This vibrant, relevant study from architects Ando, Fujimori and Isozaki looks at the present moment of a centuries-old Japanese tradition, the chashitsu, or “tea room.” In first-person narratives, leading Japanese architects discuss their contemporary take on the classic tea ceremony space. Full-color photographs, design sketches and polished plans are clearly laid out along with text, and each chapter focuses on a number of works by a single architect. Fujimori’s chapter, for example, includes an elaborate tree-top tea house, an “enormous woven bamboo birdcage” called The Forum and a room built especially to host France’s President Chirac. Ando gets to the heart of the matter in his statement of purpose: “not to dwell solely on the abstract; but to explore abstract concepts by expressing them through material phenomena.” Three more architects-Isozaki, Kengo Kuma and Hiroshi Hara-discuss their designs, and how they relate to the genre’s traditions, in similar terms, focusing on the “tension between abstraction and representation.” Especially fascinating are discussions of materials used: for Fujimori, the most important components are “raw, unworked materials” and “amateur artisans” to do all the building. Throughout, the houses’ elegance and simplicity are reflected in the text; lush images, meanwhile, provide tranquil warmth and a real sense of place.
136 pages.
