IJUP08 - Universidade do Porto

The Japanese Influence in Modern Western Architecture ─an
introduction─
Miki Itabashi
Faculty of Architecture, University of Porto, Portugal.
The present work, carried out at the Faculty of Architecture as a graduation thesis 1 ,
proposes to study the issue of influence in architecture, in particular the Japanese influence
in the Modern Western architecture. Through the work of some architects who are
considered to be relevant to the history of architecture and modern culture, such as Frank
Lloyd Wright, Adolf Loos, Bruno Taut and Walter Gropius, an approach to the Japanese
culture is to be made, seeking to identify principles of the traditional Japanese architecture
that strengthen and assist the formation of modern idea of Western way of living.
The Japanese house is the expression of philosophy, lifestyle and aspirations of the
Japanese society. Due to the fact that Japan has lived a long period of isolation from the
West, its culture is deeply rooted in itself. The traditional Japanese housing is an example
that illustrates, through its simplicity, an adaptable and flexible way of inhabiting, with a
close relationship with Man and Nature.
The analysis of some Frank Lloyd Wright and Adolf Loos’s houses serve as a motive to
establish common points between their architecture and the Japanese one. The study of
Bruno Taut and Walter Gropius’s writings will help to the understanding of the traditional
Japanese concepts under a modern perspective and its applicability in the contemporary
housing.
This confrontation of two different cultures will serve to present some basis on Japanese
housing and Japanese ways of living and, at the same time, to understand what western
architects have learned from it, or have seen, in that completely different culture, as a
practical example of concepts that they had already been developing.
Besides the comparison between the West and the East, whose purpose is to establish
connections between the two cultures and to understand how the knowledge of other
architectures can enrich us, both by the valuing of our own culture and by adding new
means to solve contemporary architecture problems this study also intends to show how
important influence is in projecting, as a tool that, in a conscious or unconscious way,
helps us in the search and in the act of creating.
This study may also be included in the perspective of reconsidering the modern
architecture’s historiography that, as it is known today, does not lay on the assumption of
“blank slate” concept, isolated from the past and tradition, as its supporters claimed, when
opposing to eclecticism. This work, within its limitations, may be a contribute to the
analysis and understanding of history, as well as a disclosure of not so known aspects of
this modern western architecture remarkable names.
[1]ITABASHI, Miki, A Influência Japonesa na Arquitectura Moderna Ocidental. Uma
Introdução., Prova Final de Licenciatura em Arquitectura, FAUP, Porto, 2007
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