Thanks to the overwhelming clarity of [Le Corbusier's] positions, the bewitching nature of his epigrammatic style and the already-powerful international movement for Modernism, the impact he had on a rising generation of Japanese architects would prove to be immense. But it would be the nature of that impact to be felt only in conditions of overwhelming ambivalence. — The New York Times
Nikil Saval traces Japan's modernism back to Le Corbusier citing influences on Kunio Maekawa and Kenzo Tange. Japan was the earliest country in all of East Asia to engage with Le Corbusier's work in the late 19th century, and by the 1930's many of his books has been translated into Japanese.
The piece navigates conflicting views in Japan with the introduction of modernism and the “Japan tradition debate”. Saval explores the struggle around a desire to embrace global modernity while also retaining a sense of tradition or “Japaneseness” in the culture.
4 Comments
Sullivan + Japanese traditional arch > Prairie Style + FLW > Early Euro Modernism (Behrens) > Bauhaus + Le Corbusier > American / Japanese Int. Style Modernism > .......
NYT and MoMA still promoting the Euro modern creationism myth narrative .... lame
Interesting to read about Prairie Style history, which influenced the European modernists before dying off (around WWI) as client wives, never fans of PS, wanted European beaux-arts revival. It’s not until Modernism is reimported by those suave talking Euros again that the wives buy in fully.
Same story with the Japanese architects. They get reimported their own sh*t and told it’s the future.
There was a time when the USA began to create its own architecture with folks Frank Lloyd Right, Louis Sullivan and others. Along came Gropius and others from Europa to Harvard and the fledging got tossed in the waste basket. I have hope that with care it will fly again! Lou Kahn tried his best.
The impact of Le Corbusier was transmitted directly from mentor to student in a direct line. Kenzo Tange was the teacher of Fumihiko Maki, not just Isozaki and Kurokawa, and Maki is even now building in the Corbusien manner. Much like Richard Meier, the formal principles do not change, only the local execution.
I guess that idea of tension doesnt fit the narrative of the writer though so a big chunk of archtiecture is excised...
To be honest I don't feel the tension so much. People like or dislike contemporary architecture in the manner of Sejima and Ito and Fujimoto, but Modernism is so ingrained into the system that you can buy factory houses (the normal form of housing in Japan) that are clearly modernist, or clearly FLW knock-offs. And of course there is always the option to buy a house that looks like a Mcmansion. Few people buy Japanese style homes because they are frankly not comfortable to live in (our family home is a 150 year old farmhouse and it is just bearable in the summer and deathly cold in the winter, though beautiful in parts). Tatami rooms are common enough, but that is about it. Spatially I would say that Sejima and Fujimoto are more traditional than Ando, however the narrative around their work is less so.
Even so, the legacy of Corbusier is unbroken and clear. Even Fujimoto, the most radical of the current generation of architects, was in the lab of Hidetoshi Ohno, the successor of Maki at U Tokyo. It is a direct line of descent.
Metabolism is at the heart of the current trends I would say, but Le Corbusier is equally accepted and present, especially in his promenade architecturale. Tradition is present in the form of spatial composition and also sits without tension. The thing that Japan does well is to bring in outside ideas and make them their/our own. Tension is subdued because the outsider aspect is consumed by the Japanese-ness. And that allows for constant evolution and change, with few hang ups around form. That particular background is the part that is missing from the article I feel.
For what it is worth, while I love the LeCorbusier building in Ueno, the one by Maekawa that faces it is my favorite building from that time. And Maekawa's own home, built during WWII (austerity measures explain a lot of the design), is amazing. So is his tower in Marunouchi, now facing the neo-Sullivanesque Marunouchi building by Hopkins (also brilliant). His work stands up amazingly well. From him comes everyone else, and the beginning is Le Corbusier. Which is I suppose the point of the article.
Block this user
Are you sure you want to block this user and hide all related comments throughout the site?
Archinect
This is your first comment on Archinect. Your comment will be visible once approved.