JAPANESE ARCHITECTURE

Name: Minh Tu, NguyenCourse: Interior Design DetailingCode: IDIA 303

Japanese architecture has a very long history that reflects Japanese culture, climate and history. The most recent discovery dated the first presence of people in Japan from the Old Stone Age. Due to the evidence was found, ancient people made their dwellings with wooden frame work and covered with the branches of trees. The floor sunk into the ground about 16-40 inches and the dimension is about 13-20 feet width. In the Neolithic time, huts appeared in some area of Japan. They were built at the ground level with a structure, which supported the roof and define the interior space by walls. Until the pre-Christian centuries, huts (image 1) were elevated from above the ground level due to the weather. However, the architectural method was kept the same. A long horizontal beam ran across the hut to hold the roof and it was supported by the crossed poles along the roof line.In Asuka Period (A.D.552-645), Japanese culture and archi-tecture was influenced by Chinese. Budism was introduced to Japan and religious architecture started to form. Moreo-ver, Chinese architectural techniques, urban planning and house arrangement were also brought to Japan, along with rice cultivation. As the spread of rice cultivation in Japan, the population increased faster and more complex. They had more children and needed more space in the house. Thus, the houses were expanded in order to have more space for living and storing rice. In the fifth century, some emperial residential building was erected in Asuka and Fujiwara. Together with public houses, residential houses, and temples, emperial building created an early appearance of a capital.

Under Shotoky emperor, Buddism was supported by the royal and a numerous of Buddist temples were constructed. One of the oldest wooden temples was Horyuji (image 2) , built in 607, near Nara. It was used as the private temple for Prince Shotoku and consisted 41 buildings, including five-story-pagoda (Goju-no-to), main worship hall (Kondo), lecture hall, and an inner gate. The plan followed Chinese monastery layout with the principal entrance gate facing south and all main components aligning symmetrically through a north-south axis. Kondo was built in the style of Chinese worship halls in Tang dynasty. It is two-story high with a rectangle plan, lifted up by a stone plat-form. There are wenty –eight pilasters holding up the ceramic tiled-hip-gablet roof.

Heijokyo, modern day Nara was the first capital of the state, founded in 710 with a reactangle plan. Its structure and architecture were inspired by Chinese T’ang palace. It con-tains a complex of buildings with a garden in the central and main building facing South. A few years later, it be-came an Buddhist centre and many monasteries were built. One of the most grandiose temples in Heijokyo at that time was Toshodaiji (image 3), founded in 770 by Ganjin, a Chi-nese priest was summoned to Japan from Tang dynasty in order to re-establish the rules of Buddhism as well as train the priests . It is a combination of Chinese and Japanese architecture,using wood and stone. The Kondo (main hall) has 8 pilars in front of the hall and four statues of Shinen-nozo in four corners of the hall. The network of temples in Japan represent a big development of architecture, art and craft as well as signalled a deep penetration of Buddhism and Chinese culture into Japan.

In 784, the emperor Kwammu decided to move his residence to Nagaoka (Kyoto nowadays) and a new capital was contructed. In 794, the first foundation of the city was laid and a new urban begun. The layout was not really different from that of Nara with a 3.1 by 2.8 mile rectangle plan. However, Kyoto’s palaces (image 4), private dwellings and temple network had its own character, representing the original Japanese taste and culture. Although the buildings were still inspired by Chinese models, the use of materials, construction methods and techniques had a big turn with brick roofing tiles, thatch and tree bark roof cover-ing, wooden structure, with motar and stone wall elements. The building were supported by a system of pilasters underneath. The walls were extended from the main supports as the curtains, dividing the interior space. The measurement unit used at that time was ken, approximately 10 feet long. The buildings were placed symmetrically on a central axis with a larg inner garden. Under Chinese influence, the garden also had a lake, connecting two shores by a small wooden or stone bridge. The lake was usu-ally designed with rocks, which symbolized mountains. Nowa-days, this style of garden is quite popular, called Feng Shui lake. It harmonizes between nature and man-made things, between architecture and landscape, between vegetation and the other tectonics such as fountain, ponds, streams or rocks. In Asia, they believe it will bring health and good luck to the occupants in the house. An example for the residential architecture in Heian period was Byodoin (image 5). The pavilion was built in the 11th century with a series of halls and galleries facing to the lake. The interior was painted and decorated with polychrome lacquer, mother –of –pearl and gilded copper. The beams were

usually painted with lacquer or decorated with thin metal sheets. Japanese architecture became more decorative, leading to a new direction in the history of Japanese ar-chitecture. The wooden structure originally left raw, was now painted in red or cinnabar and decorated with many details. Beams and hips now were curved and became more complex. The eaves were now supported by brackets and also placed between the pillars and architraves. In the mean time, two new architectural styles were introduced to Japan, which are Indian style (Tenjikuyo) and Chinese style from Southern China (Karayo). During the civil wars, a large number of temples were destroyed and now were reconstructed in Tenjikuyo style with large beams placed “rigidly orthogonal manner” and an increase of bracket orders. On the other hand, Karayo style used the old rec-tangular plan with the main elements placed symmetrically along the central axis. However, Karayo buildings had some sculptural decoration, and typical yoke arch at the portico, which softened the ninearity of the structure and made the buildings became more artistic and decorative.

In Muromachi period (1333-1573), Buddhism became less important and the number of pagodas also declined. Along with Zen, a new style of Yan and Ming dynasties was introduced to Japan with a luxurious and ostentatious tendency. Gold and bright colours in interiors were used to symbolize the wealth and richness of the upper class in the society at that time. One of the finest buildings in this building was a three –story build-ing, Kinkakuji, which was founded in the end of 14th century. Its interior was richly decorated with lacquer and inlaid -golden pattern. The second and top roof were covered by the austere bark. Another example for luxurious and decorative architecture in this period was the silver pavilion, Ginkakuji in 15th century, which was founded for a circle of artists and monks.The tea ceremony and tea tradition were introduced to Japan by Zen masters and became popular, following by the new formu-lation of tea hall and tea pavilion planning in residential archi-tecture. The slender rafters and pillars supported the whole roof structure. The outer walls were also achieved with sliding door structure and created the wide broad open surfaces. Together with organic architectural style, garden design also developed. The central garden with lake, bridge and islands were no longer preffered, but rather than Ryoanji garden, which can be viewed from different points of the building. The art of object place-ment in the garden was also varied, for example water with sand symbolized for ford or rocks standing in the water symbolized for islands.In 1542, the first European landed in Japan and brought their Western civilazation together with them to Japan. Then, Japa-nese culture and architecture were no longer influenced by Chinese but toward the Western styles. The floor plans, which had been raised on a stone platform, were now constructed on the ground level. The buildings had larger scale with thicker walls and higher level. Wooden structure was replaced by the reinforced mansionry structure standing on the massive stone foundation. Some examples of the architecture in Momoyama period (1573-1614) were the castles of Matsumoto (image 6), Kumamoto and Hijemi.In Yedo period (1615- 1867), the castle of Yedo (Tokyo nowa-days) was chosed to become a new seat of the Tokugawa shogu-nate. In first half of the 17th century, a number of feudal lords were invited to collaborate with the government to build their new residences in Yedo and made it become the largest city of the country in a century with a complex network of roads and canals. It represented not only the place of state administration

but also the biggest trading centre. In 1700, the population in Yedo reached to more than million. As the result, more residential buildings were required. The houses were placed on a big stone platform, which was approximately 28 to 48 inches thick. Wooden flooring and pilasters structure were used to support a roofing framework with horizontal beams above. The interior space was divided by the sliding walls or partitions, while exterior walls were constructed in mansonry and plaster. This type of residential building was called sukiya, which remarked a big development of Japanese architecture.The city of Yedo was repeatedly fired and reconstructed, lead-ing to a new development of a simplified architecture. In 1868, the Meiji restoration transformed Japan into a modern nation, inspired by the Western economy, politics and architecture. Tradi-tional wooden construction was completely abandoned and new modern techniques of Western architecture was applied largely. Many new buildings were constructed in the new style, which had wooden frameworks,covered by stone or stucco. From 1870, many European and American architects were invited to Japan to set up a programme of modernization for Japanese urban plan-ning and teach their own work to some Japanese universities of architecture. Under their guidance, a number of buildings were constructed in Western historical styles such as Renaissance, Neoclassical, Romanesque and Gothic. Then, the first generation of Japanese architects and civil engineer, who were trained by the Western counterparts, started to produce their works and took over gradually the building activities. In 1923, a big amount of

reinforeced buildings in Tokyo were collapsed due to the earthquake. Then, the new construction materials to against the earthquake were employed in a form of massive solidity and heaviness of structure.In 1920, an organization of young modern architect was founded, known as Bunriha. Their works were heavily influenced by the Vienna Secessionists at the beginning. Then, they drew their influence from European movements to wards the International style of Modernism and made their independent contributions to the modern architec-ture. A few years later, their activities were supported and collaborated by the famous foreigner architects such as Frank Lloyd Wright, Le Corbusier, Walter Gropius and Luwig Mies van der Rohe. As the result, the modern tech-nique formed by the wooden framework was readopted and replaced by the metal structure.After the World War II, a numerous of cities were rebuilt, signaling a beginning of a new urban’s construction. On another hand, the Japanese population grew rapidly after the war and required a large-scale city expansion along with urban planning. In the 1960s, the economy of Japan grew rapidly and the number of huge buildings also in-creased. In 1970s, after the economic crisis, the building activities slowed down as the Japanese economic growth. Then in 1980, Japanese economy onces again increased, leading a big requirement in real estates and office build-ings.

Tsukuba Center Building was built in 1983 by architect Arata Isozaki. The building contains a oval-shaped, sunken plaza and gazed around on the east side, at the hotel the facade of the concert hall. Except the oval plaza, the other parts of the buildings were unattractive and its central concept lacks of the symbol of authority, official dom or the sovereign. The building is a combination of many complex structures, concrete details and fragments. However, there is no relationship beween all of them and the harmony is also absent.

Hiroshima City Museum of Contemporary Art was built by Kisho Kurokawa in 1988. The design was based on the phisolo-phy of symbiosis. The building is located on Hijiyama hill and sloped along the hill, in the middle of a forested area. The exhi-bition place of this building is set underground. A central plaza with an open partio, corridor , stone garden and stairway well combined the interior and exterior space of the building, creat-ing a harmony of building and the landscape. The materials for this building are mainly stones, such as natural stones, polished stones, finished stones, marble stones and tiles.

Spiral building by Fumihiko Maki was built in 1985. The entrance lobby is located on the first floor, which is designed for the temporary exhibitions. Below a mezzanine level is a cafe, which is located in the middle of the building. Follow-ing along the ramp along the wall to the shops and toward to the second floor to the esplanade, if continuing the direction, we will be led to the third floor, where the big theatre with more than 300 seats is . On the forth floor is the working studios and an outdoor restaurant with garden is located on the fifth floor, where you can have an overview of the build-ings around. Each of the space has its own character and was designed for different art and design related activities or functions. The 6th to 9th floor of the bulding is for private owner’s clubs, beauty salons, cafes and some other kinds of entertainment.

National Museum of Modern Art was built in 1986 in Kyoto. The main entrance of the building is on the east side, which leading to the lobby on the first floor. From the lobby, we can enter easily to the restaurant, gallery, an auditorium and a large office on the same floor or to the other office space and library on the second floor. The third and forth floors are used for the exhibition galleries, while the storage and mechanical space are located at the basement. Three staircases at the corners of the building connects the exhibition spaces on the third and forth floor. The service spaces are located on the west side of the building. The bulding was built mainly by stone, concrete, glass, and metal panels.

Galleria Akka in Osaka was designed by Tadao Ando in 1988. His design is an idea of spaces and lighting, produc-ing an abstract void in the four story concrete enclosure. His buildings in Japanese urban are like the fragments of the landscape. A series of staircases along the building cre-ated a large vertical empty space in the middle of the build-ing, bringing natural light into the building from the glass roof above. The top floor bridge is suspended into the air, creating a missing end feeling of the space.

Another work of Tadao Ando was the Church with Light in Osaka Perfecture. The church is a solid concrete cube with three spheres. The interior space is divided into a chapel and an entrance area by a 15 degree sloped wall. The furniture were mainly made from wood, while the entire structure was built in concrete and left in its original state. The use of these two materials represents the true value of architecture’s quality in the economic time, when the architecture are treated as a com-mercial product in order to exist. There are only a few spaces left open, so that the sun light becomes brillian when it contrasts to the dark in the building. The shifting across of light on the wall shows the relationship between the humanity and nature, be-tween the religion and priests.

Rotunda is a five-story building, located on a busy high-wat in Yokohama. It was designed by Riken Yamamoto and constructed in 1987. The first three floors are for the retail shops, offices and apartments and the other two levels are for residence. It is a new idea of which he called “city as pho-tography”, to explain his idea, he said “the place for dwelling rests on top of.....things which constitute, metaphorically speaking, the particular ‘lay of the land’, that is , something like a topography. What I am trying to say is that the place for dwelling here rests on a topography called the city”.On the top are eight-meter-high steel columns and covered by Teflon –fiber fabric. It creates a huge space underneath and evokes the tent in the ancient time.

Kirin Plaza in Osaka was designed by architect Shin Takamatsu in 1987. The design evokes Japanese floor lamps. The building contains the utilities for entertainment such as cockatail bar, pubs, restaurant, galleries and an auditorium. The facade was carved carefully with mysterious alchemy, matching with the luxury glittering blacstone floor. It shows the beauty of freedome and luxury world as well as the relationship between urban dweller and architecture or between the voyeur and exhibition-

References:Botond Bognar, The New Japanese Architecture, New York 1990.Mario Buddsgli, Oriental Architecture, Milan 1981, pp. 162-188Horyu-ji Temple, Nara http://www.taleofgenji.org/horyuji.html