The Japanese House

In the West, the Japanese house has reached iconic status in its architecture, decoration and style. Is this neat, carefully constructed version of Japanese life in fact a myth? Inge Daniels goes behind the doors of real Japanese homes to find out how highly private domestic lives are lived in Japan. The book examines every aspect of the home and daily life-from decoration, display, furniture and the tatami mat, to eating, sleeping, gift-giving, recycling and worship. For students and researchers in anthropology and architecture, The Japanese House re-evaluates contemporary Japanese life through an ethnographic lens, examining key topics of consumption, domesticity and the family. Highly illustrated throughout, the book will appeal to all who those are interested Japanese culture, and in how and why people live the way they do in modern Japan.

With over 200 stunning photographs, this Japanese design and architecture book showcases some of the most beautiful homes in Japan. The pure beauty of Japanese architecture and design has inspired many of the world's top architects and designers. The grace and elegance of the Japanese sensibility is reflected in both modern and traditional Japanese homes, from their fluid floor plans to their use of natural materials. In The Japanese House, renowned Japanese photographer Noboru Murata has captured this Eastern spirit with hundreds of vivid color photographs of 15 Japanese homes. As we step behind the lens with Murata, we're witness to the unique Japanese aesthetic, to the simple proportions modeled after the square of the tatami mat; to refined, rustic decor; to earthy materials like wood, paper, straw, ceramics, and textiles. This is a glorious house-tour readers can return to again and again, for ideas, inspiration or simply admiration.

"Published on the occasion of the exhibition 'The Japanese House: architecture & life after 1945,' this catalogue contains a vast selection of photographs, drawings, projects and analyses offering a comprehensive overview of Japanese residential architecture from the post-war period to the present day. 13 thematic sections present different aspects of the research, documenting the work of archistars such as Toyo Ito, Kazuyo Sejima and Kenso Tange, the contributions of architects less well known outside Japan and the experimentation of the younger generations. In parallel, essays by the curators and by Hiuroyasu Fujiola and Kenjiro Hosaka, along with biographies of all the architects, painstakingly map the country's domestic architecture"--

Midcentury modernism meets Japanese design in three revolutionary American buildings--the products of a unique, sustained, cross-cultural collaboration In 1953, Japanese architect Junzo Yoshimura designed a now-classic Japanese house and garden that he called Shofuso. It was built in Nagoya, Japan, and shipped to New York in 1954, where it was exhibited at the Museum of Modern Art and then relocated to Philadelphia's Fairmount Park. The curators of MoMA's House in the Garden exhibition highlighted its synthesis of historic Japanese architecture with modern architecture: the clarity of the house's post and beam structure, its flexibility of use and the close relationship of indoor and outdoor spaces. This extensively illustrated volume centers on Yoshimura's design for Shofuso and two allied sites located in New Hope, Bucks County, Pennsylvania: Raymond Farm (1939-41), a live-work residence built by Antonin and Noémi Raymond within the fabric of an existing 18th-century Quaker farmhouse; and Nakashima Studios, a complex of structures designed by George Nakashima over three decades (1947-77) to serve his furniture-making business and as his family's home. Each site, in its own way, is the embodiment of the personal relationships and cross-cultural collaborations among this group of architects and designers. The Raymonds, along with Yoshimura, Nakashima and others, came to understand Japan's changing environment through the act of building, through collaboration and travel. Together, they extended these lessons into the furniture and furnishings of modern living in both Japan and the United States. This volume documents an exhibition of objects and ephemera mounted at Shofuso. New York-based architectural photographer Elizabeth Felicella captures each site in a portfolio of newly commissioned images. Essays by Ken Tadashi Oshima and William Whitaker, illustrated with historical photographs, family snapshots and architectural drawings, further elucidate this important chapter in the history of modern architecture and design.

A remarkable classic work on traditional Japanese architecture and its general integrative quality, the order of space and form, the flexibility of partitions and room functions and other important or unique qualities. The author describes in detail, and with numerous architectural plans and drawings, the influence of the anatomy of the Japanese human body on traditional units of measurement and on house construction. This work is not simply a description of the features of the Japanese house, but "an invitation to probe the possibilities of utilizing this architectural achievement of the Japanese …in modern living and building," according to the author, who further believes that the unique features of the Japanese house are better suited to serve as a pattern for contemporary housing than any other form of residential structure.

Japanese houses today have to contend with unique factors that condition their design, from tiny plots in crowded urban contexts to ever-present seismic threats. These challenges encourage their architects to explore alternating ideas of stability and ephemerality in various ways, resulting in spaces that are as fascinating as they are idiosyncratic. Their formal innovation and attention to materials, technology and measures to coax in light and air while maintaining domestic privacy make them cutting-edge residences that suggest new ways of being at home. Contemporary Japanese architecture has emerged as a substantial force on the international scene ever since Kenzo Tange won the Pritzker Prize in 1987. This overview of 50 recent houses powerfully demonstrates Japan_s enduring commitment to design innovation.

Nowhere in the world have architects built homes as small as in Japan, and nowhere with such success. This title presents the designs of the latest generation of architects and situates them in the historical evolution of Japanese housing. The extremely small Japanese dwelling, by Western standards, can barely be considered a comfortable place. This requires knowledge of the traditional Japanese home, the family culture and the limitations of building in densely populated areas. The strength of the Japanese dwelling turns out not to lie in a rational quantity of square metres, but to be of a spiritual nature. Using critical research, interviews and projects, This book presents the state of the art of the individual house in Japan. In addition, it provides insight into the unique design approach of different generations of Japanese architects. The 21 completed homes in this reference book are richly illustrated with drawings and photographs. In this way, this book offers inspiration for the construction of unique small dwellings.