Description
Book SynopsisThis book discusses the architectural influence that Japan and the West have had on each other during the last 150 years. While the recent histories of Western and Japanese architecture have been well recorded, they have rarely been interwoven. Based on extensive research, this book provides a synthetic overview that brings together the main themes of Japanese and Western architecture since 1850 and shows that neither could exist in its present state without the other. It should be no surprise that the Bank of Japan in Tokyo is based upon the national banks in Brussels and London, or that Le Corbusier's cabanon at Cap Martin in the south of France is based upon an eight mat tatami room. In considering these histories, this book demonstrates the mutual inter-dependence of both architectural cultures while, at the same time, acknowledging their differences. In conclusion, the book moves beyond style and structure to the Japanese concept of ma - the pause or the space between, and demonstrates how this Zen Buddhist concept has found a place in Western architecture.
Trade Review"An ambitious and exhaustively researched book.... Jackson's well-illustrated essays track important figures, movements and themes, from the isolationist, feudal pre-Meji period to the present, switching back and forth between parallel or related developments in Japan, Europe and the USA." - Paul Baxter, Architecture Today
Table of ContentsPrelude. Part 1: Shogun. 1: the Chained Country; 2. The Japanese Ambassadors; 3. The Land of the Morning; Part 2: Meiji. 4. The Japanese Pavilions; 5. The Art-Architects; 6. The Manners of the West; 7. The Western Architects; 8. The Japanese Architects; Part 3. Taisho. 9.The Winds of Heaven; 10. The Shaken Reed; 11. The Principle of Evolution; Part 4: Showa. 12. The Artist Samurai; 13. The Presence of Le Corbusier; 14. The Pacific Rim; 15. The West and Japan
