New Directions in Japanese Architecture

Download or read book New Directions in Japanese Architecture written by Robin Boyd and published by Studio Vista. This book was released on 1968 with total page 134 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Japan has managed to build up one of the most consistent and instantly recognizable styles of modern architecture - and has done this in hardly more than a decade. The full impact of the international modern movement did not strike Japanese architects until well after World War II, and then their vision was concentrated on the work of one master: Le Corbusier. Yet in a remarkably short time after that, they turned from copying to creating , subtly flavoring the international movement with the essence of their own country. Today Japan is one of the growth points of world architecture. Why this sudden surge of sophistication? How could so many Japanese architects step up so quickly and with such unison into command of the modern building arts and technologies? How genuine is their style? The question of its validity and the reasons for its rapid maturation provide the theme underlying this study of the new direction which Japanese architecture is now forcefully taking. Robin Boyd finds some reasons in the inescapable if indirect influences of Japan's great architectural traditions, some in the social background of today, and some in the special kind of insularity which colors the Japanese experience - poised, as they see it, between East and West. The new work of a number of Japanese architects is illustrated and analyzed. Some of these architects are world famous: all are working in the forefront of national development and share responsibility for the vigor and promise that cannot fail to excite a visitor from the West." --