Japanese Architecture

Paired w/Nigel's Studio

In our contemporary condition of free flowing information, Japanese architects are increasingly receiving international attention and most architecture students have either heard of or seen images of projects by names like Kuma,Ando, Ban, Ito, Fujimoto,Atelier Bow-Wow etc.At the same time most of Japanese architecture history is ignored in the canonical account of architecture history and inevitably falls out of general survey courses.This unit is not simply a remedy that offers the parallel story of architectural developments in Japan, but a critical examination of a varied set of approaches to architecture informed by changing contexts in a different part of the world.The unit is not a survey of the masters and monuments of Japan, but a series of thematic lenses to understand Japanese architectural production from ancient times to the present.Topics covered include: aesthetics, spatial concepts, sequences and promenades, tectonics, hybrid programming and activities, building and landscape and Japanese urbanism.

The primary objectives of this studies unit are:

  • To equip students to consider the built environment through broader perspectives
  • To identify useful design frameworks derived from Japanese architectural developments
  • To gain greater understanding of a wide range of Japanese architectural production
  • To develop architectural research and analytical skills