st JAPAN ARCHITECT PaRtENCHIIKU'SHA C0, 17D, 313, Yuh yo (113), Japan Desh yo 1L-7101/3 Feild in 1925 Yasugoro Yorhioka Director Yoshio Youhida a ‘Showo Babe Managing Halvor Michio Ueda Senior Kaltors Matsuo Nemoto Munenobu. Komami Rich Tou ‘Three years ff a i 175 Dometic: ora 5.400 Jan-Feb, 1968 asus only Ege of payments is sent bank check, pend Geyieian es ‘emt the Kan ie JA-THE JAPAN ARCHITECT INTERNATIONAL EDITION OF SHINKENG March, 1969 VOL. 44 No, 2.150 2 9 News and Comment Works uw 35 a a 50, 65 n 6 7 Summary in Spanish ‘Two Homes at Hanayama ‘A Residence for Me. A ‘A Hour at Kuminoge ‘The Hilide Howse A Howse by the Sea ‘The Kobayesht Residence ‘A House for the Architects Father ‘A Howse with « Lango Pillar ‘The Takomure Residence ‘The ‘Termuchl House ‘The Kaneko Resldenee ‘The Rite Howse Karo Shinohara neo Sakakura, arch. and aaoes. Yosbikado Tatcata ‘Atlie Aveliee B ‘Tho Hesbijina Architectural Design ‘Trutou Kimura, arch, and amoos, ‘The Takenaka Komuten Cay Lide Junko Mataikawa, Kazuhiko Sho ‘and Hiroko Kato ‘Masayoki Kurokawa, arch. and eames, ‘Sonam Takamgsances SE 1968 BEST essr IMPRESSIONS. OF + pONTENPORARY JAPANESE ARCHITECTURE Pasi Z 4 Mr, Roth ie an architect and a professor at. the Zurich Institute of Technology. Portcipation in the International Round Table on the Relations he and Western Arts (Sep 1968) finally gave me an opportunity to visit Japan and to experience at hand its traditional and modern archi- tecture. The Congress, which was very ciently organized by UNESCO and Gein, ede pose fritiel ex changes of views with members of var. ous pesons, and thse valuable meet. ees ew ech sore dices idea of architecture and life in Tapa Bit Sapon, of cour, well re, pad, Iaving been seqoeted "by UNESCO, Pei to write « paper forte ‘conference with the title “Traditional and Mode Jepanee Architecture. as sen hy-a Western Architect.” Ana fou papers on ltrature, the thester sd music were sent out all pert Pas xen before the conference. To he sar; the drafting of my report was fraught with dificuty for me, since, fsingto Japa forthe Se ime, 1 was shld to expand and intensify my pre Yiow knowledge of and: idsar abot Salina and modern Japanese archi eure by «thorough sadly of technical Titerature on the subject. I had to Sole part of my summer holidays to this task, but 1 rs ily do not regret rouble T ook. Having momber Ispance frend, I have fc cone to Noes for many years T. became etusined. with Kanto" Mackawa tn is as early as 1928, when, both young, ‘@rchitects working in the Atelier Le orbnsice & Pierre Jeanne, we were eed “inenecd by the pret Mater. Somewhat later’ I made’ the Aequaintance of Junzo Sakakura, the first apostle of the modern Japanese eon. ception of architecture, who designed the distinctive, ee nt Japanese Pa at the World's Fair in Paris, in 1937, Kenzo Tange and I have been frier since the “Post-CIAM” meeting in 1959. It is rather subsequently. we have met now and then when in the same places: Skopje working on town-plan the Otterlo, Holland, jobs (Tange g and I on school buildings) and in Kuwait (Tange ‘on the airport and T on school build: ings). In addition, 1 should like to recall Professors Kiyosi Seike, Shoichi Kawai, S. Koike, Dr. Yoshinobu Ashi hhara, and the young Masayuki Murazus chi, who worked for over a year in my studio. These friends and acquaintances, ng with people I met during my recent visit, mean a great deal to n and through them I feel very closely with the work of modem 1e architects ‘what are my impressions of contemporary Japanese architectur OF course, my stay in Japan, which lasted hardly two weeks, was much too brief for me to be able to obta ba tural situation there, Moreover, I visited only Tokyo, Kyoto and, with Kunio Maekawa, a temple area nestled in the hills in the environs of Kyoto. On re- reading my report drawn up for the UNESCO meeting, I noted with great satisfaction that what I had to say there hhas been totally confirmed by what 1 discovered on the spot in Japan. There- fore, I am taking the liberty of repro- ducing the pertinent section of my paper, incorporating a few minor cor: rections, inced picture of the actual arch Characteristic features of contemporary Japanese architecture ‘What are the characteristic features of contemporary Japanese architecture that are of especial interest tous Western architects and that can exert a fruitful influence on international architecture? Qualitatively, today publie buildings ‘and cultural centers take precedence cover housing. Housing, especially that subsidized for the masses, despite the urgency imposed by the war damage and the population explosion, scems to he neglected, Completed, interest large-scale projects ate still unknown to the West; nevertheless, an example worthy of mention and one that points — the way to the future is the 1956, hig rise group in the Harumi. residenti district of Tokyo, by Kunio Mackava. ‘The real reasons for this backwardness in the housing sector are unknown to me. It is possible that a certain retar influence is exerted by the conver: sion of Japanese the tradi tional single-family house to the idea of ing fro collective living in large-scale housing units ‘The fact that when one considers that the private house has been the only form ‘of housing in Japan for centuries. Wood is the prevailing building material in the contemporary house, although the product of modern technology and in- dustry are necessarily making their ap- pearance. In most cases, the traditional tatami mat is a decisive factor in the det plans. TI modular space conception, which was of decisive importance for Frank Lloyd Wright, contai ies for building with industrially fabricated standard elements, at present widely em- ployed for public housing in the Western connection, the 1 ination of house ‘reat poss countries. Tn Japanese degree of flexibility « funetionalspatial art valuable inspiration, and these qualities must on no. accoun industrialization and rationalization The Japanese private house se adapt to altered modes of living, as is clear from a study of equipment and In this respect, of integration of modern modes of lv. ing and equipment and appliances seems to be in full swing. This explains the widespread discrepancy between the thoroughly Japanese sense of spatial organization and the interior equipment, which quite often Western industrial products. be sacrificed to imply copied from Cultura centers and publle afice buildings aa here briefly analyzed from the following points of view: Defic nition of purpose—Spatial eonception— Construction and treatment of materials —Formal expression—Synthesis of the atts,en of rr ; sagt ultural activity w#* former times ; ‘of the upper ct being made accessible 10 today i = i tion by public agen the entire population by oe pee dalterately systematic and ae Se a ‘many institutional large and small hheatres and con centers, libraries, 1 schools and univer {ashion most clearly in the cerected in cert halls, you ‘museums, a5 well sity buildings. Some of these architec traps ae we reraie Be, en ee Petes ool ote, od Toll a seerdene withthe Iver Gate ote ee bekling, A eccacite fue thn nkgetin pti 6 et beeion vikin ceraieciarey a as Bee tcl city Sn carts hedaman Fo nisi Iga hts fee ee, min te Sil desert cries ‘must in the first instance be the envelope. Beet A chair, ocd fe We ee, in oe $e fat he lowing pss Melb: nang fou ae, cstvarl, bling ‘sow the nosis ot Bile be weet gas hops ofthe himen being sod of ruse society. In this respect too we Bind contemporary Japanese cultural centers 2 refton ofthe glorious sulted eed oes Spatit conception By spatial conception T mean the shaped ‘three-dimensional expression of the con. teat of the project. The richer the con tent, the richer and more differetisned ill be the spatial formation enseloning it This applies to «very high dee othe many excellent examples of Sood, ‘rm Japanese building for cultural ints tutions. Their most. striking, fetes sing ot iar and Activation of the spatial espe, ‘ence by integration of se z Mion Teele Sastigh and different commu illfol employment of Tight to clarity ial” relationships ng to the roof garden and merg- Ce rea accentuated ith sculptural elements. tecture ean never be a mere matter of and of spatial relationships. T also see be- 1 char- Carer ee epee As is well known, Japan is constantly ravaged by earthquakes. Though light, ene crarieeiaie ear eng Sree Palings and tas Beier aero Sanh deated yecal hectrae bn apres bling poe ee nara Tapanin very ett vere const fecme the dont oe saci meal epee or cnc and pale bags Ne tre ay rpltins rt be oe Moin lone artes oa Sa tema fred snc ho strat of he eine handing wlun,n dg The eed tee of Le Corben ea eo ee ae Pare si, Capel at Roan. beldags Chet“ Himees fe Te Gdanaet hag Iepne rine coe a ne rt ent feo Oe ope Hebi encra at ital gat ne te seth sca ied crt oan ore of nat apa etn Se pon nt ie se rm hs hte Mi Slvr fe fee aa Japanese wality of the reinforced eg My elements and sweepin, an Wy, reinforced concen, yet sensitivity, especially with rreait, "i surfaces, sometimes sang! warmth and intimacy ¢h i as ee ol Gs co ern architects are profoundly ae by this mastery of conception i"! surface treatment in the case as : forced concrete constructions, This he applies tothe dating and invent types of construction, the most faxing ing examples being perhaps the . construction of the sports arenas Kenzo Tange. Formal expression In the modern Japanese designs of ei tural centers and public buildings then are apparent not only clarity and wi confident strength, but also a conn tate artistie sense. It must be borne i mind that in traditional Japanese ari tecture, the isolated individual shape di not exist, nor did the self-exstent faa. Everything w visible, harmonious totality temporary Japanese architectural desi» much of this unity of parts and whok remains. The ¢ ‘ih integrated building type explains in pat the vigorous tendency to break up 0 by means of strong plastic articulation and a The seulptural char ter of modern Japanese architect bor in interiors and om exterio + nno doubt its most striking feature, th quality that we in the West feel to b° typically and distinctively Japane= Once more, the most impressive ex ples of this are the two Olympic sre by Kenzo Tange with their captivating elegance of total interior and exter” design, Another characteristic element of Japanese design is the exceptional dlevoted to details. Here again, trait constitutes a still valid basis, which hopefully, will continue in the fate In some’ buildings a certain form! playing with design for its own sake ® sible; T merely note this with! making any to special eriticiam. N° doubt, the tendency towards sculptur!! centichment entails @ certain danget overstepping the bounds. sct by th ature of the given task, both by i® inner essence and by the external €° integrated in an ind Tn coo ence of th sationcontest, Analogous tendencies in ae weary Western architecture have eee to. The American Seay been refer P Sintoy archi a pl jgidified “box archi ture” can probably be layful antithesis to the emewhat some less, stich tendencies a ture not be rer Newjed as leading the way to the Fee Henry van de Velde, (1863 reat pioneer of modern Eu- rchitecture, wrote an essay in hich gives 1s food for thought ‘Something new—why al- Novelty as ropes 1929 wl intitle was Fee camehing new way developed merely out of the real Sf personal fancy, gets us nowhere Novelty arising from the sphere of ef fective buman needs, ological achievements and from the exp sources of human creativity con- situs a guide line to the future, to cul- tural advance. These are some thoughts that immediately spring into the mind of a Western architect seeking to under- sand the principles of Japanese design. from new tech- Syuthess of the arts Architecture, handicrafts, sculpture and painting in old Japan constituted a tight- Jy integrated organic unity that was the expression of an analogous unity of thought and feeling, of religious and $ _lilesophical meditation. Incorporated in this unity was the external world of ‘ature as the immediate environment snd a component of the interior of the house. In view of this tradition, the Present striving for a synthesis of the Sts on the basis of new intellectual, stati, and social aims is not at all sur- rising. The transition from the tradi mal art of Japan, which, not really emote in time, was marked by a spiri ‘walzed abstraction of natural models, to the non-objective art ofthe present could ‘ade in a more natural manner and More swiftly than in the West. The Feiods which in the West produced a Ferfect unity between architecture and Sbtraciatylized art (Egypt, Roman- ‘aque, Gothic) lie much further back in Fast than is the case in Japan. In o ‘West, nineteenth century ns lure and arts amounted in effect to @ al decline of artistic creativity and of Antic unity. Architecture degenerated \o 4 heedless imitation of styles, and ining and sculpture became mere i Ht eproduction ofthe natr model. enewal of artistic creativity in eral was essential in order to obtain laboriously a usable basis for creative workers to start from. In this way the pre-conditions for a new, organic col. laboratio Fert grees and sclptors were created There i Probably no more convincing example Of this than the tl ecg at Le Corbusier. Naturally, the new con ception of a synthesis of the arts has to be carried forward both hy the Practising artists themselves and. by the institutions of society. The develop- ment in this direction is now in full swing in the West, both in the public and the private There is no doubt that Japan has well understood how to make use of the brief develop- ment period now available to her. ‘The synthesis of the arts realized in the best buildings of the last few years makes fan extraordinary impression on artists in the West. Strongly abstract Japanese art, which owes much of its impulse to the Western model, is more than pre- ared to be integrated into architecture. Sculpture is coming to the fore more obviously than painting, and this is casily understandable in view of the decidedly sculptural character of pre- sent-day Japanese architecture. There are at the present time in Japan a great number of outstanding scultptors and painters who feel inwardly drawn to architecture and are enthusiastically ready to work together with architects. Finally, trees, bushes, and flowers are integrated as essential elements inside and around buildings in a way that recalls the assured mastery of traditional Japanese artists. ‘The successful attempts of Japanese architects and artists to achieve a syn thesis of the arts are very encouraging to us in the West and constitute a proof that all this is not merely an idle fancy of artists, but corresponds to an actual need of modem mankind and society. During the conference, understand- ably enough, different aspects of archi tecture which I was not able to deal with in my paper came up. In addition, a umber of questions have been put'to ime by Mrs. Etsuko Hayashi, the charm- ing editor of the excellent journal 34Pax danciirrect, which is kindly sent tome regularly and which I study with keen interest; these questions I shall try to answer in what follows. Is there any difference between the current architectural situation in the West and in Japan? In replying to among painters ectors ‘question, I should from top to bottom: Olympic arenas by Ken: 2» Tange: Tokyo Metropolitan Festival Hall by Kunio Mackawa; Kyoto International Conference Hall by Sachio Otani like to confine my remarks to Europe. First of all, one important dif that became clearly apparent to us West- erers in conversations with our Japa- nese friends during the Congress derives from the fact that in Europe problems and tasks involving town and 1 planning are of more central i architects and planners, to the author: ities, and to the public at large than ap- pears to be the case in Japan. The reasons for this, no doubt, are firsly that we have learned our lessons and drawn certain conclusions from the chaotic urban growth that occurred dur- ing the heetic industrial expansion of the ninteenth century and, secondly, that we are able to derive constructive inspiration for our presentday town- planning schemes from the many exem- plary plans of cities dating from An- tiquity, the Middle Ages, the Renais- sance, and the Baroque period. How- ever, even more important is the fact that’ modern functional. town in the sense of the Charte d'Athéne of crest 10 i) can aed do 0 sea ose Toone the rl Si ‘scheme entails ind political dif cans 1988 ie ace sna ave Ta conotdated i a eco, amd politica fe Jlanning le} See Appropriate le a pent ad ich eel and the country noted fons evs i tance Hallands fe eey success town planning eso Eagland andthe Seand- Sock Tegidation is ‘counties ee the Federal Government. Our national \ of the utmost economie importance in my contr, an well ag the recreational fntrests of our one population, demand that we protec beautiful stretches of itry: : hes of country fram the Aesructive ets of building etvay wed, Basics portant sear ot town-plamsing, one thet of ae ‘al interest, i ding liner ithe planing and bug of housing projects. "Model netsh hood units with moderne, Satious types and inal Exopean cous Years, and ave fenihed ated pl centers cut sport insallaions, the West have the imprta cost flats of = have been built Jn the last few with the re facilities, such as shoppi ping centers, schools, and This sort of thing, We from 6 mention only the new English Neil fouhods, the New Towns the housing Colonie and urban extension projets sland, Germany, the Scandinavian ‘another problem that greatly com: ceo people fn Enrope and. in the United States is industrialization of building, the pre-fabrication of construc- tion elements with a view to reducing nilding costs and time of construction. eld ke to reall dhe frst pioneer work done by the Bi istry of Education in the field of construction using pre-fabricated sup- porting structures, wall and ceiling cle- mets, windows, doors, et. Since schol construction and, even more, housing are going to expand greatly in all coun: tries of the West, there is lively interest in industrial pre-fabrieation. In Switzer- land, known for a highly developed building industry, there has been con- siderable progress in the last few years, especially in the pre-fabrieation of con- crete elements, We Western architects, of course, keenly interested in the new architectural problems hound up with industrialized construction methods, ex tend our interest to both spatial and purely formal proble Another question put to me has to do with the status of the architect in the Western countries and his relation to the public authorities, As regards Switzerland and Scand avian countries, I believe T ean safely assert that his postion isa firmly estabe lished and highly respected one. ‘The reasons for this are the conscientious, extra-professional interest of architect in general social and cultural probleme and our professional associations. with active and ethical goals. ‘This status is, to be sure, constantly endangered by commercially oriented architects an thw no af aceon social mission, Anothes \nother important aspect of the pro: fession of architecture in the West tas 40 do wth competitions, which ase esp widewpread.Tn Switeeland, for exe ble, the communal cantonal a fede Authors fl eiged lmow ano mat either open or retried, for a rab fonatrcton pre tion end Snancng of comm cts? As. sociation SIA, by the Federation ot Swiss Architects BSA, and by the Swics Planning League BSP. tions, respected by the ities, are handled in a rigoroa tive fashion. Our experi’, te shown that competitions are vn tant especially for young because they offer them ge tunities. Many of our gifte architects have become fam competition awards and have been enabled to start. suece pendent careers. According tthe se way of looking at things, compeing are simply part and parcel of demoes, During my visit to Japan 1 gxthacy from conversations with young stchiteg that they seldom get @ chance to ule part in architectural competitions New trends in architecture in the West? First of all, I should like to sy ta at present we do not need any revel tionary new change of direction, | agree wholeheartedly with the spirit of Henry van de Velde's query “Something new — why always. something new?” One of the negative sides of our frenzied by political and intellectual slogans, is that the sensational, te absurd, and the commercialized occopy such an important place in our mss media and in therefore give rise to un certainty and confusion. To com siderable extent, this constant homhari ment of minds with slogans is ako responsible for the unrest and disoriet among students. It is not surprising that young architects sometimes dere and question seemingly fixed basic pri ciples of funetional architecture. OF course, a critical attitude toward the past is necessary and important if thee is to be any progress, above all if archi- tecture is to he given a meaninsfel social aim. ‘Those new proposals sem" ming from different Western counties calling for greater differentiation in the approach to social problems strike us very desirable antitheses to violent sit plification and schematization, which negate human and social postulate ly, it is my view that the architec! with a sense of responsibility. towar mankind and society detests all form of publicity and has no. interest it ultra-new erazes. The architect tre sense of his mission works on 'y different plane from that 0 These Public cute hae itp. archite, atop ra 4 youre, sth brows inthis vay ful inde ‘echnology and science