dancing about architecture

one of the main things that interested me about japan was the architecture. i`ve long been facinated by traditional japanese architecture and houses in particular. i think my virgo nature is attracted to the clean, minimalist spaces, the tatami mats and un-interupted vertical space of any room, no matter how little vertical space there is. the warmth that seems to be created in the courtyards of rectangular japanese villas, when the blank rooms surrounding them seem almost cold.

not that i expected any of this in tokyo, mind. but surely, i thought, the attitude to living space must still survive, even in the urban flying circus of tokyo, and i think i was right. the abitlity the japanese have to take some small, and i mean small, block of urban, no make that metropolitan space into a haven of cutting edge domestic design is world leading. the small back streets of harajuku, are perhaps the best example i`ve seen, but it even continues out to the burbs, away from the central mod real estate scene.

off form concrete is the order of the day. entire 2 and 3 story houses look like they were formed up in one go and poured in one session. then comes the wood and stainless trim, the glass and bingo. welcome home. i`ve got to say i love it. only because they maintain a certain japanese homely design, mind you. it would be easy to go a miss if you didn`t think things through.

the iconic public architecture can be a different story. there are wonderous achievements, don`t get me wrong - the hermes building, the spiral building, and the tokyo international forum is a dynamite achievement in monolithic metropolitan design. 10 years old this year and would be cutting edge if it was finished yesterday. hot damn, tommy would have ball cleaning the inside of that thing. i was jazzed after seeing it, and so ventured forth to see phillip starck`s asahi building with great anticipation. it`s the quitessential tokyo architectual icon - modern, cutting edge, bold, big name architect, the works. "the golden flame", as its known, due to the big golden flame on the roof. how disapointing.

it cowers off to the side of the city in asakusa, hiding behind an elevated feeway, trying so hard to be an architectural landmark, but only really succeeding in being rather uninspiring. as my family will attest, i`m quite partial to the monolithic, minimalistic black granite box as a design aesthetic, but the asahi building really don`t cut the mustard in this lounge chair architect`s opinion. it looks like an outsiders bold attempt to create something culturally relevant and loud, that ends up a bit of an architectural train wreck, the result of a cultural hijacking. the shape pays homage to a box of noodles, and the "golden flame", well perhaps the locals call it "the golden turd" for good reason.

the japanese architecture that i have come to love is alive and well, and wonderful, and probably done by japanese people no-one i know has ever heard of, and thankfully it doesn`t look like its going to disappear anytime soon. fantastic.