Following World War I, a generation of young architects in Japan took part in a movement toward "international architecture," or kokusai kenchiku, designing houses for people who blended Japanese and Western customs in their daily lives, and public buildings--from schools and hospitals to weather stations and golf clubhouses--that encompassed modern forms and new materials, especially earthquake-resistant reinforced concrete, yet systhesized the new with the old.--Ken Tadashi Oshima is assistant professor of architecture at the University of Washington.
"Crafting a Modern World examines a missing chapter in the history of mid-century modernism: the story of husband and wife design team Antonin and Noemi Raymond. This is the first comprehensive book in English on the duo that creatively transformed design from 1917 to 1966."--BOOK JACKET.
Between the two world wars, Japanese society underwent a massive industrial transformation. The author explores the differences between the United States, England and France which safely modernised and Japan which moved unfortunately towards fascism.
How did terms like “Asia,” “Eurasia,” “Indochina,” “Pacific Rim” or “Australasia” originate and evolve, and what are their connections to the built environment? In addressing this question,Architecturalized Asia bridges the fields of history and architecture by taking “Asia” as a discursive structure and cultural construct, whose spatial and ideological formation can be examined through the lenses of cartography, built environments, and visual narratives. The first section, on the study of architecture in Asia from the medieval through early modern periods, examines icons and symbols in maps as well as textual descriptions produced in Europe and Asia. The second section explores the establishment of the field of Asian architecture as well as the political and cultural imagining of “Asia” during the long nineteenth century, when “Asia” and its regions were redefined in the making of modern world maps mainly produced in Europe. The third section examines tangible structures produced in the twentieth century as legible documents of these notional constructions of Asia. In exploring the ways in which “Asia” has been drawn and framed both within and without the continent, this volume offers cutting-edge scholarship on architectural history, world history and the history of empires. Written by architectural historians and historians specializing in Asia and European empires, this unique volume addresses the connection between Asia and the world through the lenses of built environments and spatial conceptualizations. Architecturalized Asiawill appeal to readers who are interested in Asian architecture, world architecture, Asian history, history of empires, and world history.
The Constructed Other argues that the assumed otherness of Japanese architecture has made it both a testbed for Western architectural theories and a source of inspiration for Western designers. The book traces three recurring themes in Western accounts of Japanese architecture from the reopening of Japan in the mid-nineteenth century to the present day: a wish to see Western architectural theories reflected in Japanese buildings; efforts to integrate elements of Japanese architecture into Western buildings; and a desire to connect contemporary Japanese architecture with Japanese tradition. It is suggested that, together, these narratives have had the effect of creating what amounts to a mythical version of Japanese architecture, often at odds with historical fact, but which has exercised a powerful influence on the development of building design internationally.
Japanese architecture's commanding presence on the world stage can be traced to the struggles of earlier generations of Japan's modernist architects. This first book-length study of Maekawa Kunio (1905-1986) focuses on one of the most distinctive leaders in Japan's modernist architectural community. In a career spanning the 1930s to the 1980s, Maekawa's work and critical writing put him in the vanguard of the Japanese architectural profession. Jonathan Reynolds illuminates Maekawa's role as a bridge between prewar and postwar architecture in Japan, focusing particularly on how he influenced modernism's ambivalence regarding "tradition" and contemporary practice and the importance of technology in modernist design and ideology. Maekawa studied architecture at the prestigious Tokyo Imperial University before moving to Paris in 1928 to work with Le Corbusier. The latter experience had a powerful impact on Maekawa; he became an advocate for Le Corbusier and modernism when he returned to Japan two years later. Throughout his career Maekawa designed residential, commercial, and government buildings in Japan and abroad. He became particularly well known internationally for his approach to public architecture, especially museums and public spaces such as the Tokyo Metropolitan Festival Hall. These projects illustrated the principles that earned Maekawa the respect and admiration of architects the world over. Carefully researched, with numerous illustrations that complement discussions of Maekawa's principal projects, Reynolds's book will be welcomed in the fields of architecture and design. It will also attract readers interested in twentieth-century Japan, for in addition to highlighting Maekawa's architectural career, Reynolds portrays the broader cultural context within which Maekawa and other Japanese architects and artists sought to be heard and recognized.
Japanese Modern Architecture 1920-2015 uses a series of thematic lenses to explain the rich history of Japanese architectural developments from the 1920s foundation of modern architecture to contemporary permutations of modern and post-modern architecture. The book introduces the diversity of Japanese architecture and traces the evolution of Japanese architecture in the context of domestic and international developments. It examines the relationship between architecture and nature, and explores various approaches to craft and material. Finally, this new book considers tensions between refinement and ostentation in architectural expression. Of interest to students of architecture, and anyone with an interest in Japanese post-war culture and superbly illustrated with 95 colour images.
Contemporary Japanese Architecture presents a clear and comprehensive overview of the historical and cultural framework that informs the work of all Japanese architects, as an introduction to an in-depth investigation of the challenges now occupying the contemporary designers who will be the leaders of the next generation. It separates out the young generation of Japanese architects from the crowded, distinguished, multi-generational field they seek to join, and investigates the topics that absorb them, and the critical issues they face within the new economic reality of Japan and a shifting global order. Salient points in the text are illustrated by beautiful, descriptive images provided by the architects and from the extensive collection of the author. By combining illustrations with timelines and graphics to explain complex ideas, the book is accessible to any student seeking to understand contemporary Japanese architecture.
