Kazuo Shinohara's Savage Machine

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Kazuo Shinohara's "Savage Machine" and the Place of Tradition in the Modern Japanese Residence

Author(s): Warren SandersonSource: Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians, Vol. 43, No. 2 (May, 1984), pp. 109-

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Kazuo Shinohara's

"Savage

Machine"

and

the

Place of

Tradi t ion

n t h M o d e r n

a p a n e s e

es idence

WARREN SANDERSON ConcordiaUniversity

Although

azuoShinohara

asachieved

pre-eminence

mong

apan's

living

architects,

e is almost nknownn the West.Until

1980

he

concentrated

upon

he

reinterpretation

f

traditional

Japanese

rchitec-

ture

n a

deliberate

questfor

he

quintessentialodernJapanesewelling.

After ummarizing

he

directionshisarchitectookn

hiscareer

etween

1953

and

1980,

and

discussing

hinohara's anikawa

(1974)

and

Ohtsuji

1976)

residences

n

terms

of

a

developing

heory

f

the

"savage

machine,"

heauthor

iscusses

his

andthe muchmore

traditionally

Japanesemeaningsnherentn Shinohara's

1978-i980

design f a

residence

for

the

Suzuki

family

in

Tokyo.

n

conclusion,

ention

s

alsomade

of

the

directionsaken

by

thisarchitectince

1980.

ALTHOUGH HARDLY RECOGNIZED

in

the

West,

Kazuohi-

nohara

b.

1925)

vieswith his more senior

countryman

eiichi

Shirai

b.

1905)

asthe

Japanese

rchitect's

rchitect.'

hinohara's

buildings

avebeencharacterizedsabstrusen their

significance

and

even

occult,2

ualities

hat

arealso

typical

f muchof

Shirai's

work.

However,

very

different

pathways rought

hem

to

prom-

inence,

and herearebasicdifferences f outlookbetween hem.

Where Shiraihas

incorporated

otions of

an existentialcon-

creteness nd the

expressive otential

of the wall as

both mass

and

urface,

hinohara asnot.

Instead,

orthe

younger

architect

the wall is

merely

a

necessary oundary

f a

plan,

a

minimal

surface

or

enclosure hat is a functionof the

shapes

of

space.

Space

and its

mythos

are

paramount

for

Shinohara,

and

exis-

tential

elements

are

primarily

abstract

rather than concrete.

Most

Japanese

architects of the

generation

that

preceded

Shi-

nohara's

were familiar

with

the new

architecture of the

West

from such

examples

as Antonin

Raymond's

buildings

in

Tokyo,

or from

direct

experience

of it in

Europe.

Shirai's ideas-for

instance,

those

concerning

the

expressive potential

of the wall-

stemmed from

his studies of

Western

architectural

history

and

philosophy in Germanybetween x928and1931.Kunio Maekawa

(b.

90o5)

and then

Junzo

Sakakura

(1901-1969)

worked in Le

Corbusier'sstudio

in

Paris in the

1930s.

Kenzo

Tange's

postwar

architecture was

rooted in the

precepts promulgated

by

that

same Swiss master

architect

through

the

C.I.A.M.

(Congris

n-

ternationaux

'architecture

moderne).

hinohara's

contemporaries,

such as

Arata

Isozaki,

Kisho

Kurokawa,

and

Fumihiko

Maki,

also have

been influenced

by

new

currents in

Western archi-

tecture

and Western

technologies.3

Countering

Western trends was a

rebirth of

interest in tra-

ditional

Japanese

architecture

during

the revival

of

residential

construction

that

occurred

during

the

early

1950s. Kiyoshi

Ikebe

(1920-1970)

and

Kiyoshi

Seike

(b.

1918),

among

others,

exper-

imented

with

age-old

timber

construction

systems

as structural

means for

functionalist

building.4

It

was in

this milieu

that

Shinohara

turned from

mathematics

to the

study

of

architecture

at the

Tokyo

Institute of

Technology,

graduating

in

1953.

I dedicate his article o the

memory

of ProfessorH. W.

Janson

or his

warm

encouragement

f

my

inquiries

nto

interrelationships

etween

the

modern

architecturesf EastandWest

during

he last

years

of

his

life.

A

portion

f thisarticlewas

presented

t the session

n "Twentieth-

Century

Art andArchitecture nd

Methodologies"

f

the

colloquium

of the

International ommitteeof the

History

of Art held at

Ziirich,

9 September

981.

For discussions f my paper here,I amindebted o

Professor

Henry

Millon

of

the Center or Advanced

Visual

Studies,

he

National

Gallery

of

Art,

Washington,

D.C.,

and ProfessorDr. A. M.

Vogt

of the

Eidgenossische

echnische

Hochschule,Ziirich.

i.

For the

essential

bibliography

oncerning

both Kazuo

Shinohara

and

SeiichiShirai o

1978,

see the entries n M.

Emanuel,

d.,

Contem-

porary

rchitects,

ondon

nd

Basingstoke, ngland, 980,

745-747.

The

architecturef Shinoharawas the

topic

of a

special

ssueof

The

Japan

Architect.nternational

dition

of

Shinkenchiku,

arch

1979,

and since

then has been

presented

more

briefly

n such Western

journals

as Pro-

gressive

rchitecture

nd

Bauwelt. or the

more

recent

directionof this

master rchitect's

ork,

see

Japan

Architect,

eptember

981,

7-35-

2. For

instance,

see C.

Fawcett,

The

New

Japanese

House. Ritual and

Anti-Ritual Patterns

of

Dwelling,

New

York,

1980,

i8,

11n.

3.

In

addition to the

pertinent

entries

in

Emanuel,

Contemporary

r-

chitects,

ee for these several

architects:

E.

Inagaki,

"Japan"

n

International

Handbook

of Contemporary evelopments

n

Architecture,

W.

Sanderson,

ed.,

Westport,

Conn.,

1981,

and

London,

1982,

377-395;

K.

Kurokawa,

Metabolism

n

Architecture,

ondon,

1977;

and M.

Miyawaki,

Nihon no

Jutaku

Sekkei,

Tokyo,

1976.

4.

Inagaki,

International

Handbook,

81.

JSAH

XLIII:xo9-ix8.

MAY

1984

10

9






IIO JSAH,

XLIII:2,

MAY

1984

a

2

,

3

ground

level

1

entrance

2 summer space

3

winter

space

4

storage

5

bedroom

L a

L

upper level

Fig.

x.

Residence f Shuntaro

Tanikawa,

974,Naganohara,

Gumma

prefecture.

lans

of

ground

and

upper

evel

(courtesy

K.

Shinohara).

Towarda

prototypical

modern

Japanese

residence

Unlike most of his

contemporaries,

Shinohara

deliberately

shunted aside references to

Western architecture after com-

pleting

his

first

house

(Kugujama,

Tokyo,

1954).

He

felt

a

strong

need to examine anew traditionalJapaneseconcepts and tech-

niques

of residentialarchitecture.? n the

ensuing

years

he

probed

the

past profoundly

to inform his

perceptions

of an essential

architecture.At

present,

with the recent

successes of his

students,

one

finds references to a

"Shinohara school"

of

Japanese

ar-

chitecture.6

Shinohara's

influence has

grown

in

large

part

out of his

sin-

gular

fascination with the

problem

of

the

one-family

residence

in

its relation to

historical

Japanese

architectural

precepts.7

Each

of the more

than

35 dwellings

that he built

between

1954

and

1980

was

created to

be seen not

only

as a

complete

work in

itself

but also

quite intentionally

as

part

of

his total

oeuvre.Each

house was

part

of

his

conscious

quest

to

create

architecture

as

an art

of

the

prototypical dwelling.

For Kazuo

Shinohara

mod-

ern architecture in

Japan

consisted

more in the

elucidation of

problems

of

meaning,

and

in

providing

possibilities

for

a

private

synthesis

of the

personal

and the

eternal,

than

it

did

in

purely

material

nd

echnological

ecisions.s

Rarely

s theremore

han

the merestmentionof materialsn his theoretical

writings

prior

to

I980,9

ince orhim materials erebut ncidental

o

potentials

for

meaning.

Meanings

were

shaped

by

spatial

nclosures

nd

triggeredby vigorous

structural

esigns.

After

using

wood

predominantly

n his

early

residences,

uch

as the

"Umbrella

House"

for Mr. and Mrs.

Shozo Kawai

on

Nerima-kun

Tokyo

(x961),1'

e chose

reinforced

oncrete

dur-

ing

the

197os.

This

change

paralleled

consciousshift

away

from

Japanese

ernacular rchitectural

lements,

upon

which

Shinohara

ad

depended

or their

symbolic

values n his

resi-

dential

designs

of the fiftiesand sixties.

Beginning

n

1970,

his

buildingdesigns

became

reer,

more ntuitive

and

experimental,

embodying

a

purer

mythos

of

dwelling.

During

the

seventies

he

developed

is

theory

of architecture

s

a

"savage

machine,""

while

continuing

o revalue raditional

Japanese

ymbolic

pace,

5.

Emanuel,

Contemporary

rchitects,

46,

col.

i.

6. As in

Fawcett,

New

Japanese

ouse,

0,

150, 172.

7.

Inagaki,

nternational

Handbook,91,

and

Fawcett,

New

Japanese

House,

47-150.

n the

latter he works

of

Zuzuru

Tominaga

nd

Itsuko

Hasegawa,

oth influenced

y

Shinohara,

re

discussed n

brief

(150-

15I).

8.

Shinohara,

"Beyond Symbol

[sic]

Spaces,"

Japan

Architect,

April

1971,

reprinted

with two

other

articles in

which

the

architect

expresses

his own

philosophies

of

architecture

injapan

Architect,

March

1979,

84-

89.

9.

In

addition to

articles cited in

n. 8

above,

see

Shinohara's

theo-

retical considerations

in

"The

Savage

Machine as an

Exercise,"

Japan

Architect,

March

1979,

46-51,

and

"Towards

Architecture,"

Japan

Ar-

chitect,

September

i981,

30-35-

io. Published in

Japan

Architect,

February

1963,

and

in

Arquitectos

e

Mexico,

May 1966.

11.

"Savage

Machine,"Japan

Architect,

March

1979,

46-51.






SANDERSON:

SHINOHARA'S

"SAVAGE MACHINE" III

??;i-Iw

--Ma

.......

P;' ii:,

ls211.B

44

:

Fig.

2. Tanikawa

esidence,

nterior

f

large

room with earthen

loor

(courtesy

K.

Shinohara).

as

n his

1974

residence

or

the

poet

Shuntaro

anikawa

nd

his

family."

"Naked"

reality

nd he

"machine":

heTanikawa

ouse

(1974)

The actual

day-to-day

iving

quarters

f

the

Tanikawa

ouse

are shunted

o

one

of

the

short sides

n order

o

favor

a

large,

roofed enclosure

Fig.

i).

Within

this

large

space,

the site's

unconcealed

loping

earthen

errain

and the

structuralrame-

work

of the

house

(Fig.

2)

are

recognized

s

"naked"

ealities;

that

is,

they

conceal

no

illusions

other than

their

appearances.

In two

ways

the

Tanikawa

ouse

s

focal n Shinohara's

evel-

opment.

First,

t looks

to

his

immediate

past:

at

a time

when

he wasconcentratingnusingreinforcedoncrete,hisbuilding

was

constructed

ntirely

of

wood

(Fig.

3).

Second,

as the ar-

chitect

has stated

explicitly,

ts

posts

and

angle

braces,

o force-

fully

evident

n the

large

room,

were

ntended

o have

no other

meanings

han

their

structural

aked

being.13

Shinohara

im-

plified

materials,

esign,

and structure

n his

effort o

strip

he

houseof

all

meaning

ut

hatof

"dwelling."

Typically,

e

swept

aside

the

material

nd

functional

necessities

o favor

an over-

whelmingly

owerful

patial xpression.

radually

e

had

purged

2, f

6. O~,i

i;,

i i, ?

ii;'

?t?;I/r?

-%

~E~k~~:~ -?

:r:o

Isli~r

Fig. 3.

Tanikawa

esidence,

xterior

courtesy

K.

Shinohara).

12.

Japan

Architect,

ebruary

976,

and

Bauwelt,

7

(February

976).

13.

"Savage

Machine,"

9-






112

JSAH,

XLIII:2,

MAY 1984

-i-.:~i

:'?ib~

?:i?;?:

:i_*J

~i~jQ

?I

a~

r2B.

i:;

. :

::::~

B

?~e

i-:

in~??~U:;

~?lk---~~

B"~

.?,-:p

~iJ

gX:;i?

?*?:

sg,:?-

-a

".z; -n.

Fig.

4.

Residence

f

Kiyoshi

Ohtsuji,1976,

Uehara,

Tokyo,

with

carport

o

left,

and

vaulted oof-chamber

ugmentationcourtesy

K.

Shinohara).

~~~

.ilsrL~,T=;_c=c~~,rt?

--

~i=

Fig. .

Ohtsuji

esidence,

nterior

f main

loor

courtesy

.

Shinohara).

hiswork of overtvernaculareferencesn order o concentrate

here

upon

he

pure

elements

fvolumeand

structure

n

a

highly

abstracted

pproach

o

design

hat

would

inevitably

e

charged

with

primal

ymbolism.

The

"naked"

ealities

of

the

1974

Tanikawa

esidence

on-

stituted

ne elementof

Shinohara's

heory

of architecture:

na-

ked

things"

arebare

structural

lements

stripped

f

superficial

associations.

urthermore,

she

has

stated,

e found

n

the barn-

like Tanikawa

ouse

his own

concept

of the

"machine,"

ome-

thing

quite

apart

rom the

Western

dea

of the

building

as a

machine.

For

Shinohara,

"machine"

s an

array

of "naked

things"

hat somehow

produces

meaning. nevitably

here

are

discrepancies

etween

forms

suggestive

of

ideas

and

the exi-

gencies

of

the realworld.

These

discrepancies

e calls

"gaps."

"Savagery":

he

Ohtsuji

ouse

(1976)

To the

array

of "naked

realities" hat

comprised

he "ma-

chine,"

withits

ambiguous

gaps"

etween

he

worldof abstract

ideas

and

that of the

physical

environment,

hinohara dded

the

last elementof

his

theory

of

architecture

uring

he

I970s:

the

concept

of

"savagery."14

or

him this consisted

n the harsh

reconcilement

f

awkward onnections

and

juxtapositions

f

both

spaces

nd

structural

lements.

n

I976,

imited

by

the

very

small ite

for the

residence

f

the

photographer

iyoshiOhtsuji

and

his

family

Fig.

4),

Shinohara

as

virtually

orced

o

employ

an

ntrusive

tructural

ystem,

one that

he characterized

s

"sav-

age.""

At the

heart

of the

design

for this

two-story

residence

of reinforced

oncrete,

45-degree

angle

braces

Fig. 5)

were

employed

upon

a

piano

nobilehat

filledthe area

of

the site

and

was

cantilevered

ver the

carport.16

Massive,

ough posts

and

braces videntuponthe

facade

werepartof a structuralystem

thatwas

repeated

within

the

building Fig.

6).

Thus,

the

spaces

of

the

main

story

were dominated

y

starkly

onfrontational,

obstructive,

reestanding

lements.

A forceful

unity

between

facade

nd

nterior,

ndbetween

nterior

spaces

hemselves,

was

obtained

y

"savagery."

wkward

spatial

inkages

nd

tructural

14.

As

in nn. 8 and

9

above.

'5-

Japan

Architect,

ebruary

977,

March

979,

80-83,

and

Baumeister,

75

(December 978).

16.

A

steel-frame,

aulted

pavilion

was added

s a third

story

o the

original

wo-storydesign

while construction

as under

way.






SANDERSON:

SHINOHARA'S "SAVAGE

MACHINE"

113

6

6

cr

n-

35

|

-xv

lower

level main

level

uDDer

level

1 entrance

2

studio

3

storage

4

dark

room

5 dining

6 bedroom

Fig.

6.

Ohtsuji

esidence,

lans

of lower

evel,

main

loor,

and added

upper

evel

(courtesy

K.

Shinohara).

impositions

were reconciled

harshly

n

a

single design.

Although

in

his

use

of

reinforced

concrete

he has

paralleled

the frank

roughness

of the West's

New

Brutalism

of

the

i96os,

for Shi-

nohara

"savagery"

resides

n

the

composition

of a

design,

rather

than

in

the character

of materials.

The

Ohtsuji

dwelling

rep-

resents

for him

a

"savage

machine."

Although

Shinohara's

earlier

works

had

been

strongly

linked

with his

Japanese

heritage,

his

theory

of the mid-seventies was

not intended

for

an

architecture of

specific

beliefs.

To

sum-

marize,

"naked

things"--structural

elements

stripped

of asso-

ciations-may

be

seen

in

combinations

called

"machines"

which

produce

or

provoke

meanings

and

bridge

"gaps"

between

the

world of ideas and

tangible

realities,

while either the "naked

things"

or the

"machines"

in

combination

may

be

"savagely"

unified.

He did

not

aim

to

predetermine

meaning narrowly.

Nevertheless,

as

we shall

see,

the traditional

symbolic

qualities

built

up

for so

long

in his

early

works

through

the sixties

may

well

have insinuated themselves

into the

designs

of more recent

residences.

Tradition nd

the

"savage

machine": he Suzuki

house

(1978)

Shinohara

has referred to his house

of

1978

for the

poet

Yashuyuki

Suzuki,

the "House on a

Curved

Road"

in

Tokyo

(Fig.

7),

as

a

"savage

machine" that

preserves

the

ambivalence

between

"symbolism

and

concreteness" and leads toward the

exploration

of the

deepest

levels of human

emotions,

including

the

irrational.17

Unassuming

from

the

exterior,

even

dull

in its

i

i

-ii

ii

1

I

xl".

i

..?

Fig.

7.

Residencef

Yashuyuki

uzuki,

978,

Tokyo.

View

rom

he

corner,

xterior

courtesy

.

Shinohara).

reinforced oncrete

appearance,

ithin,

the

Suzuki house is

baffling.

At first t offersus

only

a

partial

understanding

f its

corporealitynddisplaysittle of its symbolicqualities.

Our consideration

f this

dwelling

rests

upon

two bases: he

architect's wn

description

f

the

building,18

and

its

striking

congruence

ith certain

principles

f

traditional

Japanese

patial

andstructural

esign

hat

may

end

it

a

particularly

eaningful

character.

hinohara's

description

f the Suzukihouse

begins

simply

enough

with

the

assertionhat four

posts

"outline"

he

plan.

It is no

surprise

hatan

architectwould

speak

n termsof

his

plan,

but

this has

particular

meaning

n

Japan.

I7.

Shinohara,

Houseon a Curved

Road,"

apan

Architect,

March

1979,

o-i6.

i8.

"Curved

Road,"

x3,

or

the

architect's

description.






114

JSAH,

XLIII:2,

MAY 1984

lower level

6

upper

level

1

Lo

5

5

main level

0er

evel

upper

level

2

1

entrance

2

lower

level

space

3

storage

4

living-dining

5

spare

room

6

bedroom

Fig.

8.

Suzuki

esidence,

lans

f

(a)

ower

evel,

b)

main

loor,

c)

first

upper

evel,

d)

second

pper

evel

courtesy

.

Shinohara).






SANDERSON:SHINOHARA'S SAVAGEMACHINE"

115

i._

...

..

..

.........

•

.........__

_ _

Fig.9.

Suzuki

esidence,

ectional

rawing

ith

main

oom o the

right

(courtesy

.

Shinohara).

Whatever he

clarity

of

the

plan

(Fig.

8,

a-d),

it

seems

far

from certain hat four

posts

outline the

plan.

Upon

moving

through

he house

Fig.

9),

we

shouldhavenotroublen

seeing

that

one, two,

or three

freestanding

ostssupport

oofsor ceil-

ings

in one or

another

oom,

but

four

posts

are

never

visible

at

once. For

Japanese

architects he

word

post traditionally

as

signified

he

points

of

juncture

of

a

planning

module-that

is,

the corners t which walls meet-as well

as the

supports

f a

roof,

whether

freestanding

r

not.19 rom he stunted

orizontal

spacesof the basementevel (Fig. io) to the tall spaceof the

great

room of the first

story(Fig.

i)

and nto the

upper

tories

(Fig.

I2),

we

may

discover hat four

posts

n

the

Japanese

ense

of the

word

continue

through

the three

stories

to

outline a

square,

entral

space.

Never, however,

are

all four

posts

free-

standing

on

a

single

level: some are

freestanding,

thers en-

gaged,

and still others

concealed s

corners.

Thus,

Shinohara's

assertion ests

n

partupon

the

traditional

Japanese

nderstand-

ing

of the word

post.

Historically,

apanese

rchitecture

appears

o

have

rejected

deliberately

he

concept

of

three-dimensional

odies,

thus

ef-

fectivelypreventingarchitecturalthinkingin termsof solid

geometrical

orms or in

terms

of

space

as

a solid.20

nstead,

buildings

were

produced

by

a

layering

of

horizontal

plans:

a

continuous

space

flowed

aroundand

through

the

horizontal

levels of

a

building.

The

development

f the

plan

was

more

Fig.

1o.

Suzuki

esidence,

ntry

rom treeto

lower evel

courtesy

.

Shinohara).

than

merely

undamental.ts

supremacy

as so

great

hatcon-

siderationsf walls,ceilings,andfurnishingswererelegatedo

a far esser

importance

han

hasbeen the case

n

the West.

The

supremacy

f the

plan

in

Japanese

rchitectural

hinking

had

evolved

rom

the traditional

eliefthat

n the

mostancient

past

empty space

n

a

landscape

was

prepared

or the

descent

of

divinityby using

a

rope

or four

posts

o outline

a

specific lace.21

The

pseudoarchitectural

eligious

hought

ofJapan's

istant

past

was an

important

ource

of

Shinohara's

nderstanding

f

the

Suzuki house.

It is

a basisof

the

architect's

econdassertion

concerning

he Suzuki

house,

hat

hereexistswithin t

a

"space

lattice."

Quite

clearly

his

consists

of

the four

"posts"

ndthe

horizontalbeams hat linkthem (see Figs.8, 9), all of which

are

of

reinforced oncretewithin the

space

of this

reinforced

concrete

building.

What

is

"outlined," hen,

by

the

four

posts

appears

o

be the central

modulus

of

the

design.

Aside

from

their

physical

earing

unctions,

he elementsof

the lattice

play

19.

Seefor instance

A.

Isozaki,

Space-Time

n

Japan-MA,"

in

MA

Space-Time

n

Japan,Cooper-Hewitt

Museum,

New

York,

n.d.

[I980?],

12-13. Basically,

he term

MA

refers

o

rhythmic

ntervals.Whetheror

not

one

accepts

ts

cosmological

ontext,

t

is often

employed

n

musical

as well as architectural

ontexts.

20.

Isozaki,

Space-Time."

21.

Isozaki,

"Space-Time,"

3.






116

JSAH,

XLIII:2,

MAY 1984

F?:'2?

'E~

I-?'zt ;-"

~ti)

"; C

" ;r

ii

:ri

r

?:I

~s

J

i?

I;(

f`"ri

iS

?, ,, ~

~i~-rl~il(l~

?m:..i~

Fig.

ii.

Suzuki

esidence,

nterior

f

mainroom

towarddoorto lower evel

(courtesy

K.

Shinohara).

i ?

~'

I

r~---

i

.?. :n

Fig.

12.

Suzuki

residence,

nteriorof second

upper

evel

(courtesy

K.

Shinohara).

a role in the

iconographic

consideration

of the

spaces

of this

dwelling.

The tall

post-and-beam

system

of the

first

story's great

room seems to overwhelm

that

space

in an

almost

ruthlessly

raw act of control.

Around its two

highly

assertive

nodes,

we

may

sense

spatial

directions

right

off;

and

walls and

ceiling

surfaces eem

relatively

minor in

importance

despite

their

space-

shaping

functions.

Shinohara's

post-and-beam system

in this

great

room

unquestionably

asserts

solidity

and

permanence

in

space

and

time,

while

serving

as

part

of

the

system

of

solid

coordinatesof the house's spatiallattice.

Space

in the

West is

directly

related

to scientific

and

math-

ematical

concepts

understood at a

particular

nstant,

while

Shi-

nohara's

spatial

bias

has carriedover

from the

Japanese

tradition

an

understanding

of

space

as

nonphysical

and

as

qualified by

subjective

experiences.

In

the

Japanese

tradition

space

and

time

are

unified,

correlative,

and

omnipresent,

recognized

in

terms

of

events or

phenomena

that

occurred,

or that are

transpiring,

within

it. In his

fundamental

study

of

the

Japanese

spiritual

concepts

of the

MA,

Gunther Nitschke

stated,

".

. .

space

for

the

Easterner s of an

imaginary

quality

created

and

perceived

through the disposition of certain symbols.... It was not the

size

or

shape

of the

symbols

that was

important,

but their

mutual

relationship,

their

location within

the

whole,

and their

orien-

tation.

"22

Such an outlook

underlies

Shinohara's

design

for the

Suzuki house.

22. G.

Nitschke,

"MA. The

Japanese

Sense of 'Place'

in

Old and

New Architecture

nd

Planning,"

Architectural

esign

London),

6

(March

1966), 117-156,

and

especially

126.






SANDERSON:

SHINOHARA'S "SAVAGE MACHINE"

II7

TheSuzuki

residences

a

"place"

Shinohara

lmost

certainly

reated he Suzuki

house in

part

by

making

use

of the traditional

rocesses

f

"place-making."

By

"place"

meana

space,

ocation,

or structurewith which

dynamic

networks

f interrelated

meanings

ndmemories

end

in time to become

uniquely

associated.

ccording

o

Nitschke,

"place-making"n termsof the MA maybe understood s de-

veloping

in three

successive

stages-apparent

disorder,

geo-

metric

order,

and

sophisticated

rder-but

he cautions hat at

any

oneof these

stages

he

development

might

be

permanently

halted.

Nitschke's

arguments

re

built

carefully

nd

methodi-

cally

upon Japanese

architectural

istorical

bases,

with con-

vincing

citations

of salient

examples

of each

level of

place-

making.23

ll three

stages

appear

n

Shinohara's

uzukihouse.

Apparent

isorder

may

be found n the

great

oomof the first

story,

for

instance,

n the deliberate

disalignment

f the

ele-

vationsof

walls,

vertical

beams,

ceiling

lines,

and the level of

the horizontalbeams see Fig. ii). It existsthere,too, in the

placement

f

the two

imposing

uprights

at

only seemingly

r-

regular

distances

rom the walls

of the short sides and more

than

slightly

off of the

long

axis of

the room

(see

Fig. 8b).

In

the basement

evel

(see

Fig.

8a)

three

piers

areevident:

lthough

all threeare

n one

alignment,

he directionof

that

alignment

is

at

rightangles

o,

rather han n

parallel

with,

the axisof the

freestanding

win

piers

of the

great

room above.

A

sense of

disorderand

disorientation nsues.

Furthermore,

ithin the

basement

evel

itselfa

mirrored

partition

eparates

he two

piers

that are both

freestanding

nd

alike,

while

the third

upright,

an

engagedpier,

is left

to

be

seen

pairing

with one of the

freestanding

iers

of the

twin

pair.

At the second

story

evel

(see

Fig.

8c)

only

a

single

element s visible

n

the

room,

while

in

the third

story

chamber

see

Fig. 8d)

one

freestanding

nd

one

engaged

pier

are

apparent.uxtapositions

f

dissimilar

le-

ments hus assure

apparent

isorder

hroughout

he

dwelling.

To realize

he

geometric

rder

n

this

design,

we

must turn

away

romthe concrete

eality

of the

houseto the abstractions

of its

plans.

A

study

of the

plans

reveals

hat

variously

reestand-

ing, engaged,

ndconcealed

piers

within

wallsform

he corners

of

the

central

square

module

of the

plan.

The

piers,

together

with their

horizontal

beams,

are

the realization

f the

"space

lattice" he architecthad mentioned. n time, dwellers n this

house

could

experience,

t least

subconsciously,

he

geometric

orderof its vertical

equence

f

plans

and the architect's

pace

lattice

design.

That

sophisticated

rderexistsas well within the

imaginary

quality

of the

space

n this housewould be more

readily

under-

stood n the Orient han

ntheWest

in

termsof a

cosmological

content hat

informs his

poet's

residence.

Designed

with four

posts

"outlining"

a

simple

core

of

space,

he

dwelling

recalls

"6

ii?-i:

Fig.

13.

House

No.

4

at

Hanayama,

980,

Kobe,

Hyogo

prefecture.

View rom

astat

night

courtesy

.

Shinohara).

the

primalpreparations

ade

n

the ancient

Japanese ast

for

the

descentof

divinity

o

the

earth.

Thus,

there

s an

allusion

to the

spiritual

ithin the vertical ore

of the

house,

within and

around

whichcore

daily

ife continues. eneath

he

living

spaces,

the

basement evel is

distinctly

conceivedas an overall

hori-

zontality;

nd

t is

provided

with

spaces

hat ack he

consistently

rectilinear

r cubic orderof the

surmounting

loors

(see

Fig.

io).

Within its

irregular paces,

only

the

cubical

shaft

of

the

staircase

hat

leads

to the

great

room

above

reflects he sur-

mounting

sense

of order

of

the house. Becauseof the

spatial

contrast chievedbetween he

upper

and basement

evels,

the

latter

may

be considered

o

function

ymbolically

s an

embod-

iment of the

subterranean

orld

of chaos.

In Eastern

eligious

hought

a

bridgemay

be established e-

tween cosmic

order,

urban

order,

and inner humanorder

by

means

of

meditation.24

azuo

Shinohara's

uzukihouse exists

in

touch

with

the subterranean

haos and the more ordered

ambiences f earthandthe heavens.

t

may

be understood s a

place

within the

cosmos,

a

place

in

which remembered sso-

ciations

are

furthered

o that ts dwellers

may

realize he inter-

relationships

etween

heir nner elvesand

he ordered niverse

within

which

they

exist.

The Suzukihouse is much more than a house aswe in the

West

think

of houses.Its character s a

"place"

s in constant

flux

by

virtueof the

many

eventsandassociationshatarebuilt

up

within

time and

within

its

spaces

n the memoriesof the

individuals

ho dwell

there.25

pace

defined

merely

n

physical

termscannot

o stir he

imagination

hat ts character

nd

one's

23.

Nitschke,

"MA.

Japanese

Place,'

"

Ii8,

and

passim.

24.

Ibid.,

126.

25.

Both

Yashuyuki

uzuki

and

Shunto

Tanakawa

1978

and

1974

residences)

re

poets;

KiyoshiOhtsuji 1976

house)

s a

photographer.

It is

noteworthy

hat

of

35

housesbuilt

by

Shinoharao

i980

two-thirds

were

for

artists,

oets,

musicians,

nd

attorneys.






118

JSAH,

XLIII:2,

MAY 1984

u

Fig.

14.

North House

(1965),

South

House

(1968),

and

House No.

4

(1980)

at

Hanayama,

Kobe. Axonometric

drawing

courtesy

K.

Shi-

nohara).

experience

f

it

may

become

ne.

Shinohara's

rchitectureor

single

families

successfully

creates

contemporary

Japanese

res-

idential

places-special

tmospheres,

achwithin

ts own

en-

closure-by

making

use in

modern

structures

of

the

traditional

Japanese

way

of

"catching

the MA."

With

his

"savage

ma-

chines"

hinohara

as

concentrated

enturies

f

Japan's

rchi-

tectural

ymbolism

n

contemporarywellings

hat seem

so

pithy

as to

embody

both a

ferocious

concreteness

and

a

poetic

abstraction f

sophisticated

meaning

within

the

eternal

ontin-

uum of

time

and

space.

New directions:

assimilating

he

twenties

Since the

completion

of his House on a Curved

Road for

the

poet

Suzuki,

Shinohara's

architecture has become more

boldly

experimental.

His House No.

4

in

Hanayama (Fig. 13),

com-

pleted

in

June

x980

at Kobe in the

prefecture

of

Hyogo,

seems

to readjust he massesexpressedin the final form of the Ohtsuji

residence in

Tokyo

(see

Fig.

4)

to

provide

a

more

dynamic

balance.26

This

design

contrasts in the extreme

with his

more

traditionalNorth

and South houses

(x965

and

x968)

at the

same

Hanayama

site

(Fig.

i4),

indicating

a new direction

in

Shino-

hara's

thinking.27

We

need

only

recall that

through

the

x960s

most of his houses

were wooden and

depended

for their

ap-

pearance

and

iconographic

content

upon

vernacular

Japanese

residential architecture.

During

the

197os

reinforced

concrete

largely

replaced

wood,

and traditionaldetails were

given

up

in

fashioning

spaces

that were

highly

"concentrated,"

as the

ar-

chitect has

said,

spaces

that were imbued

abstractly

with

pos-

sibilities of traditional

meanings.

With House No.

4

at

Hanaya-

ma, Kobe,

two new factors

have come forth.

First,

instead

of

a

sense

of

predominantly

interior

spatial

concentration,

he

has

sought

to relate

the exterior to the interior ambience.

This

is

accomplished

by

employing

a rather

large

roof

terrace that

is

accessible from

the second

story

living

room

by

descending

seven broad

steps.

Second,

and

altogether

unexpectedly,

the

roof

terrace,

the

strip

windows,

and the

pylons

that

support

one

side

of

this

structure-the

opposite

side

is

nestled into the

hilly

site-

all refer

clearly

to the

early

architectureof the Modern

move-

ment in

the

West,

in

particular

to

the work of

Le

Corbusier.

Having

created a new architecture of the

prototypical

Jap-

anese

dwelling,

Shinohara turned to the

West

during

the

late

197os.

He has

joined

his

"savage

machine" with

the

machine

of the

I92os.

He is

exploring

not

only

the

architectural

olutions

but also

the urban

planning

of

that time

as

it

may

relate to

Japanese

concepts

of

an

urbanism

rooted

in

apparent

disorder.

Looking

toward the

future with

quiet

confidence,

he states

that

".

..

my

machine will

not

be

international.

It

will

have a name

and

nationality clearly

indicated."28

Whatever the

problems

he

undertakes,

whatever the

ideas he

may

assimilate

from

else-

where,

whatever the

solutions

he

may

propose,

Kazuo

Shino-

harawill remain an essentiallyJapanesearchitectparexcellence.

26. K.

Shinohara,

"House

in

Hanayama,

No.

4,"

Japan

Architect,

September

1981,

8-17.

27.

The North

and South

houses in

Hanayama,

both

by

Shinohara,

were

published

in

Japan

Architect,

March

1969.

28.

Shinohara's

hanged

views

on

architecture

nd

his

new

concern

with

the

early

Modern

movement n

the

West-not in

the

slightest

o

be

misconstrueds a

"Post-Modernism"-are

vident n

his

"Towards

Architecture,"

ited

n n.

9

above.I

should

ike

to thank

he

architect

for

his

thoughtfulness

n

sending

me an

offprint

f

this

publication

oon

after t

appeared.

Kazuo Shinohara's Savage Machine

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