Abstract
This paper summarizes a survey on the influence of milieu in the architectural concepts of a Japanese architect. The evolution of the residential architecture of Shinohara Kazuo has been analyzed through its relationship with social, physical and mental space related to the tendencies of milieu in the spatial environment. Reference to Society (through tradition and modernity), to Nature (in the perception of landscape), and to Space (physical space of the city and mental space of architectural concepts) revealed the influence of milieu. The data was compiled from the architect's discourse in writing and drawings. The influence of milieu on residential architecture has been stressed through the modelization of housing spatial structures and urban patterns. Keywords: Shinohara Kazuo; milieu; discourse; spatial conception 1. Introduction thinking. Through the analysis and comparisons of his 1.1 Aim of the research and presentation of the drawings and writings we can extract the concepts, the keywords ideas and the discourse that support the work of the The aim of this study is to stress the relationship architect. The architect produces drawings, sketches, b e t w e e n a r c h i t e c t u r a l c o n c e p t i o n a n d m i l i e u , pictures, and texts that form the primary material from considering that the milieu in which a building is which we can understand his intentions in his work (see conceived and placed has an effect on the conception Boudon, 1992). of architecture. To test this idea, the evolution of Throughout his career as a professor-architect, how the residential architecture of Shinohara Kazuo Shinohara Kazuo always tried to define the relationship has been confronted by the influence of the Japanese between thinking and designing in his practice of milieu is discussed. architecture. In his laboratory, at the Tokyo Institute of Milieu is defined as: " The relationship of a society Technology, he concentrated on the space of residential to nature and space" (Berque, 1986), and it is therefore architecture, as a type of architecture on a human scale r e l a t e d t o t h e n a t u r a l a n d c u l t u r a l a s p e c t s o f t h e that interacts with Japanese society. For more than environment where the architecture takes place. To thirty years, he developed spatial and philosophical survey the relationship between architecture and milieu c o n c e p t s o u t o f t h e c o n f r o n t a t i o n b e t w e e n h i s it has been necessary to consider the architectural architecture and its social, cultural, and physical work as a part of a general process of space creation. contexts. T h e c o n c e p t i o n o f a w o r k o f a r c h i t e c t u r e c a n n o t be isolated from: site cost (economy), legislation, 2 . P o s t w a r J a p a n a n d t h e re i n t e r p re t a t i o n o f topography, surrounding landscape, climate, history, Japanese traditional architecture natural environment (fûdo), and cultural environment, 2.1 Historical background (see Fig.1.). Based on this fact, the author decided A s P r o f e s s o r M a s u d a To m o y a e x p l a i n e d , t h e to analyze the production of the architectural work isolation of Japan from 1636 to 1868 had a strong through the definition of a "Social Space", a "Physical influence on spatial conception and it's relationship to Space", and a "Mental Space" (see Lefebvre, 1974). nature in Japanese society (Masuda, 1969). The pre- 1.2 Methodology and choice of the case study The influence of milieu can be observed in the architect's conception of space and in his way of *Contact Author: Benoît Jacquet, PhD Student, University of Kyoto, Graduate School of Engineering, Laboratory of Architectural Design, Katsura Campus, C-Cluster 2, Nishigyo- ku, Kyoto 615-8510, Japan Tel / Fax: +81-75-383-2906 e-mail: aa.benoit@archi.kyoto-u.ac.jp Fig.1. Architectural Work confronted by Milieu Tendencies ( Received October 7, 2005 ; accepted December 13, 2005 ) Journal of Asian Architecture and Building Engineering/May 2006/20 15 war commoner's house (minka or machiya) and the "modern" than that of the minka, and its roots can architectonic of the engawa illustrate the particular be found in Yayoi era storehouses – Yayoi comes relationship between architecture, garden and landscape after Jômon – that have an elevated floor (takayuka (see Fig.2.). Japan started to open to western culture jûkyo). The light structure of Katsura's shoin, and its in the Meiji era but it was not until after the Second relationship to the garden, has been considered as World War that some Western building methods were the premise of the modern movement in architecture widely adopted. The decline of craftsmanship and the i n J a p a n d u e t o it s t r a n s p a r e n c y a n d o p e n s p ac e . discovery of new building methods and techniques, A c c o r d i n g t o S h i n o h a r a , t h e s h o i n ' s s p a t i a l i t y i s such as reinforced concrete, led to the development of different from that of the open space of European a modern architecture that was used to rebuild Japanese modernism's "glass box" and it is rather a "non open cities after the war. space" (Shinohara, 1960, 1996). The origin of Japanese From the mid-fifties, some architects started to refer space comes from the Indian theory of void, a void to Japanese tradition in order to develop an original made of symbolic enclosure and physical openness, the architecture. For instance, professor Tange Kenzô opposite of a "glass box". referred to the Royal Villa of Katsura (Katsura rikyû) The tearoom combines the spatiality of both the that was seen by modern western architects as a symbol popular space of the minka and the aristocratic space of of the modernity inherent in traditional Japanese the shoin. It is also an example of the non-openness of spatiality (see Taut, 1937; Gropius, Tange, Ishimoto, Japanese space. The space of the chashitsu (tearoom) is 1960). In the same period Seike Kiyoshi, professor of the expression of human sensitivity, where the human Shinohara Kazuo, designed houses using contemporary emotions are awakened by its ornamentation and by materials and technology like steel, glass, and concrete reference to the aesthetic of wabi and sabi (Suzuki, while at the same time referring to Japanese tradition. 1959; Shinohara, 1960). 2.3 Restoration of irrationality In the fifties and sixties, during the construction of the modern Japanese landscape, reference to Japanese traditional space was an opportunity to think about the role of tradition in contemporary Japan. The originality of Shinohara Kazuo's point of view comes from his understanding of Japanese space and its application in the design of housing projects. Shinohara Kazuo Fig.2. Traditional Pattern of Urban House opposed his theory of residential architecture to the 2.2 Japanese space references rationalism and functionalism that were leading the From the beginning of his career in 1953 Shinohara reconstruction of post-war Japan. Shinohara stressed Kazuo studied Japanese space composition, from the importance of human scale in the spatiality of which he developed a methodology for the design Japanese architecture. He also developed the idea that of residential architecture using Japanese spatiality. Japanese space had an irrational (higôriteki) structure, Shinohara's most representative Japanese space models which is different from the conception of space that are: the minka, the shoin of the aristocratic residence, was developed in parallel to the evolution of Sciences and the chashitsu. He referred to these archetypes in in the West (Shinohara, 1964). his first theory of residential architecture (Shinohara, By using a spatiality that he extracted from his study 1960). of the structure of Japanese space, Shinohara wanted One of Shinohara Laboratory's first research themes to add another dimension to the Cartesian modern was the survey of a village of minka, in the suburbs of movement of postwar Japan. On this new dimensional Nara (see Shinohara, 1966, 1996). Shinohara had been axis, he would set the "coordinates of irrationality" interested in the strong relationship between minka (Shinohara, 1960, 1996). This irrationality refers to architecture and nature. He stated that the minka was the aspects of the Japanese conception of space that not architecture but a part of nature (Shinohara, 1960). were not defined by rational principles, but rather by According to him, the minka is the expression of the sensitivity specific to human senses and emotions. In natural milieu and it is also the result of collaboration other words, Shinohara considers that "the house is art" between man and nature. This relationship contributes (Shinohara 1960, 1962). Hence, a work of architecture to giving a meaning to human dwelling (Shinohara, is similar to a work of art when the architect invests 1960). The origin of the minka has been dated back to much of his personal and mental energy in it. the prehistoric Jômon era (prior to 300 BC), and can be 2.4 Japanese space methodology found in the character of the pit house (tateana jûkyo), In order to moderate the rationalist and functionalist which had an underground earthen-floor. methods of postwar Japanese architecture, Shinohara The shoin of Katsura Royal Villa is another example Kazuo invented a methodology based on the use of the of Japanese space representative of the Japanese spatial concepts that he drew from the abstract spaces sense of beauty. This kind of architecture looks more of Japanese traditional architecture (Shinohara 1967). 16 JAABE vol.5 no.1 May 2006 Benoît Jacquet The analysis of Shinohara's discourse revealed five atmosphere of the minka and Jômon era's prehistoric concepts, which can be classified as "coordinates of Japanese pit house. With its cubic shape and its clear irrationality": Japanese planning (division / frontality) the "House First, the "division" (bunkatsu) composition plan: in White" is closer to Yayoi tradition. In other words, it consists of dividing the whole shape of a room in one could see in these two houses the two pulses of order to make smaller rooms – by using sliding doors aesthetics described in Friedrich Nietzsche's The birth or height difference. It is the opposite of western of Tragedy (Nietzsche, 1872). The "House of Earth" architecture's "connection" (renketsu) composition belongs to the Dionysiac side of the irrational and plan that is composed of spatial units (closed rooms) obscure forces of nature, and the "House in White" connected together (Shinohara, 1996); incarnates the plastic beauty of the Apollonian tradition " F r o n t a l i t y " ( s h ô m e n s e i ) : i t c o m e s f r o m t h e of Greece's pure white forms. " d i v i s i o n " . I t i s a t w o - d i m e n s i o n a l p i c t u r e - l i k e I n " H o u s e i n W h i t e " , t h e " c o o r d i n a t e s o f elevation seen from a perpendicular direction. In irrationality" are presented and abstracted in the white, traditional architecture, a representative frontality is high-ceilinged main room. Compared to previous that of the upper stage of Nishi Hongan-ji's Hall (kô no houses, Shinohara emphasized the organicity of the ma) in Kyoto (Shinohara 1964; Inoue, 1969); daikokubashira (central pillar). By contrasting the "Wasteful space" (muda na kûkan): it is an extra pillar's organic bark with the white walls, he wanted space that has no particular function in the house. It to stress a new relationship to nature, which he called has been proposed against the minimal measurement "the construction of man-made nature" (jinkô shizen of rational and functional architecture. According to no kôchiku), as a relationship between nature and man- Shinohara, space must be "immeasurable" and involve made construction. human scale, in such a way that even a small room can provide an impression of spaciousness (Shinohara, 1960). "Style" (yôshiki) and ornament: they are the artistic expressions of an epoch. They correspond to some social and aesthetic rules that partake of architecture (Shinohara, 1960). " O rg a n i c i t y " ( y û k i s e i ) : i t c a n b e f o u n d i n t h e elements that symbolize nature. In his analysis of the minka, Shinohara mentioned the organicity of the doma, the earthen-floor, and the daikokubashira, the Fig.3. Conceptual Model of "House in White" (1966) central pillar, as symbols of a relationship to natural elements (Shinohara, 1967). 3.2 From open square to enclosed cube The "House in White" (1966) is the final model 3. The crossing of modernism in the use of Japanese space references (see Fig.3.), 3.1 Abstraction of the Japanese space structure and it also introduces the "second style". Shinohara Until the end of the sixties, Shinohara Kazuo only gradually stopped referring to Japanese tradition after designed houses with a Japanese space structure, the completion of the "House in White", and another a c c o r d i n g t o t h e m e t h o d o l o g y h e d e f i n e d . T h i s relationship to milieu appeared. He developed some methodology can be divided into three main steps: (1) spatial concepts that were in gestation in the "House in "extraction" of the specific Japanese spaces, taken from White", such as the "construction of man-made nature" tradition; (2) "simplification" of the space structure, and the abstraction of the relationship to nature. ornamentation and style; (3) "abstraction" of the The "Yamashiro House" (yamashiro san no ie) of space structure, in order to use and adapt the tradition 1967 is characterized by a central square shape and t o a c o n t e m p o r a r y c o n t e x t a n d e x p r e s s i o n . T h e the necessary "connection space" (Shinohara, 1971). "coordinates of irrationality" are the tools that result This square is an open-air interior garden – elevated 90 from this process. They were used to build the series of centimeters from the street and the carport – which is houses that represents Shinohara's reinterpretation of connected to all the rooms. the tradition of Japanese space. In 1968, the central square space of "Suzusho In 1966, Shinohara Kazuo completed two houses H o u s e " ( s u z u s h ô s a n n o i e ) t a k e s t h e f o r m o f a in the suburbs of Tokyo: the "House of Earth" (chi no spacious main room where Shinohara developed the ie) and the "House in White" (shiro no ie). These two "construction of man-made nature". Although the main houses are the representation of the two streams of room is opened to the beautiful surrounding landscape, Japanese tradition (as exposed by Shinohara, 1958; Shinohara wanted to recreate inside the house an Tange, 1960). For the "House of Earth" Shinohara artificial perception of the landscape. The architectural c o n c e i v e d a " B l a c k s p a c e " w i t h a n u n d e rg r o u n d work expresses the intervention of human activity bedroom. This pathological space refers to the dugout (Shinohara, 1971). JAABE vol.5 no.1 May 2006 Benoît Jacquet 17 Finally, in 1970, the "Incomplete House" (mikan no ie) is characterized by a central enclosed cube that has no relationship with the exterior environment, a n d n o r e f e r e n c e t o J a p a n e s e s p a t i a l i t y. S t e p b y step, Shinohara Kazuo went from one architectural expression to another (see Fig.4.), from traditional open-square to enclosed cube. Fig.5. Conceptual Model of "Incomplete House" (1970) Fig.4. Process of Abstraction of an Interior Cubic Space 3.3 Formation of an abstract milieu According to Shinohara Kazuo, the "construction of man-made nature" was a reaction to the destruction of the natural landscape in Japan – due to the quick expansion of cities – and an attempt to find another relationship to nature inside architecture (Shinohara, 1971). Indeed, during the period of high economic Fig.6. Pattern of the Urban House in the Seventies growth between 1955 and 1973 the city of Tokyo perspective. Shinohara modelized the Cube in 1970 grew from about 6 million to 12 million inhabitants. after a series of abstractions of Japanese spaces, and In the seventies, Japan reached a level of prosperity an adaptation to contemporary expression. But, in the equivalent to most industrialized and modernized same way as the "House in White", the model of the c o u n t r i e s , b u t i t s l a n d s c a p e w a s t o t a l l y c h a n g e d "Incomplete House" was gradually transformed by the because of the expansion of the cityscape. In the urban influence of milieu. environment, the reference to nature became difficult After the "Incomplete House", the Cube lost its and some architects started to create introverted houses central and introverted position (see Fig.7.). First, in designed to protect their occupants from city activity as the "Shino House" (shino san no ie), the Cube was they searched for another relationship to the changing moved to the periphery in order to have physical milieu. Shinohara's concept of "construction of man- contact with the outside. And then in the "Cubic made nature" was an answer to this quest. Forest" (chokuhôtai no mori), the fissure connects the In the seventies' pattern of the urban house (see cubic entrance hall to a main room composed by a Fig.6.) – which corresponds to the structure of the double cube with large lateral openings. The design "Incomplete House" –, the densification of the land is of the following houses mirrored this deterioration of followed by the disappearance of the exterior garden the interior Cube model until its total disappearance in and engawa. The house is closed to the cityscape the "House in Itoshima" (itoshima no jûtaku). In the and the traditional inner garden (nakaniwa) has been "House in Itoshima", Shinohara Kazuo reversed the replaced by an interior space in the centre of the house. concept of the enclosed Cube and designed an exterior A six-meter high, central, white, concrete cube, lit cubic frame opened to an ideal landscape of mountain by a two meter-diameter domed skylight, dominates and water (sansui). The fissure and Cube compose a the "Incomplete house". The use of a three dimensional kind of spatial instrument that borrows the landscape c u b e i s a m e a n s t o e l i m i n a t e " f r o n t a l i t y " a n d (shakkei) (see Fig.8.). "division", the main features of the Japanese spatiality. The theme of the "construction of man-made nature" Shinohara Kazuo succeeded in creating a mental space and the will to enclose architectural nature inside an that refers to an artificial milieu, made of a topology enclosed cube is comparable to the Enclosed Garden of void (cube) and "valleys" (fissure), with mechanical (Hortus Conclusus) of Middle Ages European cities air conditioning and neutral light, which is filtered by a (see Aben & de Wit, 1999). Both spatial structures zenithal dome opening (see Fig.5.). aim to concentrate the expression of an ideal nature, domesticated and reinterpreted by man in a delimitated 4. Towards landscape and new milieus space. 4.1 Opening of the Cube to landscape 4.2 Literary milieu The Cube of the "Incomplete House" is Shinohara's "Tanikawa House" (tanikawa san no jûtaku, 1974), r e s p o n s e t o t h e m o d e r n i s t c u b e , b u t S h i n o h a r a was designed under the literary influence of the client – Kazuo reached this form through a totally different the poet Tanikawa Shuntarô – and Shinohara's intention 18 JAABE vol.5 no.1 May 2006 Benoît Jacquet conscious that he could not control the whole cityscape. Using the concept of the spatial machine, Shinohara Kazuo started to experiment with an architecture that related to the urban confusion. The "House in Uehara" (uehara dôri no jûtaku), built in 1976 in the lively district of Shibuya (Tokyo) is an example of the urban house of the mid-seventies (see Fig.11.). Shinohara wanted to create a fragment of the urban Fig.7. Variations of the Cube and Opening to Landscape chaos (Shinohara, 1979). He developed the concept of "savage space", inspired by his interpretation of Lévi- Strauss's Savage mind (Shinohara, 1979; Lévi-Strauss, 1962). This savagery is represented by the strong and imposing concrete structure of the house (see Fig.10.). In "Towards an Architecture", Shinohara Kazuo re- evaluated the Modernist tradition in regards to the relationship between form and function (Shinohara, Fig.8. Spatial Instrument of "House in Itoshima" 1 9 8 1 ; L e C o r b u s i e r, 1 9 2 3 ) . F r o m t h i s a n a l y s i s , to experiment with some philosophical references, Shinohara developed the concept of "Zero-degree s u c h a s G i l l e s D e l e u z e ' s c o n c e p t o f " M a c h i n e Machine" (reido no kikai) as a meaningful architectural littéraire" (Deleuze, 1964). These literary references work. In the urban milieu, residential architecture has gave an original feature to the architectural work. The mutated into a degree-zero machine that has a degree- topography and the landscape were also physically zero level of relationship with the environment (for the involved in the design process. Shinohara invented concept of "degree-zero", see Barthes, 1953). It means several concepts such as: "naked space" (ragyô no that the architecture has become a machine whose kûkan), "spatial machine" (kûkan kikai), "traversality" function is to produce a direct relationship with the (ôdan). According to Tanikawa, Shinohara designed milieu. In other words, architecture became milieu. a "winter house" that is like a "pioneer cabin" and a "summer house" that "does not need to be a house" (Shinohara, 1975). In the "summer room", the floor is left naked: earthen and inclined. This space is emptied of everything but the wooden structure pillars that sustain the roof, and a bench (see Fig.9.). The encounter between the inclined ground and the man-made structure's (geometric space) produces a gap of "illogical functions". According to the creator, the work of architecture emerges from this accidental encounter (Shinohara, 1975). It is a spatial machine that does not have any rational meaning but provides Fig.10. Conceptual Model of "House in Uehara" (1976) a naked space in which the dweller can freely create his peculiar spatial sensations. By proceeding through the "traversality" or this space, the dweller encounters illogical functions to which he can give a particular meaning. Fig.11. Pattern of the Urban House in the Mid-Seventies 5. Conclusion In this study, the evolution of the residential housing design of Shinohara Kazuo has been divided into three different tendencies: (tradition, the crossing of modernism, and the opening to landscape) and periods: Fig.9. Conceptual Model of "Tanikawa House" (1974) (the sixties, the early-seventies, and the mid-seventies), which correspond to different types of relationship to 4.3 Confusion in urban milieu milieu. A specific urban pattern – in which Shinohara In the mid-seventies, the discourse on Japanese cities Kazuo designed his architecture – has been defined for changed. This was partly because of the slow down in each of these tendencies of the milieu. urbanization and partly because the architect became JAABE vol.5 no.1 May 2006 Benoît Jacquet 19 17) Shinohara, K. (1975) "Ragyô no kûkan wo ôdan suru toki", The survey revealed that there is an evident influence Shinkenchiku. Tokyo: Shinkenchiku-sha, October 1975. of milieu in Shinohara's architectural design, given that 18) Shinohara, K. (1979) "The Savage Machine as an Exercise", The each series of houses are characterized by unique space Japan Architect. Tokyo: Shinkenchiku-sha, March 1979. structures and concepts, and a particular perception of 19) Shinohara, K. (1981) "Towards an Architecture", The Japan Architect. Tokyo: Shinkenchiku-sha, September 1981. the landscape. 20) Shinohara, K. (1996) Shinohara Kazuo. Tokyo: TOTO Shuppan T h i s s t u d y f o c u s e d o n t h e t r a n s f o r m a t i o n o f 21) Taut, B. (1937) Houses and People of Japan. London-Tokyo: architecture, on the variability and evolution of urban Gridford - Sanseido. patterns, but it also revealed some constant features. There is constancy in design pattern (the square shape, the structural pillar system), in relation to man-made nature, and in some spatial concepts (the "division" of space, the "traversality"). In general, the influence of milieu in the residential architecture of Shinohara Kazuo can be characterized by: 1- The reaction of Shinohara Kazuo towards Japanese s o c i e t y a n d i t s " s o c i a l s p a c e " ( c r e a t e d b y t h e rationalist and functionalist post-war streams); 2- The creation of an artificial landscape inside the house, in relation to the transformation of Japan's "physical space", the destruction of nature, and city growth; 3- The architectural conception and understanding of the cityscape that express Shinohara's peculiar "mental space". The relationship between architecture and milieu interacts inside this comprehension of Society, Nature, and Space. References 1) Aben, R & de Wit, S. (1999) The Enclosed Garden. Rotterdam: 010 Publishers. 2) Barthes, R. (1953) Le degré zéro de l'écriture. Paris: Editions du seuil. 3) Berque, A. (1986) Le sauvage et l'artifice. Les Japonais devant la nature. Paris: Gallimard. 4) Deleuze, G. (1964) Proust et les signes. Paris: Puf. 5) Inoue, M. (1969) Space in Japanese Architecture. New York- Tokyo: Weatherhill. 6) Le Corbusier (1923) Vers une architecture. Paris: Editions Cré et Cie. 7) Lefebvre, H.(1974) La production de l'espace. Paris: Anthropos. 8) Lévi-Strauss, C. (1962) La pensée sauvage. Paris: Plon. 9) Masuda, T. (1969) Architecture universelle: Japon. Fribourg: Office du livre. 10) Nietzsche, F. (1872) The Birth of Tragedy. New York: Vintage Books, 1967, trans. W. Kaufmann. 11) Shinohara, K. (1958) "Nihon no fûdo no naka kara", Shinkenchiku. Tokyo: Shinkenchiku-sha, September 1958. 12) S h i n o h a r a , K . ( 1 9 6 0 ) " J û t a k u r o n " , S h i n k e n c h i k u . To k y o : Shinkenchiku-sha, April 1960. 13) Shinohara, K. (1962) "Jûtaku ha geijutsu de aru", Shinkenchiku. Tokyo: Shinkenchiku-sha, May 1962. 14) Shinohara, K. (1964) "The Japanese conception of space", The Japan architect. Tokyo: Shinkenchiku-sha, special issue, June 15) S h i n o h a r a , K . ( 1 9 6 7 ) " J û t a k u r o n " , S h i n k e n c h i k u . To k y o : Shinkenchiku-sha, July 1967. 16) S h i n o h a r a , K . ( 1 9 7 1 ) S h i n o h a r a K a z u o . 11 H o u s e s a n d Architectural Theory. Tokyo: Bijutsu Shuppan-sha. 20 JAABE vol.5 no.1 May 2006 Benoît Jacquet
Journal
Journal of Asian Architecture and Building Engineering
– Taylor & Francis
Published: May 1, 2006
Keywords: Shinohara Kazuo; milieu; discourse; spatial conception
