Architectural Basso Ostinato: Mediation
Processes Between Tradition and Modernization
in the Architecture of Single-Family Houses in
Japan – An Attempt at Analysis Cover Image

Architektoniczne basso ostinato – procesy mediacji pomiędzy tradycją a modernizacją w architekturze domów jednorodzinnych w Japonii, próba analizy
Architectural Basso Ostinato: Mediation Processes Between Tradition and Modernization in the Architecture of Single-Family Houses in Japan – An Attempt at Analysis

Author(s): Krzysztof Ingarden, Katarzyna Banasik Petri
Subject(s): Architecture, Rural and urban sociology
Published by: Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Jagiellońskiego
Keywords: contemporary Japanese architecture; single-family houses; tradition and modernization;

Summary/Abstract: This article focuses on the study of contemporary single-family residential architecture in Japan. Its objective is to evaluatethe validity of Arata Isozaki’s thesis that Japanese architecture should be interpreted as a continuous process of mediationbetween tradition and modernization. To conduct this study, a set of thirty-three characteristics of traditional Japanese ar-chitecture was developed, categorised into material, formal-functional, and symbolic attributes. Using this framework, ananalysis was conducted on 15 selected examples of prominent contemporary single-family house designs constructed be-tween 1975 and 2005. Fourteen of these examples were selected from a comprehensive catalogue of significant Japanesearchitectural projects from 1985 to 2005, curated by the Japanese architectural gallery Gallery MA in 2005, and supplementedwith one project by Arata Isozaki (the Yano House, 1975).The analysis revealed that all fifteen projects exhibit, to varying extents, a continuation of traditional Japanese architecturalmodels. This tendency is most pronounced in symbolic attributes, somewhat less so in formal-functional attributes, andleast evident in material attributes. These findings indicate that traditional characteristics are most rapidly diminishing in thematerial category, more gradually in formal-functional aspects, and are most persistent in the symbolic domain.

  • Issue Year: 2024
  • Issue No: 49
  • Page Range: 88-123
  • Page Count: 36
  • Language: English, Polish
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