecture is one of

“unrelated relationship.” That’s kind of a strange way of putting it. Maybe “a
disassociated relationship.”

KK: “A disassociated relationship?”

HF: Do you kind of understand what I’m getting at? The first type of relationship is
characterized by organization, systems, hierarchy, unity. A human who has no
relationship to others is rendered inhuman, and people seek to build that kind of
relationship. That is what I’m doing with black space, with gaps. It is that disparity. From
that disparity, the blank space is born.I think that’s the difference between Peter and I.
He is trying to gather and organize all of that. Did you know he was a solider? Peter
Eisenmann. He was in the Navy.

KK: Is that so? (To Nikola) Did you that that Eisenmann was in the Navy?

HF: He fought in the Korean War.He was in the Navy or something like that, and he
subsequently received his scholarships from the U.S. government that allowed him to
study at Cornell and then Columbia. Deep down he’s a soldier. He comes from a world
of duty and sentiment. (Everyone laughs.) I’m only saying that out of love for the man!
He’s different from Koolhaas.

KK: He is coldhearted, isn’t he?

HF: Koolhaas began his career as an editor; he knows every trick in the book, he was a Class-C
conscript.

367
NN: This one… what do you think was the response of the international audience. Did we ask
it?

KK: (To Fujii) You said that international audiences were particularly interested in why you
didn’t build sukiya-architecture, but aside from that, in terms of your work, what caught
their interest?

HF: I… don’t think I’m in any position to answer that, and frankly, I don’t really care what they
thought. But there was Guattari. I thought that it was really interesting to hear how he
viewed my work, a point of view that I was unaware of.

About this question 11, I think it relates to the future of the architect

KK: Well, for example, you were talking about how Isozaki-san recently started to talk about
“ ‘wa’ spaces and architects.” In English, they call that Japanese something-or-other
“Japan-ness.” What is “Japan-ness,” how many architects have come to express “Japan-
ness” in their work, and do you even believe such a thing exists in the first place?

HF: I’ve never tried to express “Japan-ness,” not even once.I think anything explicitly “Japanese”
has a strong connection to the state. Even with the problems with Islam in the Middle
East, it’s a matter of the state, right? That kind of thing happens because religion gets all
tangled up with politics. I think we need to rethink that relationship. What do you needs
to change? It’s society. Forget about “Japan-esque”; that’s just a stylistic problem.
Japanese people can’t stop talking about it, the Emperor system, Japanese culture, how
Kyoto is so wonderful etc... I’m not saying these things are bad, either. But when you
give form to these things, they are inevitably tied to Japan as a state. That’s why I think
we need social change. We have to consider ways to make a society where every
individual can be mentally and economically sound. That’s more important.

After all, “Japan-esque” is just something created by individuals. It’s just “Japanese style.”

KK: Okay.

HF: Right? When you substitute the parts from fragments and reassemble them, all sorts of
social issues are going to float to the surface. This is why I think that architects should be
an agent who helps this along. When architects try to be artists, the work ends up back at
the same place, connected to the state. A unified world. You pin your entire existence on
creating that meaningful world… I mean, aren’t all artists like that. It is because of the

368
 traditional concept of the author that we have journalism today. That is why architects do
not change and change what we are making. Because I have made strange architecture, I
have been bullied by clients and such. Many of my projects have already been torn down.
So thinking about it from that angle, I came to the answer that “agent” is the form which
architects should take in the future. When I say “agent,” I mean a person who envisions
the concept for architecture. The person who assembles the methodology of
architecture—not necessery the person who makes it.

I am not saying that the architect should not construct the vision. It is okay to create the
object by which architecture is assembled. I call that object the “diagram.” See, it doesn’t
need to be the finished work itelf; just a diagram. I am working on a bunch of disgrams
now, to wrap up my career as an architect through diagram-making: that is the architect
as agent. It’s not a world where the creative process means reading a novel and you being
moved by it. I’m talking about a Robbe-Grillet world. A world where you write your own
novel. I think this world of tomorrow will demand that individuals be knowledgeable and
cultured, for all of us on Earth to be happier than we have ever been, each one of those
individuals needs highly intelligent or how many years it will take. I’m not only talking
about architecture now.

KK: Right.

HF: I believe that the world is slowly but surely moving towards that.

KK: (To Nikola) He said the role of the architect has to change. So we increasingly need to
become the agent for constructing the method for architecture. And not necessarily to
organize the whole thing. I think I need time to explain.

(To Fujii) It’s difficult to explain. Laughs

HF: I tried to condense it so you may not understand clearly. I was just spitting out keywords
like an advertisement there, but I think your argument will probably come out once you
understand.

KK: If you have questions, maybe you can e-mail or contact him.

NN: Yeah, yeah.

369
YF: This is just my suggestion, but maybe after you have translated it once, you can come back
and speak with him. That is probably the easiest way for both sides to understand the
conversation.

KK: Understood.

YF: I think that his talk today was very much concrete and easy to understand. Since both of you
went to the trouble of giving up your time today, this is just my opinion, but if you need
to simply confirm anything that was said today, it is probably better to talk face to face.
That will be more interesting for both of you.

KK: (To Nikola) If you translate what he has said today…

NN: No, I was just thinking, like, the last question: so, he doesn’t think that Japan-ness in
architecture exists? Is that his answer?

KK: He says that it’s not important.

NN: It’s not important.

KK: Or, it carries a more nationalistic agenda…

NN: Okay, and I would like to ask him this question. Does he think there is a difference
between… this is maybe the last question that I’ll have for today. Is there a difference
between the way his work has been represented in Japan and abroad? Does he think that
there is a difference?

KK: (To Fujii) Just one more question. I know you spoke this a little already, but was there any
difference in the way your work was represented in Japan vs. abroad? And if so, what
kind of difference?

YF: When you say “the way” do you mean from our side?

KK: I mean, the way it was introduced.

HF: It was introduced in many ways. You mean from the other side?

KK: Right, the other side.

HF: Who is “the other side” in this case? Magazine editors?

370
YF: I think she means, “Did you feel any difference in the way the media represented you in
Japan and abroad?”

HF: Ah, I never really paid attention to that. I guess overseas, they gave more of a thorough
introduction in describing the kind of person the architect is, what kind of philosophy
he/she subscribes to, and so on. “This person is this kind of person.” I have this
philosophy, therefore I made this thing. Japan, on the other hand… What do I say? They
present people by ranking?

YF: Well I don’t know about that.

HF: Like, they ranked me within the hierarchy. There is hierarchy within Japan, and one is
represented in that frame. Perhaps I should try to discuss the essence of the problem. I
am not sure. Either way, when they covered me overseas, they did a thorough job and
introduced me respectfully. In Japan, it was more like an advertisement. (Laughs)

KK: Okay.

HF: I haven’t given it too much thought. The sense I got, when I recived the email from Kuma,
is that there are disparities between how Japanese journalists and critics see Japanese
architecture versus how Europeans consider it.

KK: That is what we were looking for.

HF: I see. I’m sure my answer is buried somewhere in what I just said.

KK: This might be outside of our research, but when we talk about Kuma lab all these students
come to study abroad in Japan because they have these aspirations about Japanese
architecture. Most of them are contemporary architects, but some of them they look up
historical architecture. They come to japan looking for something which is does not exist
in their home countries, and then after two years or so, they realize “this is different than
what I expected.”

HF: Yes, most are like that.

KK: Right, that’s the truth. That’s because international media popularizes Japanese culture and
paints it as something exotic. So I think these students feel a gap between their
expectations and reality. I think that’s part of what we are looking at in this project.

371
HF: I definitely want him (Nikola!) to clarify that difference. To logically assemble those
differences. It’s not about an emotional understanding, but rather combine both in a way
that works. I believe that will give rise to something essential for the next generation of
architects. The other day I met with Makoto Ueda. There was one point Migayrou had
made in his lecture that caught both of our attention. You remember I was saying how
when Japan changes into something new, we destroy and raze everything that came
before. The new Japan starts with a tabula rasa. Migayrou said the same thing. He really
understood it. He said that for Europe, because tradition is continuous and has lasting
power, history will always remain somewhere within that lasting tradition. But if you
want to make a new thing, history will be the obstacle that prevents you from doing that.
We live in that kind of perverted world. Do you understand what I’m saying?

KK: Yeah, yeah.

HF: So when Migayrou said that, Ueda and I were shocked. Ueda kept saying that we need to
have this dialogue, and I thought that was really fascinating.

Architecture doesn’t arise out of tabula rasa. Everyone comes to Japan, but it’s a
wasteland. There’s no way something new can grow here. Or you have a world like
Europe, where history has become a poison, a world where we return to the past and
nothing new is created. What can be born of worlds like that? My answer is the “agent”
which I spoke of. The architect creates a vision, a diagram. Value is assigned to the
diagram. This is the only world left to us. If you leave it up to individuals, they will be
bullied like I have been. (Laughs)

NN: Thank you very much for your time.

KK: Thank you.

372
Interview with Botond Bognar

February 23rd 2015

Skype interview

Interviewer: Nikola Nikolovski

Nikola Nikolovski: Today I would like to talk, I would like our conversation to be in kind of
three parts, the way I imagine it. You got the questions. First, to understand the way you
got involved with Japanese architecture, briefly that part. And just to see how you started
working as a writer on Japan and how you edited these issues and the choices you made,
and then ask you questions that are directly my research questions about the Japan-ness
of architecture.

Botond Bognar: So your first question is how I got into Japanese architecture?

NN: Yeah. What was your first interest, your first impression?

BB: The first thing is that– I don't know when you were born but, we come from the same area
of the world. And when I was there, and living there, the college course system was
completely different, as you may know, until 89.

NN: Yeah, I was born in 81.

BB: Was not very easy to venture out of the country at that time. You had to go through all sorts
of checkpoints, in particular if you were politically not very well positioned, which would
suit the system there. So it took quite a bit of time. I eventually got the Japanese
Monbukagakusho scholarship in 1971, but it took two years until the Hungary and
government went through all the checkpoints and so on, and I was able to leave in 1973,
April. So I got there– Now I have to admit, that it was by default that I went to Japan,
because I wanted to go to the UK, England, and I spoke English and that was my first
choice. But the Hungarian government control set very, very well what happens in the
quota, and that quote out was completely filled and they told me that, well, there was
something here. They didn't even know much about it. It was something written down
there, and there maybe something to Japan. And so I helped to make it, and they offered
that to me as an alternative. And I asked, well, Japan, my goodness, I didn't know
practically anything more about Japan than anybody in the practice of architecture at that

373
 time. I was a practicing architect, and so I had to answer them in four days, which I, at
that time I said yes, but in the end it took me two years. So I went to Japan, and a little
bit, of course with the western freedom of mine, it was as much of a shock and a
fantastic experience in many ways. I mean you were at the other end of the world. And
they treated us quite well, and so on, but the entire thing was completely in unexpectedly
new.

NN: So you didn't know anything before about Japanese architecture?

BB: Correct. Very little. You know, when I was doing my thesis in the University, at that time
one of my advisers pointed out a Fumihiko Maki building, which is the auditorium in
Chiba University – you know that trapezoid which was 1963, quite a bit influenced by the
Metabolist movement, and so on – so he pointed that out to me as one of the precedents.
So we went through that, but it wasn't that much of an impact on a lot of the contacts.
So I would safely say that I didn't have much precedent or knowledge, but when I knew
that I would go to Japan, yes, I opened up a few magazines and so on, Isozaki, the
buildings of Gunma – although the Gunma was actually later than I went there, but he
had earlier buildings, which was the 1966 Oita Prefectural library, and so on, and of
course Kenzo Tange, 1964. So at that time I had a, shall I say, a little bit of a knowledge.
I had seen some photographs. So I was in Japan and I, after the language courses which I
took, I was in Tokyo Institute of Technology in the Kiyoshi Seike Department, who was
at that time actually also the dean, and I did post-graduate research. You know, I was a
practicing architect with several buildings completed in Hungary, and I started with
something which was more in the technological area, but I very soon changed,
immediately. It was something which went into, well, what Japanese architecture was all
about. It was just simply so new and so different from a Western perception, a
framework of mind, environment, everything, that I had to sort it out, and of course I
am I'm still sorting it out right now. I mean, it's a never-ending process. But one does the
same thing with your own thing too, if you get into it, you know, philosophy and so on.
At the very end of the second year I got a letter, because there was no email at that time,
you see, telephone and all of those things we are doing here was completely out. And this
letter came from my Hungarian publisher. They said that while I was there, I was
expected, well they assumed I had collected material, and what if it would interest me to
write a book on Japanese architecture? Whoops! That caught me a little bit off guard. I
was doing the work, but not with the purpose of writing anything particular, and not

374
 immediately a book. So, whatever the time was left for me, I of course very methodically
started looking at certain things, so I met architects – eventually said "Yes, I will do it,
but I have to return to Japan a number of times." Now what made it a little bit easier,
that my wife is not Hungarian, not American. She is from the Philippines who was living
in Japan doing her PhD, so I was able to return and indeed very methodically in
1976,1977 eventually when we left Hungary, at the end of– sorry. We were living in
Japan in 1977 but at the end of 1978 we left back to Japan, where my wife was still living.
So in the meantime, I finished the manuscript of this Hungarian and book, which I don't
know it's not in print anymore because it was published eventually in 1979 with a very
short English summary at the end. Now coming from Japan directly to the U.S. in 1978,
at the end of 1978 I got into UCLA and academia, which I then wanted to pursue and
quite clearly the field which at the time I was involved, meaning contemporary Japanese
architecture, which was very up-to-date, the ongoing thing. So I wanted to write a book,
now in English, using the hunger in material. Then it of course turned out to be quite a
different book, not just because it was in English, but because of course I have learned a
lot more, my perception and understanding of things were changing, not dramatically,
but in details and nuances and so on and other things.

NN: Who were the first architects that you met in this kind of– When did you first arrive in
Japan?

BB: 1973.

NN: So, which were the first architects that you got to interview, to talk about your…

BB: Let me tell you, I met quite a number of architects at that time. First of all, Kiyoshi Seike
was a Modernist architect, a very kind man, and of course there was his son-in-law, Yagi-
sensei, who actually became a professor there. Then, Chatani-sensei – these are all dead
people, you know? He introduced me to JA, you know Japan architects. He was at that
time on the editorial board and I was receiving JA grants, which is a great help because at
that time JA was a much better magazine, not like the quarterly which is just pictures
right now. So, I met Yamashita, Mayakawa, for example. I followed that. I was in his
office. I met Isozaki. Ando I met a little bit later on, it was when I returned to Japan in
1977, and his office was of course in Osaka, but it was along the Mido suji and on a side
street in the Domus building, fourth floor, and there were only four of them left: Yano,
Ando, Yuniko-san (his wife), and Oshima-san. And since then I meant him really a

375
 number of times. I know him quite well. We can talk about him later on. Tange I met in
1974, when he made his last lecture at Todai, where you are, and as his farewell lecture.
He had to retire at the age of 60. You know, that was 74. He was born in ‘13, and that
was the end of the academic year and he had a lecture. So I met them there. Then of
course it was Otani-san, who designed, as you may know, the Kyoto International
Conference Hall and a number of other buildings. Maki-san was there. Maki was a young
person, who I also happen to know by now very well. Ito I met later on in Kikutake’s
office. Kikutake I met in ’74. He was also a very kind man. He gave me all sorts of books
and so on. Now, Ito, when I visited Kikutake’s own house, Sky House, as you know, Ito
was there because Ito was working for Kikutake for some time. Although in 1980, when
I was in Sky House, Ito was visiting him as senpai and sensei. But at that time he was
already having his own office. So in 1980 I met Ito. Let me see, I met just about everyone,
but if you ask me by name, I might be able to tell. So that was the beginning and, you
know, of course, I was in UCLA with Charles Jencks.

NN: So you were in Japan long before the ‘80s?

BB: Yes, long before the ‘80s.

NN: Because this is what I’ve noticed, that during the ‘70s there was little information coming
from Japan in Western magazines. More of the information was taken from probably JA
magazine in this period. Like, foreigners would be informed about Japanese architecture
through JA. Very little was written during the ‘70s in Western magazines.

BB: I agree. To me, the big surprise is, I was going in there and I got familiar with the material,
and I felt it was not just unique but really quite qualitatively different. And I was very
surprised when I was reading the international material, publications and so on, almost
nothing. Nothing. Systematically, history books on Modern architecture simply excluded
Japan. Almost nothing, as if it was something like a sacred cow or something of
nonsense? I am not quite sure how to put it…

NN: But this is very surprising because during the ‘60s, like, I look at all the magazines. They
had written extensively on Japanese architecture, especially the Metabolists, especially
Tange, Mayakawa, Sakakura. Then after the expo, everything kind of stops and there is a
huge gap until the beginning of the ‘80s. Maybe it’s the oil crisis shock? I’m not sure.

376
BB: Yes, yes. Certainly. That is correct; you are absolutely right. The Metabolism movement at
the 1960 World Design Conference in Tokyo brought in a large number of foreigners.
However, many of them, like the Smithsons, were quite critical of Tange’s project, as you
may know, the Tokyo 60 project. So they quite critical. If you read Günter Nitschke’s
pieces in AD at that time, he was the anthropological area, but he was dealing with – I
don’t know if you know him – but he’s an excellent, excellent person, very old by now.
And he has written quite a number of things, but also very critical, as you may know, of
the Metabolist movement, in some practical sense. And after that, indeed things tapered
off and there was nothing. Yes, in 1972, 1973 there was the oil crisis hit, particularly in
1973 while I was there. You couldn’t buy toilet paper, for example, because everybody
was crazy and so one, and the light of Ginza were off, and so on. And then the second
oil shock hit in 1978, and when – keep it in mind – when a country is economically in
international relationships is down, as it was in the 1970s, the interest fades in the
country. “Whatever, it’s not too interesting to go there, not much is happening,” or if it
is happening, it was really out there and it was absolutely crazy. But the 1970s, no, that
was the New Wave. Then the 1980s, when the economy starting picking up like crazy, all
of the sudden, everybody was interested in Japan.

NN: I noticed your first article, I’m not sure, for AD was on Ando? How did that happen, to
collaborate with…

BB: Yes. That’s correct. I’ll tell you how. I was in UCLA where Charles Jencks was there. That
was around 1979, 1980 and so on, and we talked quite a bit. His knowledge of Japanese
architecture was a working knowledge, but I doubt that he had any more serious, in-
depth knowledge. You know, he was a Post-Modernist, and he was promoting anything
which was a little bit out of the Modern style, Takeyama and particularly Kurokawa,
because he was a good friend. Now, he introduced me to AD. I knew a lot about things,
I lectured, I invited Ando into UCLA, and so on. And then, the first article of mine to
AD was on Ando, and then the other one was Architectural Review – these magazines
might not even exist anymore – asked me also in 1980 to write on Ando, and those
appeared. And then, at that time Andreas Papadakis was the editor. He passed away quite
a number of years ago. And he was very interested in anything which of course might be
making his magazine stay interesting or selling, for at that time, 1980s, Japan became a
hot spot, in terms of architecture, not necessarily in publications, by way in meaning
books, or serious history books. Somebody touched upon it very in a cursory way, but

377
 magazines started picking it up. And at that time, I had my English manuscript for the
book, which was the first one, “Contemporary Japanese Architecture: Its Development
and Challenge,” which eventually was published after a long, long time in 1985. The
interesting thing about it was, 1985 was exactly the year when the public economy took
off. As you know, in January Reagan and Nakasone met in Los Angeles, and eventually
the Plaza Accord was signed and the Japanese economy sky-rocketed. So all of the
sudden everybody was crazy interested in Japanese architecture. And then, while the
manuscript was done, Papadakis said “Okay, right now I am not publishing the entire
book, but I’d like to publish bits and pieces, chapters, as a series.” And I didn’t agree to
that, because I wanted to have the entire book; if I publish it in bits and pieces, it
prevents the book. Challenges or the chances to be, say, sold at a later time. But he was
interested in articles at that time, so apart from the book, the manuscript, I was putting
together the – as you may be familiar with – by 1988, this first issue which, as I am told,
was a very big success and reprinted, reprinted, both in the States and everywhere else.
So I established a relationship with AD in which I collaborated but they didn’t publish–

NN: So how did you choose the first article to be Ando? How was the decision made?

BB: Right, I mean– Ando, I knew at that time very well. I was introduced to Ando by Shozo
Baba, who was at that time the chief editor of JA, and I was in very, very good
relationship with just about everybody there. Why? Because at that time, in ’73, Kiyoshi
Seike was not a CEO, but a board member, so he was really a senior member. Everybody
was bowing to him. So I had very good relationship with JA and Shozo Baba, and he
introduced my to Ando, and said that Ando will be a great architect. And I had seen
some of the early published work, so I went out to Osaka and, you know, I was living in
Japan. We met many, many times. I traveled with Ando all around the place. It was very
interesting how he got work. We went to see a number of times, his row house in
Sumiyoshi, for example. I’ve seen it four, five times. And he got work, because at that
time he designed only small residences. And we went to see – we traveled by train, taxi –
so I’m sure he got there and a lot of old ladies or middle-aged ladies are in this how we
are visiting. And I ask him, “So, who are these?” and he said “These are my future
clients.” And so, they were invited to visit a completed building to sell the idea. What it is,
building in concrete, and so on. So Ando was there as a very immediate example, and I
have seen a lot of building. Why? Because he was very interested in, of course,
architecture, but his architecture and promoting it. So that was almost a first choice and

378
 AD became quite interested, and AR, and so on. And then, Ando had an exhibition in
the Centre Pompidou in Paris in 1982, which was Minimalism. It was a one person
exhibition. They published a book all in French, and I was invited to contribute to that
book, which I have somewhere here, and it ended up being all in French, following the
exhibition, or something like that – I am not quite sure right now. So that was Ando.
How it started. But then, of course when it came to AD, the coverage of the material
expanded and went beyond Ando, and so on.

NN: Briefly, how would you describe the architecture scene of the ‘80s, before we start talking
about the issues that you edited?

BB: Well, it was incredibly– you have to distinguish between the early ‘80s, when the Japanese
economy started coming out of the recession, but 1985, it just simply sky-rocketed. And
at that time, the architectural scene was absolutely crazy. Everything was built – so much,
at such a speed – it was just mind-boggling. I got to know Nikken Sekkei, for example,
which is a big company. And we went to visit. I couldn’t simply have enough time to visit
all the new buildings there. It was a very dynamic scene in the 1980s, particularly in the
second part, from 1985. That’s the bubble economy. A lot of people became interested.
The Japanese market at the time started opening up to foreigners, and the first foreign
architects started coming into Japan, invited by Isozaki or winning competitions, and so
on. That’s Piano, Peter Eisenman, Aldo Rossi. That was one of the most exciting times
in Japan. It continued way into the 1990s, although the economy was terrible.

NN: What would be different between the period of ‘70s and early ‘80s? Like, how would you
describe– what was the shift? What was the difference between these two periods? How
would you describe the vibe of architecture, let’s say late ‘70s, early ‘80s?

BB: Right. In the ‘70s, as you know, there were two major figures at that time. Isozaki, whose
architecture was picking up, designed, to me, the best buildings of his career in ’74
and ’75 and so on, until ’78 when his major building was completed in up in the
mountains. The other figure was, you know, Shinohara. Shinohara and TokoDai. The
others were smaller architects, could be called ‘avant-garde’; that was the New Wave:
Takeyama, Azuma, Aida, Ishii. They were all doing this – and Ando, of course. The
1970s was the beginning of Ando’s architecture, and this was the avant-garde. They all
tried to make sense out of the Post-Modern era. I’m not talking about a Charles Jencks-
type of thing. But modernism went into a crisis, no question about that. So it is in Japan

379
 coinciding with the economy downturn. So everybody was trying to figure out what to
do, how to make sense out of that time, and so on. But it was a little bit of a partisan
movement, you know, the New Wave. Isozaki was there; Nikken Sekkei of course is
always there, because of the government sponsor. Shinohara was doing his excellent
work – very radical work, one might say – in 1976, ’77, when his buildings, the house in
Uehara and “House on a Curved Road” and so on. The 1980s is opening up the field to a
lot of architects. There was so much work to do that practically anybody that came out
of university and graduated already got work. And so Sejima started at that time, and so
many eventually Kengo [Kuma] started out in the 1980s. It’s a huge difference.

NN: It was a much more vibrant period, the 1980s.

BB: Much more vibrant. However, let me introduce here something. The 1970s were a time
when architects were protesting against the system, and the city. If you read Isozaki’s
work, he is absolutely [against] the governmental system, the political system; he was
involved in the 1960s student movements, sympathizing with them. Ando was resistance;
he was the urban guerrilla who despised the urban conditions in Japan and for whom
urbanism, or the Japanese city, was beyond cure, or beyond redemption. And they
wanted to do away with all of that. All of these architects were creating building which
were against the urban context. Of course that was the pollution, the lack of privacy, the
congestion, and so on. The 1980s shifted completely different. It was a time when the
city, the new urbanism, the new urban renaissance came in. Tokyo became the model for
the city, by the architecture. That was a huge difference. The previous time, rejecting the
environment, it was inward-oriented. The 1980s suddenly embraced the city and
accepted the chaos as a model, and Tokyo became the model for architecture, for Maki,
not exactly Ando, but for a number of architects, Ito, even Shinohara. Shinohara became
infatuated with the chaos of Shibuya, what he rejected in the 1970s outright. You know,
he couldn’t– he was completely uninterested. And in the 1980s, he embraced the Tokyo
chaos. It was the creative chaos, what he was writing about. So that’s a major difference.
So should we say that many of these architects were to some extent co-opted in the
system. They got on the bandwagon and created a lot. They were less critical, and you
can follow that in Ito’s work. At the same time, Ando produced, Ito produced fantastic
work. Why? Because the money was there and if the money was used well, like in say the
Kumamoto Artpolis, should I say by Isozaki and Hajime Yatsuka, that it were very good

380
 work. At that time, many of the Japanese architects started receiving the Pritzker Prize,
first Tange, then Maki, then Ando, then go on…

NN: So can you tell me more about the 1988 issue? You started talking about that, that it started
much earlier, preparing it, but it was first published in 1988. How did you create it? How
did you choose the architects? What was the idea behind this issue?

BB: Yeah, well, of course, I could only write about an interest in a particular type of architecture,
but at that time, the field opened up, because dealing with Japanese architecture is not–
can not be limited to those who represent the kind you sympathize with. And no
architect does always the kind of work, even if you like the architect, that you sympathize
with. It’s the same with Ando or anybody. So I met a large number of architects, and this
became one of the issues. How to sort this out in the 1980s? It was a very paradoxical
time. Choosing the architects, and so on, it was not just a matter of choice, but a matter
of introducing the rudest possible picture. Say Takasaki, who has disappeared since then,
then Mozuna, who I knew – Kiko Mozuna. I don’t know if these names mean anything
to you.

NN: Yeah, yeah, some of the names– it’s very interesting because the issues of 1992 and 1988,
there are a couple of names that, from today’s perspective are unknown. I know really
well Itsuko Hasegawa because I used to know her even before coming to Japan. Going
now through the history, she was as well a very important architect in this whole period,
I think, in the late ‘80s. But now, as well, her architect becomes less and less famous for
other people. So this is what I’m interested in, because you have the issue from 1992,
which is again about Japanese architecture, so I want to make a distinction, or you to
make a distinction between these two issues. To what extent are they similar? To what
extent are they different? Or do they capture the same period in a different moment?
How would you describe them?

BB: Well, yes and no. But you see the 1988 issue basically deals with the New Wave, and then
goes into a little bit that which follows, and that is the bubble era at that time, quite
clearly. But at that time, it’s not as conscious about the new potentials – this is the 1988
issue– whereas the 1992, it covers very much of the issues which characterize the bubble
in architecture. So that the selection of architects, it’s a review of precedents at the same
time. But it includes Ito, Hasegawa, Fujii and, at the time of course, Shinohara’s Tokyo
Institute of Technology Hall is completed. Takamatsu for example. And then I invited a

381
 number of persons, and there is your country-person, Vladimir Krstic. He is also from
Sarajevo, I think. He is now in Kansas. He wrote an excellent piece. So basically that’s
the difference between the two. But in some sense, the two issues inevitably form a
certain continuity. Hajime Yatsuka arrives

NN: Yeah, because in both issues Hajime Yatsuka is present. One thing that I notice, the first
issue of 1988, you do not include Arata Isozaki, but architects like Shinohara, I think is
present.

BB: In the text, there is Shinohara, and also Hara, who I also know really well.

NN: Yes, and as well Kurokawa is in this issue as well.

BB: Kurokawa is in there. Isozaki is in the text, he is, because of the Kamioka Town Hall,
discussing that. Even goes back to…

NN: Okay, but my question is, at this point is Isozaki, because this is what I see, Isozaki is
probably one of the most present Japanese architects in AD. So I’m wondering if in the
1988 issue, the presence of Isozaki was unnecessary in the sense that the audience was
familiar with his work, and 1988 was kind of introducing a new Japanese architecture
which hasn’t been seen before.

BB: That’s correct. This is a 1988 issue, and to me, at that time, a very important time of his
career at 1978 with the Kamioka Town Hall. I don’t even know if I have included the
Tsukuba Center building, which was 1983. I don’t think it’s here.

NN: No, it’s not.

BB: It’s not. I guess I had a little bit of an issue to sort that out, that building, which perhaps by
now I have, but at that time, just looking at if this is in the 1992 Isozaki Art Tower is
included. At that time he’s coming back, but I don’t see here… I’m trying to see what I
wrote about him. Isozaki is represented by that building, but what else is here? Ito, Krstic,
Kurokawa, Aida, Takeyama, Hara, Ando, Ito, Matsunaga, Suzuki, Shoei Yoh and Sejima,
who I also happen to know quite well. Those were the forthcoming generation, the
younger ones. Isozaki was very, very well-known by that time.

NN: You wrote as well another text on Itsuko Hasegawa, a year before that. What can you…

382
BB: I wrote about her work in the Columbia University newsletter several times, and also in AD.
They know better than I do, because I…

NN: Yeah, yeah, because I’m looking at it all. This is why I’m nitpicking at this question. How
would you describe her work? And what was the interest behind her work?

BB: She belongs to that– I mean her first works were very much influenced by Shinohara, and
Shinohara was a figure whose architecture was just starting. Now, if you go back and it’s
not even very well known, that she started doing something that Ito was doing which
was this… [connection cuts out for several seconds] …the urban nomads. Everything
was this lightness and the ephemerality, which was the 1980s. Everything was in mo…
[connection cuts out again] … to that scenario very well. You know, if you look at her
Fujisawa building [the Shonandai Cultural Center], which is her opus magnum, until
today, it is a little bit of a borderline. I like the building, which I have seen. “Building.” I
don’t even know if one could call it a building, as such. It’s an environment, it’s a very
light… [connection cuts out again] … structure. It is a kind of an ephemeral building. It
fits very much into the 1980s, the dynamics, where nothing is perceived or conceived for
a permanent time. Right? Everything was there, and suggesting an image – an image was
very, very important to the 1980s – was the temporality, the transience, and so on. And
she fit in there very, very well. Ito was pursuing that, and Hasegawa was there. I think
that a piece of work which is the Fujisawa cultural center is a remarkable piece of
architecture I many ways. But it is a borderline between – how would one say that – a
little bit of a Disneyland-ish, and little bit contrived, because of the image quality, but
everything is simulated. The trees are simulated, and so on. Which again, fits in that age.
It’s a new type of architecture. It is not as explicitly representational as many produced
during that time. The majority of that was really quite low class. But she was a female
architect, and her work was really much appreciated at that time. I feel that her own…

NN: I’m interested to know, from today’s perspective, how this issue portrayed Japan. What
kind of image from today– like let’s say, there is a time distance and we can look now at
these issues– and probably you looked these days at the past issues again– how do they
portray Japan? What kind of image do they portray of Japan?

BB: So, the Japan has always been to the West a little bit of an exotic area. When the West looks
at it, it’s at completely different kind of things. Because the Western mind, until today
even with Post-Modernism, is conditioned to the Western paradigm of the Greeks and

383
 so many other things, coming back from the Classicism and Modernism, and Japan does
not have a history of that. They are free of that. And when the West looks at Japan it has
always been unique, something that could not be done in the West. And they admire it
for its work. Look into the work of Reyner Banham. Do you have that book?
[Contemporary Architecture of Japan 1958-1984, by Hiroyuki Suzuki, Reyner Banham,
Katsuhiro Kobayashi]. Otherwise I don't like the book, but Reyner Banham has a
fantastic piece there that describes exactly that. It describes the fascination, the longtime
fascination of the West with Japan. And that prevails particularly in the 1980s when so
much was done in Japan, when the economy was already done in the U.S., Japan
produced an incredible amount of, unheard of buildings. I mean, look at– when I was in
London at the Royal Academy of the Arts, I was talking about Sejima’s two buildings,
the two black full houses, they were absolutely astonished. Those were practically high-
tech shacks, with nothing compared to what the rest could call architecture. And it was
absolutely fascinating, or titillating to them. Now Ando has been criticized badly from
the West, particularly the traditionalists. The Krier brothers, who described him as a
none architect. The others were admiring him. When I was in Switzerland in Ticino,
when I was invited to talk about Ando, they were admiring him as a rational architect.
But Ando is not necessarily a rational architect. So there is quite a bit of – and this is an
interesting thing – misinterpretation or misunderstanding of Japanese architecture by the
West. And Ando is a part of it.

NN: So would you say the unknown is behind the fascination with Japanese architecture? Or the
impossible is behind the fascination?

BB: Yes, absolutely, but Ando– and what they cannot understand precisely, they cannot put their
finger on it – what triggers, what the forces are behind. Because Japanese architecture is
the product of a social, political, economic, all sorts of things which are particular to
Japan. And the West doesn’t have that background, that framework of mind. And when
looking at this architecture coming out from Japan, it’s titillating. It’s fascinating. It
triggers you, it may not necessarily agree with you because they can say that this is
nonsense, from a Western point of view, because that’s a completely different framework
of mind. And this was my issue when I tried to understand Japanese architecture, first
looking at this entire broad picture. So yes, the unknown is part of it. The uniqueness,
what they couldn’t do – they couldn’t possibly even think of doing something what

384
 Sejima came up with. And that became a startling thing, an image– converted into
image…

NN: So do you think that your issues tried to demystify Japanese architecture or…?

BB: Yes, in a sense, mine is searching for answers. A sense– a digging into, which I have in the
1988 issue, I wrote an archaeology which digs out certain things, and tries to understand
them. And yes, it’s demystifying it for myself first of all, making sense of it all. And
maybe to some extent I have done that, but… correct.

NN: How would you describe the representation of Japanese architecture by the Western
media? This is what I’m interested in, particularly the architectural periodicals.

BB: It’s rare, basically rare, to see issues wherein the authors could go into that kind of critical
review, what I tried to do, what Hajime tried to do. But eventually, most of them have
been doing the image quality. Unfortunately even Japan was feeding into this, because
GA is a picture book. And now even JA. But much of the Western representation is
unfortunately turning it into some kind of an image. They were lacking the proper insight.
Hajime Yatsuka: excellent. I mean, he’s one of the most profound thinkers.

NN: Would you say they mystify it? Would you say they kind of created more distance?

BB: Yes. Yes. They were mystifying it because rather than– much of the literature, picking up
what’s coming out of Japan, they’re picking it up and either misunderstanding or
interpreting it in not the right way, without the background it becomes an image, a
titillating kind of phenomenon.

NN: As a writer, this is probably very difficult– the most difficult questions. How would you
contextualize Japanese architecture in the greater narrative of contemporary architecture?

BB: I think right now Japanese architecture is really part of that global stage of architecture, and
it’s now much respected if not necessarily understood completely. But now, the entire
scene, if one might say, is globally a little bit closer to what one might say about Japanese
architecture in general, that is, the Post-modern age. One thing is clear: Japanese
architecture today is acknowledged by way of the recognition of the architects themselves.
Indeed, there is quite an interest. There is a little better understanding as well. Quite a
number of foreigners going there. You know, when I was living in Japan, I was basically
alone as a foreigner interested in Japanese architecture.

385
NN: So in the ‘80s and the ‘90s, how was it contextualized at that time?

BB: Well, Japan– that same thing as, there were books embracing Japanese architecture. Many
architects from the West were seeking jobs in Japan. They could do just about anything
there, so they were flocking there. You know, take a look at all the Rossi, Eisenman,
Renzo Piano, winning competitions and so on. The Japanese architects started doing
work, particularly Isozaki in the first place, then many others, so that interaction between
say, the world architecture and Japanese architecture, starting interacting a little bit more
than say in the 1970s. But at the same time, Japan has been looked at, particularly in 1980
and the early 1990s, with some kind of envy. Because they could do and build certain
things, when the West couldn't, simply because of the financial means. Ando did his best
work during that time – not necessarily Isozaki – Ito and so many others who at that
time, became world-class architects and names, recognition. They became gradually part
of the global field of architecture. As they were starting to build also outside of Japan.

NN: So for you, what would be Japan-ness in architecture?

BB: Oh, yes. You see, this is the question I open my seminar with. Can we still talk about
“Japanese” architecture, which is recognizably Japanese? And this is a question, which of
course takes a long time to answer. To me, yes, there is, but when I look at Ando’s
building in Beijing – it’s a hotel – is it credibly different? That’s an interesting thing. I got
used to seeing Ando in Japan and the urban or rural settings. And all of a sudden I am
looking at Ando’s building – it is a hotel and a museum – in Bejing. It’s such a strange
feeling. So what is Japan-ness? Yes, the Japanese architects, when going abroad, they
typically, all of them, you know, do what they are hired to do. Ando continues in
concrete and so on. Ito is doing all sorts of very exploratory work. But can I say this has
anything to do with say Japanese architecture? Yes and no. There is a certain sense – for
example, your Kengo [Kuma] is on of those who has a very interesting take on things. If
you want to identify him as Japanese architecture, then I can say yes. But far from that
kind of notion, what so many Westerners, the first thing when I talk to them: how come
they don’t rely on their traditional architecture? I tell them that today’s society is not a
traditional Japanese society. But is there anything particular about Japanese architecture?
Yes, there are. I think they are occasionally more exploratory. There is a certain kind of
refinement; look at Maki. It’s modernist, but it has a certain kind of sensibility which has
been nurtured throughout the centuries, and they are indebtors of these things. But far

386
 from being explicitly Japanese in that sense that you can recognize the sukiya or
something, but that it is a much deeper one. But is there a Japanese architecture today…?

NN: It’s not the question is there a Japanese architecture today. It’s more of a question, what
does the West recognize as Japan-ness in architecture? How has the West defined what
Japan-ness is today in a way?

BB: This is an interesting thing. Japan is an island country, and it’s somewhat easy to say there is
a Japanese architecture, because however was born in Japan or practicing architecture in
Japan is doing Japanese architecture. But now, if you look around, the major works
produced by Japanese architects – Isozaki, Ito, Ando, Kuma – 50% of his work is abroad.
So what about the West? I’m not quite sure if the West quite looks at it as identifiably
Japanese, except by the fact that it’s produced by Japanese architects.

NN: I’m as well talking historically here, as I’m focusing on the ‘80s and the ‘90s period. So I’m
just trying to see how has this image of Japan-ness in architecture been constructed
during, let’s say, the late-twentieth century. This is what I’m exploring, in this sense.
Because one of the main questions of this research is how did Japanese architecture
become a leading discourse in the contemporary society? As you said, Japanese
architecture today is equal with the rest of the world. It’s part of the discourse. But it was
not also like this, particularly in the early period of the century. So for me, what’s
interesting is how was this idea of Japan-ness in architecture created in a contemporary
sense, and what does the West recognize as specifically Japanese?

BB: Well, I’m not quite sure if I can answer in a short way that question. The Japanese have
always struggled with an identity issue. That has been ever since they opened to the West.
Because there was always the Other, the West to look upon or above. They always felt
that they were the second tier players. So they were very eager – for example, if you go to,
if you look at some of the world expos, what Japan wanted to project as an image of
itself at these world expos, that is one of the most interesting things. When they go there,
what is the issue what they want as a nation? And it has been always that. What was the
issue in the 1964 Olympic Games? It was a huge image issue. What Japan wanted to
disseminate in the world. And they did it because they built the Olympic Stadium, which
remains one of the best pieces of architecture in the 20th century. So Japan has been very
active in promoting itself as a valid player on the world stage. The world was not
necessarily coming along all the way, as much as the Japanese wanted. There were a lot of

387
 misunderstandings. In terms of architecture, most Westerners stuck at the sukiya, Villa
Katsura, maybe the Buddhist temples. Even they didn’t understand those parts. So very
often I came across that this kind of thing, that “how come the Japanese in the 1970s
and the 1980s did not learn from their traditional architecture?” When Walter Gropius
went to Japan, he completely misunderstood Japanese architecture. He thought it was
like modern architecture in the 17th century. Far from it! Far from it. So they were
cleaning that, to catch up, the image is dominant. Until then, it’s a titillating– Japanese
could go ahead and deny whatever they can, and they could have done this thing. And
perhaps part of that is that they became interested in Japanese architecture. A lot of
people went there and tried to look into it. What was happening? Reyner Banham,
Charles Jencks – well, there I was myself – and now there quite a nice number of people,
and they are doing excellent work. One more thing, it’s also the economy. Japanese
architecture started to be respected and acknowledged when the economy was up. That’s
very interesting. It’s also a negative because when the Japanese started doing and
exporting cars, that was a negative reaction here, in the U.S.

NN: It’s interesting because all the writings are never focused on this aspect, and when I’m
analyzing the text, I have a couple of categories that I look at, and one of the categories –
I look at tradition, history, let’s say typology of building, materials – everything is covered,
but not economy and social aspects of Japan. Usually, in many of the writings it’s not
covered. Especially, this is why I liked your issues – because it really captures the image
of the period, how the country works.

BB: If you acknowledge it, I really appreciate that, because now the two books that I’m working
on, the history of modernism in Japanese architecture, it’s the majority is actually not
architecture. It is a cultural, sociological, economic, political issue. Architecture, as
everywhere else, is contingent on all of those things that define a society. It’s tradition.
It’s contemporary changing forces. It’s the economy which is up and down in Japan. To
me, it is incredibly revealing how Japan was struggling, not just with its own image, but
acquiring the technology. You know, this wakon-yousai [和魂洋才 “Japanese spirit and
Western techniques”], and so on. It’s the debate about that, how it achieved its own self-
image relative to its own tradition and the West. These were always issues for Japan after
its opening to the West in the 19th century. Until then, history was on hold in Japan. All
of a sudden, the emperor comes in and introduces capitalism, from the top down. These
are all issues in Japan, which are very unique to Japan. It didn’t happen in the West. You

388
 know, the Industrial Revolution, delayed if there was any in Japan – imported as is. Put
together– who was it? Isozaki was the one who said “You know, Japan is at the end of
the world, and everything enters here and nothing leaves.” Everything piles up in Japan,
accumulates, piles over one another. This is not just for architecture. The Japanese are
very eager to learn from Le Corbusier, from Mies, from whatever. But it’s also culture,
politics, everything.

NN: Can we say that Isozaki had the crucial role, maybe, in establishing the Japanese discourse?

BB: Yes. I agree with that. Isozaki is a highly intelligent person who has, interestingly, never
been abroad. Unlike Maki, who studied, worked, taught, including Taniguchi. Isozaki has
been an absolutely key figure in the discourse, and not only because of his effective built
work, when he appropriated Palladio and the Russian Constructivists in a very, very
powerful way, but by way of his writings. He knew a lot of things about Western
contemporary art by way of his wife, Ayako Miyawaki, who was a sculptor and
introduced him to the avant-garde artists. And especially, I think in the 1970s until the
1980s, if you read what he has written about the Tsukuba Center building, as a discourse,
it is incredibly revealing. The identity of the state, the identity of architecture, what [role]
it plays, which is all in question by the 1980s. Whose identity? Whose interest are we
talking about?

NN: Do you think that this shock that Isozaki had produced – Westerners were shocked by the
whole discourse that Isozaki developed – so that kind of triggered this interest? Because
he as well plays a lot with Western history, which is completely foreign to him, and he
kind of challenges the West with that.

BB: I think, because initially he was– You’re right. And even Ando. You see, the issue he is very
often talking about on their work for that method, Isozaki, or even Maki, who have some
vested background, or interest and knowledge. Ando is misunderstood because the Swiss
and the Italians think that he’s completely rational, or only a rational architect. To some
extent yes, because they identify only what the rest can identify itself with, but they miss
out a lot on other which is still there. And Isozaki is perhaps the same thing. You know,
Palladio is there; the Russian Constructivists and whomever is there. They understand
that. But this entire configuration, the basic forces behind them: it takes time to
understand, if they can. But the discourse, Isozaki was absolutely a key figure in that. I
am just sorry that at this time, of course he is now, what, 84 years old, is less powerful

389
 than in the 1970s and so on. Although, if you look at and go and see the Barcelona Caixa
Forum, it’s a gem. It’s a gem. It’s a fantastic piece, next to Mies van der Rohe’s. But yes, I
think one has to recognize that he was an absolutely key figure in initiating the discourse
of Japanese architecture, and he was the first who was invited actively abroad, starting in
1981 when he won the MoCA in Los Angeles. You knkow what was at that same time? I
don’t know if you know the background. A lot of protests by the California architects.
How come the Japanese wins at this kind of a major competition for an American
institution like the Museum of Contemporary Art? They were up in arms against him,
and if you know, so was Taniguchi facing that in New York in MoMA. They had an
incredibly hard time with that, because why is it not Frank Gehry? So there is this kind of
thing still. One cannot say this is… well. Isozaki was absolutely crucial. Shinohara was
less known.

NN: It’s interesting. Shinohara has been very– scanning Italian magazines, I’m looking at
Casabella – it’s filled with Ando. AD, the British one, is filled with Isozaki, and then later
on, Itsuko Hasegawa, which surprises me a lot, but I can see that with her friendship
with–

BB: This is why. Because Papadakis was a very good friend of Hasegawa. … A female Japanese
architect, you know, was as rare even today as the black sheep.

NN: As well, she had a friendship with Peter Cook, I think, which kind of influenced–

BB: Correct. Peter Cook was there and recognized as Japanese architecture as a source when he
was in The Bartlett School of Architecture. That was Peter Cook, an admirer of the
scenario going on in the 1980s, early 1990s. Absolutely.

NN: But it’s interesting that the French magazine, Architecture d’Aujourd’hui, it’s filled with
Shinohara, actually. They had a strong interest in Shinohara, actually. This is what I
noticed. It’s interesting how different architects were working in different– were accepted
more in different regions.

BB: But Ando, I know it. When I was in Ticino, I was there for an extended period of time.
Ando was an absolute god. They came to me and said “Ando is the architect, and
nobody else,” and so on, which, as you may know, there is a very strong rational tradition
in Ticino architecture. I mean, Aldo Rossi is part of that. And they identified Ando
immediately as one of them.

390
NN: Yeah, Vittorio Gregotti was the editor of Casabella. During the years of his editing, every
year was filled with buildings of Ando, and then later on Isozaki. He had, I think, a guy
working for him who was writing a lot about them for Casabella.

BB: Ah, yeah, he was an Italian guy. What was his name? I know him. I worked with him.

NN: Yeah, yeah. He had written many articles later on, when Francesco DelCo takes the editing.

BB: But you know, Francesco DelCo is a great friend of Ando, and he has published a complete
works of Ando.

NN: Do you have anything else to add?

BB: I’d like to go back to an issue which you touched upon, and right now I am writing a history
of that, modernism: if one can talk about modernism, as such, in Japan. That’s also a
major issue. What’s the difference if we can talk about modernism in the West and in
Japan. How are the two things compared? Modernism in the West comes by the
Industrial Revolution and then a social development which produces the middle class,
the petty bourgeois and debt, wealth, interest, and all of those things, and the avant-garde
which comes by way of that. But interestingly enough, modernism as we know it in the
West is highly indebted to that Classical tradition. Maybe better that’s Mies van der Rohe
as the most typical one, then even Walter Gropius and even Le Corbusier. In Japan, this
kind of historic course which could lead to modernism, or that kind of modernization of
which modernism in architecture is a product, did not exist– does not exist. They
borrowed a lot of things, and to me, if the social background is not there, then that
modernism, what the West identifies as modernism, is perhaps to be only on the surface
modernist. Now, I am simplifying. The issue is not as straightforward as I am spelling it
out in one sentence, but that’s to me one of the most problematic issues: whether there
was modernism in Japan, or is there modernism? Has there been modernism? Pre-
modernism shifting into post-modernism, or is it post-modernism if there is no
modernism in Japan as such, as it has been in the West? To me these are all highly
problematic and questionable issues. Now, does it ties into the overall picture that how
the West greets Japan? Most likely it does, because they’ve identified Tange as the
quintessential modernism, in the sense of Le Corbusier and whatever. Tange was never
exactly that kind of modernist, and neither is Ando. But on the other hand, you can say
that Ando has a minimalist architecture that is part of modernism. But at the same time
it’s informed by a whole lot of other issues, just as much as Hasegawa, Ito, and so on.

391
 Even Maki, until today perhaps comes closest to that kind of modernism which the West
upholds as their achievement of the 20th century. But it’s not that kind. When you talk
about Maki and the depths and the oku and all of those things, that’s not part of that
**recent allusion**. So I go back again to that issue that, what triggers the interest in
Japanese architecture? Japanese architecture production has very much been into those
issues, progressive, if you want to call it, which have underlined the entire environmental
production, starting from the Meiji era. The economy, the industrialization, the
technology, and so many other things. The political system, the war, and so many other
things. Creating an identity, yes, even today, is a problem. But without these issues,
understanding what Japanese architecture was in the ‘70s, in the ‘80s and following that
time? It’s not possible to simply reduce it into formal images. And the West
unfortunately very often falls, particularly today in the complete overwhelming consumer
capitalism, wherein you have nothing but architecture’s image, it tended to look upon the
Japanese also, some publications – who was picked up, who was not picked up – as some
kind of justification of a preconceived kind of notion about Japan.

NN: Interesting. Yeah, the way I understood it, the West applies– we apply our Western rules
over Japanese architecture, which they never apply. This is very interesting because
actually, I’m going to review you part of my hypothesis for my thesis, I you said, Japan
always at the West as the Other, and it was always measuring up to the West as the Other.
So my thesis, what I’m trying to tackle and introduce, is that while the West used Japan
as something to challenge itself with, not understanding it. The way the architecture was
represented, it’s always creating these ambiguous readings of Japanese architecture which
trigger this understanding of what Japanese architecture is without actually defining what
it is, I think. This is where I find Japan-ness in architecture, this misconception of what
Japanese architecture is, this “lost in translation,” maybe you can say, which I don’t want
to use it. Because it’s not “lost in translation.” It’s a very carefully created image. As you
said, Italians really needed Ando. They really needed that rationalism to be represented in
a certain way to challenge Italian architecture and what they wanted to produce, actually.
It is kind of the image that you want to see.

BB: Yes, yes. It is a very interesting issue, precisely as you have said. Who does what? What are
we creating? Very often, even the Japanese, or now the Chinese, reconstruct their own
history which never existed. So it’s all kind of an image. Today, unfortunately, it is rare
that architecture can avoid becoming or turning into an image. Exactly the magazines,

392
 the media and everything feeds on that. As something SANAA produces, it’s
immediately out there and it becomes very interesting and it’s “wow.” But very, very
often, it’s not deep enough within which they can question, analyze things. And
unfortunately even architects are doing much for the image. So the two things are
interrelated. That when Frank Gehry produced the well-known Bilboa, it became an
image, an absolute image. Now everybody after that wants to have a Bilboa. When you
go and SANAA does the Louvre extension, it was created to give the economy a boost,
because it was a mining town, so there goes SANAA who designs whatever kind of
buildings, good buildings, many very interesting buildings, not all of them are whatever,
but, something unique. So that is the pool of some architectural investments that it has
to be an image. And many architects cater to that. It is what Rem Koolhaas calls the
mafia of international architects. You go anywhere, it is Rem Koolhaas, it is Norman
Foster, Renzo Piano; are these good architects? Yes, but they can easily be turned into an
image. I believe the Japanese architects are not immune to that either. It’s beyond their
own will.

NN: Yeah. This is a very contemporary issue. But yeah, I think that Japanese architecture during
the 20th century played in certain period a major and in certain period a smaller role in
this kind of challenger of the West, especially in the late ‘80s and early ‘90s. I think that
from then on, it was possible to become what happens with Japanese architects today.

BB: Well, you know, Japanese architecture just as much, the West was a mirror to see itself in a
particular way, so was the West–so was Japan a mirror for the West for itself to look at
itself as what it was not. When you grow up in a cultural environment, it’s so much a part
of that, whatever we call the West, that you are unconscious about it. You go to Japan,
and rather than immediately recognizing what is Japan, then you become conscious of
what you are. Saying “Oh we didn’t do this. Oh they bow, or they drive on the left side
of the road, and we don’t.” And then all of the sudden your own identity emerges as not
one-and-only, and they did something and they do well.

NN: This is precisely what I want to tackle with this thesis: how Japan has been the mirror for
the West through Western media. Thank you very much.

BB: That’s basically it!

NN: Thank you very much. I’m really grateful for this opportunity.

393