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Kazuo Shinohara's "Savage Machine" and the Place of Tradition in the Modern Japanese Residence
Author(s): Warren SandersonSource: Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians, Vol. 43, No. 2 (May, 1984), pp. 109-
118Published by: on behalf of theUniversity of California Press Society of ArchitecturalHistoriansStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/989900Accessed: 04-01-2016 05:18 UTC
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Kazuo Shinohara's
"Savage
Machine"
and
the
Place of
Tradi t ion
n t h M o d e r n
a p a n e s e
es idence
WARREN SANDERSON ConcordiaUniversity
Although
azuoShinohara
asachieved
pre-eminence
mong
apan's
living
architects,
e is almost nknownn the West.Until
1980
he
concentrated
upon
he
reinterpretation
f
traditional
Japanese
rchitec-
ture
n a
deliberate
questfor
he
quintessentialodernJapanesewelling.
After ummarizing
he
directionshisarchitectookn
hiscareer
etween
1953
and
1980,
and
discussing
hinohara's anikawa
(1974)
and
Ohtsuji
1976)
residences
n
terms
of
a
developing
heory
f
the
"savage
machine,"
heauthor
iscusses
his
andthe muchmore
traditionally
Japanesemeaningsnherentn Shinohara's
1978-i980
design f a
residence
for
the
Suzuki
family
in
Tokyo.
n
conclusion,
ention
s
alsomade
of
the
directionsaken
by
thisarchitectince
1980.
ALTHOUGH HARDLY RECOGNIZED
in
the
West,
Kazuohi-
nohara
b.
1925)
vieswith his more senior
countryman
eiichi
Shirai
b.
1905)
asthe
Japanese
rchitect's
rchitect.'
hinohara's
buildings
avebeencharacterizedsabstrusen their
significance
and
even
occult,2
ualities
hat
arealso
typical
f muchof
Shirai's
work.
However,
very
different
pathways rought
hem
to
prom-
inence,
and herearebasicdifferences f outlookbetween hem.
Where Shiraihas
incorporated
otions of
an existentialcon-
creteness nd the
expressive otential
of the wall as
both mass
and
urface,
hinohara asnot.
Instead,
orthe
younger
architect
the wall is
merely
a
necessary oundary
f a
plan,
a
minimal
surface
or
enclosure hat is a functionof the
shapes
of
space.
Space
and its
mythos
are
paramount
for
Shinohara,
and
exis-
tential
elements
are
primarily
abstract
rather than concrete.
Most
Japanese
architects of the
generation
that
preceded
Shi-
nohara's
were familiar
with
the new
architecture of the
West
from such
examples
as Antonin
Raymond's
buildings
in
Tokyo,
or from
direct
experience
of it in
Europe.
Shirai's ideas-for
instance,
those
concerning
the
expressive potential
of the wall-
stemmed from
his studies of
Western
architectural
history
and
philosophy in Germanybetween x928and1931.Kunio Maekawa
(b.
90o5)
and then
Junzo
Sakakura
(1901-1969)
worked in Le
Corbusier'sstudio
in
Paris in the
1930s.
Kenzo
Tange's
postwar
architecture was
rooted in the
precepts promulgated
by
that
same Swiss master
architect
through
the
C.I.A.M.
(Congris
n-
ternationaux
'architecture
moderne).
hinohara's
contemporaries,
such as
Arata
Isozaki,
Kisho
Kurokawa,
and
Fumihiko
Maki,
also have
been influenced
by
new
currents in
Western archi-
tecture
and Western
technologies.3
Countering
Western trends was a
rebirth of
interest in tra-
ditional
Japanese
architecture
during
the revival
of
residential
construction
that
occurred
during
the
early
1950s. Kiyoshi
Ikebe
(1920-1970)
and
Kiyoshi
Seike
(b.
1918),
among
others,
exper-
imented
with
age-old
timber
construction
systems
as structural
means for
functionalist
building.4
It
was in
this milieu
that
Shinohara
turned from
mathematics
to the
study
of
architecture
at the
Tokyo
Institute of
Technology,
graduating
in
1953.
I dedicate his article o the
memory
of ProfessorH. W.
Janson
or his
warm
encouragement
f
my
inquiries
nto
interrelationships
etween
the
modern
architecturesf EastandWest
during
he last
years
of
his
life.
A
portion
f thisarticlewas
presented
t the session
n "Twentieth-
Century
Art andArchitecture nd
Methodologies"
f
the
colloquium
of the
International ommitteeof the
History
of Art held at
Ziirich,
9 September
981.
For discussions f my paper here,I amindebted o
Professor
Henry
Millon
of
the Center or Advanced
Visual
Studies,
he
National
Gallery
of
Art,
Washington,
D.C.,
and ProfessorDr. A. M.
Vogt
of the
Eidgenossische
echnische
Hochschule,Ziirich.
i.
For the
essential
bibliography
oncerning
both Kazuo
Shinohara
and
SeiichiShirai o
1978,
see the entries n M.
Emanuel,
d.,
Contem-
porary
rchitects,
ondon
nd
Basingstoke, ngland, 980,
745-747.
The
architecturef Shinoharawas the
topic
of a
special
ssueof
The
Japan
Architect.nternational
dition
of
Shinkenchiku,
arch
1979,
and since
then has been
presented
more
briefly
n such Western
journals
as Pro-
gressive
rchitecture
nd
Bauwelt. or the
more
recent
directionof this
master rchitect's
ork,
see
Japan
Architect,
eptember
981,
7-35-
2. For
instance,
see C.
Fawcett,
The
New
Japanese
House. Ritual and
Anti-Ritual Patterns
of
Dwelling,
New
York,
1980,
i8,
11n.
3.
In
addition to the
pertinent
entries
in
Emanuel,
Contemporary
r-
chitects,
ee for these several
architects:
E.
Inagaki,
"Japan"
n
International
Handbook
of Contemporary evelopments
n
Architecture,
W.
Sanderson,
ed.,
Westport,
Conn.,
1981,
and
London,
1982,
377-395;
K.
Kurokawa,
Metabolism
n
Architecture,
ondon,
1977;
and M.
Miyawaki,
Nihon no
Jutaku
Sekkei,
Tokyo,
1976.
4.
Inagaki,
International
Handbook,
81.
JSAH
XLIII:xo9-ix8.
MAY
1984
10
9
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IIO JSAH,
XLIII:2,
MAY
1984
a
2
,
3
ground
level
1
entrance
2 summer space
3
winter
space
4
storage
5
bedroom
L a
L
upper level
Fig.
x.
Residence f Shuntaro
Tanikawa,
974,Naganohara,
Gumma
prefecture.
lans
of
ground
and
upper
evel
(courtesy
K.
Shinohara).
Towarda
prototypical
modern
Japanese
residence
Unlike most of his
contemporaries,
Shinohara
deliberately
shunted aside references to
Western architecture after com-
pleting
his
first
house
(Kugujama,
Tokyo,
1954).
He
felt
a
strong
need to examine anew traditionalJapaneseconcepts and tech-
niques
of residentialarchitecture.? n the
ensuing
years
he
probed
the
past profoundly
to inform his
perceptions
of an essential
architecture.At
present,
with the recent
successes of his
students,
one
finds references to a
"Shinohara school"
of
Japanese
ar-
chitecture.6
Shinohara's
influence has
grown
in
large
part
out of his
sin-
gular
fascination with the
problem
of
the
one-family
residence
in
its relation to
historical
Japanese
architectural
precepts.7
Each
of the more
than
35 dwellings
that he built
between
1954
and
1980
was
created to
be seen not
only
as a
complete
work in
itself
but also
quite intentionally
as
part
of
his total
oeuvre.Each
house was
part
of
his
conscious
quest
to
create
architecture
as
an art
of
the
prototypical dwelling.
For Kazuo
Shinohara
mod-
ern architecture in
Japan
consisted
more in the
elucidation of
problems
of
meaning,
and
in
providing
possibilities
for
a
private
synthesis
of the
personal
and the
eternal,
than
it
did
in
purely
material
nd
echnological
ecisions.s
Rarely
s theremore
han
the merestmentionof materialsn his theoretical
writings
prior
to
I980,9
ince orhim materials erebut ncidental
o
potentials
for
meaning.
Meanings
were
shaped
by
spatial
nclosures
nd
triggeredby vigorous
structural
esigns.
After
using
wood
predominantly
n his
early
residences,
uch
as the
"Umbrella
House"
for Mr. and Mrs.
Shozo Kawai
on
Nerima-kun
Tokyo
(x961),1'
e chose
reinforced
oncrete
dur-
ing
the
197os.
This
change
paralleled
consciousshift
away
from
Japanese
ernacular rchitectural
lements,
upon
which
Shinohara
ad
depended
or their
symbolic
values n his
resi-
dential
designs
of the fiftiesand sixties.
Beginning
n
1970,
his
buildingdesigns
became
reer,
more ntuitive
and
experimental,
embodying
a
purer
mythos
of
dwelling.
During
the
seventies
he
developed
is
theory
of architecture
s
a
"savage
machine,""
while
continuing
o revalue raditional
Japanese
ymbolic
pace,
5.
Emanuel,
Contemporary
rchitects,
46,
col.
i.
6. As in
Fawcett,
New
Japanese
ouse,
0,
150, 172.
7.
Inagaki,
nternational
Handbook,91,
and
Fawcett,
New
Japanese
House,
47-150.
n the
latter he works
of
Zuzuru
Tominaga
nd
Itsuko
Hasegawa,
oth influenced
y
Shinohara,
re
discussed n
brief
(150-
15I).
8.
Shinohara,
"Beyond Symbol
[sic]
Spaces,"
Japan
Architect,
April
1971,
reprinted
with two
other
articles in
which
the
architect
expresses
his own
philosophies
of
architecture
injapan
Architect,
March
1979,
84-
89.
9.
In
addition to
articles cited in
n. 8
above,
see
Shinohara's
theo-
retical considerations
in
"The
Savage
Machine as an
Exercise,"
Japan
Architect,
March
1979,
46-51,
and
"Towards
Architecture,"
Japan
Ar-
chitect,
September
i981,
30-35-
io. Published in
Japan
Architect,
February
1963,
and
in
Arquitectos
e
Mexico,
May 1966.
11.
"Savage
Machine,"Japan
Architect,
March
1979,
46-51.
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SANDERSON:
SHINOHARA'S
"SAVAGE MACHINE" III
??;i-Iw
--Ma
.......
P;' ii:,
ls211.B
44
:
Fig.
2. Tanikawa
esidence,
nterior
f
large
room with earthen
loor
(courtesy
K.
Shinohara).
as
n his
1974
residence
or
the
poet
Shuntaro
anikawa
nd
his
family."
"Naked"
reality
nd he
"machine":
heTanikawa
ouse
(1974)
The actual
day-to-day
iving
quarters
f
the
Tanikawa
ouse
are shunted
o
one
of
the
short sides
n order
o
favor
a
large,
roofed enclosure
Fig.
i).
Within
this
large
space,
the site's
unconcealed
loping
earthen
errain
and the
structuralrame-
work
of the
house
(Fig.
2)
are
recognized
s
"naked"
ealities;
that
is,
they
conceal
no
illusions
other than
their
appearances.
In two
ways
the
Tanikawa
ouse
s
focal n Shinohara's
evel-
opment.
First,
t looks
to
his
immediate
past:
at
a time
when
he wasconcentratingnusingreinforcedoncrete,hisbuilding
was
constructed
ntirely
of
wood
(Fig.
3).
Second,
as the ar-
chitect
has stated
explicitly,
ts
posts
and
angle
braces,
o force-
fully
evident
n the
large
room,
were
ntended
o have
no other
meanings
han
their
structural
aked
being.13
Shinohara
im-
plified
materials,
esign,
and structure
n his
effort o
strip
he
houseof
all
meaning
ut
hatof
"dwelling."
Typically,
e
swept
aside
the
material
nd
functional
necessities
o favor
an over-
whelmingly
owerful
patial xpression.
radually
e
had
purged
2, f
6. O~,i
i;,
i i, ?
ii;'
?t?;I/r?
-%
~E~k~~:~ -?
:r:o
Isli~r
Fig. 3.
Tanikawa
esidence,
xterior
courtesy
K.
Shinohara).
12.
Japan
Architect,
ebruary
976,
and
Bauwelt,
7
(February
976).
13.
"Savage
Machine,"
9-
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112
JSAH,
XLIII:2,
MAY 1984
-i-.:~i
:'?ib~
?:i?;?:
:i_*J
~i~jQ
?I
a~
r2B.
i:;
. :
::::~
B
?~e
i-:
in~??~U:;
~?lk---~~
B"~
.?,-:p
~iJ
gX:;i?
?*?:
sg,:?-
-a
".z; -n.
Fig.
4.
Residence
f
Kiyoshi
Ohtsuji,1976,
Uehara,
Tokyo,
with
carport
o
left,
and
vaulted oof-chamber
ugmentationcourtesy
K.
Shinohara).
~~~
.ilsrL~,T=;_c=c~~,rt?
--
~i=
Fig. .
Ohtsuji
esidence,
nterior
f main
loor
courtesy
.
Shinohara).
hiswork of overtvernaculareferencesn order o concentrate
here
upon
he
pure
elements
fvolumeand
structure
n
a
highly
abstracted
pproach
o
design
hat
would
inevitably
e
charged
with
primal
ymbolism.
The
"naked"
ealities
of
the
1974
Tanikawa
esidence
on-
stituted
ne elementof
Shinohara's
heory
of architecture:
na-
ked
things"
arebare
structural
lements
stripped
f
superficial
associations.
urthermore,
she
has
stated,
e found
n
the barn-
like Tanikawa
ouse
his own
concept
of the
"machine,"
ome-
thing
quite
apart
rom the
Western
dea
of the
building
as a
machine.
For
Shinohara,
"machine"
s an
array
of "naked
things"
hat somehow
produces
meaning. nevitably
here
are
discrepancies
etween
forms
suggestive
of
ideas
and
the exi-
gencies
of
the realworld.
These
discrepancies
e calls
"gaps."
"Savagery":
he
Ohtsuji
ouse
(1976)
To the
array
of "naked
realities" hat
comprised
he "ma-
chine,"
withits
ambiguous
gaps"
etween
he
worldof abstract
ideas
and
that of the
physical
environment,
hinohara dded
the
last elementof
his
theory
of
architecture
uring
he
I970s:
the
concept
of
"savagery."14
or
him this consisted
n the harsh
reconcilement
f
awkward onnections
and
juxtapositions
f
both
spaces
nd
structural
lements.
n
I976,
imited
by
the
very
small ite
for the
residence
f
the
photographer
iyoshiOhtsuji
and
his
family
Fig.
4),
Shinohara
as
virtually
orced
o
employ
an
ntrusive
tructural
ystem,
one that
he characterized
s
"sav-
age.""
At the
heart
of the
design
for this
two-story
residence
of reinforced
oncrete,
45-degree
angle
braces
Fig. 5)
were
employed
upon
a
piano
nobilehat
filledthe area
of
the site
and
was
cantilevered
ver the
carport.16
Massive,
ough posts
and
braces videntuponthe
facade
werepartof a structuralystem
thatwas
repeated
within
the
building Fig.
6).
Thus,
the
spaces
of
the
main
story
were dominated
y
starkly
onfrontational,
obstructive,
reestanding
lements.
A forceful
unity
between
facade
nd
nterior,
ndbetween
nterior
spaces
hemselves,
was
obtained
y
"savagery."
wkward
spatial
inkages
nd
tructural
14.
As
in nn. 8 and
9
above.
'5-
Japan
Architect,
ebruary
977,
March
979,
80-83,
and
Baumeister,
75
(December 978).
16.
A
steel-frame,
aulted
pavilion
was added
s a third
story
o the
original
wo-storydesign
while construction
as under
way.
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SANDERSON:
SHINOHARA'S "SAVAGE
MACHINE"
113
6
6
cr
n-
35
|
-xv
lower
level main
level
uDDer
level
1 entrance
2
studio
3
storage
4
dark
room
5 dining
6 bedroom
Fig.
6.
Ohtsuji
esidence,
lans
of lower
evel,
main
loor,
and added
upper
evel
(courtesy
K.
Shinohara).
impositions
were reconciled
harshly
n
a
single design.
Although
in
his
use
of
reinforced
concrete
he has
paralleled
the frank
roughness
of the West's
New
Brutalism
of
the
i96os,
for Shi-
nohara
"savagery"
resides
n
the
composition
of a
design,
rather
than
in
the character
of materials.
The
Ohtsuji
dwelling
rep-
resents
for him
a
"savage
machine."
Although
Shinohara's
earlier
works
had
been
strongly
linked
with his
Japanese
heritage,
his
theory
of the mid-seventies was
not intended
for
an
architecture of
specific
beliefs.
To
sum-
marize,
"naked
things"--structural
elements
stripped
of asso-
ciations-may
be
seen
in
combinations
called
"machines"
which
produce
or
provoke
meanings
and
bridge
"gaps"
between
the
world of ideas and
tangible
realities,
while either the "naked
things"
or the
"machines"
in
combination
may
be
"savagely"
unified.
He did
not
aim
to
predetermine
meaning narrowly.
Nevertheless,
as
we shall
see,
the traditional
symbolic
qualities
built
up
for so
long
in his
early
works
through
the sixties
may
well
have insinuated themselves
into the
designs
of more recent
residences.
Tradition nd
the
"savage
machine": he Suzuki
house
(1978)
Shinohara
has referred to his house
of
1978
for the
poet
Yashuyuki
Suzuki,
the "House on a
Curved
Road"
in
Tokyo
(Fig.
7),
as
a
"savage
machine" that
preserves
the
ambivalence
between
"symbolism
and
concreteness" and leads toward the
exploration
of the
deepest
levels of human
emotions,
including
the
irrational.17
Unassuming
from
the
exterior,
even
dull
in its
i
i
-ii
ii
1
I
xl".
i
..?
Fig.
7.
Residencef
Yashuyuki
uzuki,
978,
Tokyo.
View
rom
he
corner,
xterior
courtesy
.
Shinohara).
reinforced oncrete
appearance,
ithin,
the
Suzuki house is
baffling.
At first t offersus
only
a
partial
understanding
f its
corporealitynddisplaysittle of its symbolicqualities.
Our consideration
f this
dwelling
rests
upon
two bases: he
architect's wn
description
f
the
building,18
and
its
striking
congruence
ith certain
principles
f
traditional
Japanese
patial
andstructural
esign
hat
may
end
it
a
particularly
eaningful
character.
hinohara's
description
f the Suzukihouse
begins
simply
enough
with
the
assertionhat four
posts
"outline"
he
plan.
It is no
surprise
hatan
architectwould
speak
n termsof
his
plan,
but
this has
particular
meaning
n
Japan.
I7.
Shinohara,
Houseon a Curved
Road,"
apan
Architect,
March
1979,
o-i6.
i8.
"Curved
Road,"
x3,
or
the
architect's
description.
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114
JSAH,
XLIII:2,
MAY 1984
lower level
6
upper
level
1
Lo
5
5
main level
0er
evel
upper
level
2
1
entrance
2
lower
level
space
3
storage
4
living-dining
5
spare
room
6
bedroom
Fig.
8.
Suzuki
esidence,
lans
f
(a)
ower
evel,
b)
main
loor,
c)
first
upper
evel,
d)
second
pper
evel
courtesy
.
Shinohara).
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SANDERSON:SHINOHARA'S SAVAGEMACHINE"
115
i._
...
..
..
.........
•
.........__
_ _
Fig.9.
Suzuki
esidence,
ectional
rawing
ith
main
oom o the
right
(courtesy
.
Shinohara).
Whatever he
clarity
of
the
plan
(Fig.
8,
a-d),
it
seems
far
from certain hat four
posts
outline the
plan.
Upon
moving
through
he house
Fig.
9),
we
shouldhavenotroublen
seeing
that
one, two,
or three
freestanding
ostssupport
oofsor ceil-
ings
in one or
another
oom,
but
four
posts
are
never
visible
at
once. For
Japanese
architects he
word
post traditionally
as
signified
he
points
of
juncture
of
a
planning
module-that
is,
the corners t which walls meet-as well
as the
supports
f a
roof,
whether
freestanding
r
not.19 rom he stunted
orizontal
spacesof the basementevel (Fig. io) to the tall spaceof the
great
room of the first
story(Fig.
i)
and nto the
upper
tories
(Fig.
I2),
we
may
discover hat four
posts
n
the
Japanese
ense
of the
word
continue
through
the three
stories
to
outline a
square,
entral
space.
Never, however,
are
all four
posts
free-
standing
on
a
single
level: some are
freestanding,
thers en-
gaged,
and still others
concealed s
corners.
Thus,
Shinohara's
assertion ests
n
partupon
the
traditional
Japanese
nderstand-
ing
of the word
post.
Historically,
apanese
rchitecture
appears
o
have
rejected
deliberately
he
concept
of
three-dimensional
odies,
thus
ef-
fectivelypreventingarchitecturalthinkingin termsof solid
geometrical
orms or in
terms
of
space
as
a solid.20
nstead,
buildings
were
produced
by
a
layering
of
horizontal
plans:
a
continuous
space
flowed
aroundand
through
the
horizontal
levels of
a
building.
The
development
f the
plan
was
more
Fig.
1o.
Suzuki
esidence,
ntry
rom treeto
lower evel
courtesy
.
Shinohara).
than
merely
undamental.ts
supremacy
as so
great
hatcon-
siderationsf walls,ceilings,andfurnishingswererelegatedo
a far esser
importance
han
hasbeen the case
n
the West.
The
supremacy
f the
plan
in
Japanese
rchitectural
hinking
had
evolved
rom
the traditional
eliefthat
n the
mostancient
past
empty space
n
a
landscape
was
prepared
or the
descent
of
divinityby using
a
rope
or four
posts
o outline
a
specific lace.21
The
pseudoarchitectural
eligious
hought
ofJapan's
istant
past
was an
important
ource
of
Shinohara's
nderstanding
f
the
Suzuki house.
It is
a basisof
the
architect's
econdassertion
concerning
he Suzuki
house,
hat
hereexistswithin t
a
"space
lattice."
Quite
clearly
his
consists
of
the four
"posts"
ndthe
horizontalbeams hat linkthem (see Figs.8, 9), all of which
are
of
reinforced oncretewithin the
space
of this
reinforced
concrete
building.
What
is
"outlined," hen,
by
the
four
posts
appears
o
be the central
modulus
of
the
design.
Aside
from
their
physical
earing
unctions,
he elementsof
the lattice
play
19.
Seefor instance
A.
Isozaki,
Space-Time
n
Japan-MA,"
in
MA
Space-Time
n
Japan,Cooper-Hewitt
Museum,
New
York,
n.d.
[I980?],
12-13. Basically,
he term
MA
refers
o
rhythmic
ntervals.Whetheror
not
one
accepts
ts
cosmological
ontext,
t
is often
employed
n
musical
as well as architectural
ontexts.
20.
Isozaki,
Space-Time."
21.
Isozaki,
"Space-Time,"
3.
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116
JSAH,
XLIII:2,
MAY 1984
F?:'2?
'E~
I-?'zt ;-"
~ti)
"; C
" ;r
ii
:ri
r
?:I
~s
J
i?
I;(
f`"ri
iS
?, ,, ~
~i~-rl~il(l~
?m:..i~
Fig.
ii.
Suzuki
esidence,
nterior
f
mainroom
towarddoorto lower evel
(courtesy
K.
Shinohara).
i ?
~'
I
r~---
i
.?. :n
Fig.
12.
Suzuki
residence,
nteriorof second
upper
evel
(courtesy
K.
Shinohara).
a role in the
iconographic
consideration
of the
spaces
of this
dwelling.
The tall
post-and-beam
system
of the
first
story's great
room seems to overwhelm
that
space
in an
almost
ruthlessly
raw act of control.
Around its two
highly
assertive
nodes,
we
may
sense
spatial
directions
right
off;
and
walls and
ceiling
surfaces eem
relatively
minor in
importance
despite
their
space-
shaping
functions.
Shinohara's
post-and-beam system
in this
great
room
unquestionably
asserts
solidity
and
permanence
in
space
and
time,
while
serving
as
part
of
the
system
of
solid
coordinatesof the house's spatiallattice.
Space
in the
West is
directly
related
to scientific
and
math-
ematical
concepts
understood at a
particular
nstant,
while
Shi-
nohara's
spatial
bias
has carriedover
from the
Japanese
tradition
an
understanding
of
space
as
nonphysical
and
as
qualified by
subjective
experiences.
In
the
Japanese
tradition
space
and
time
are
unified,
correlative,
and
omnipresent,
recognized
in
terms
of
events or
phenomena
that
occurred,
or that are
transpiring,
within
it. In his
fundamental
study
of
the
Japanese
spiritual
concepts
of the
MA,
Gunther Nitschke
stated,
".
. .
space
for
the
Easterner s of an
imaginary
quality
created
and
perceived
through the disposition of certain symbols.... It was not the
size
or
shape
of the
symbols
that was
important,
but their
mutual
relationship,
their
location within
the
whole,
and their
orien-
tation.
"22
Such an outlook
underlies
Shinohara's
design
for the
Suzuki house.
22. G.
Nitschke,
"MA. The
Japanese
Sense of 'Place'
in
Old and
New Architecture
nd
Planning,"
Architectural
esign
London),
6
(March
1966), 117-156,
and
especially
126.
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SANDERSON:
SHINOHARA'S "SAVAGE MACHINE"
II7
TheSuzuki
residences
a
"place"
Shinohara
lmost
certainly
reated he Suzuki
house in
part
by
making
use
of the traditional
rocesses
f
"place-making."
By
"place"
meana
space,
ocation,
or structurewith which
dynamic
networks
f interrelated
meanings
ndmemories
end
in time to become
uniquely
associated.
ccording
o
Nitschke,
"place-making"n termsof the MA maybe understood s de-
veloping
in three
successive
stages-apparent
disorder,
geo-
metric
order,
and
sophisticated
rder-but
he cautions hat at
any
oneof these
stages
he
development
might
be
permanently
halted.
Nitschke's
arguments
re
built
carefully
nd
methodi-
cally
upon Japanese
architectural
istorical
bases,
with con-
vincing
citations
of salient
examples
of each
level of
place-
making.23
ll three
stages
appear
n
Shinohara's
uzukihouse.
Apparent
isorder
may
be found n the
great
oomof the first
story,
for
instance,
n the deliberate
disalignment
f the
ele-
vationsof
walls,
vertical
beams,
ceiling
lines,
and the level of
the horizontalbeams see Fig. ii). It existsthere,too, in the
placement
f
the two
imposing
uprights
at
only seemingly
r-
regular
distances
rom the walls
of the short sides and more
than
slightly
off of the
long
axis of
the room
(see
Fig. 8b).
In
the basement
evel
(see
Fig.
8a)
three
piers
areevident:
lthough
all threeare
n one
alignment,
he directionof
that
alignment
is
at
rightangles
o,
rather han n
parallel
with,
the axisof the
freestanding
win
piers
of the
great
room above.
A
sense of
disorderand
disorientation nsues.
Furthermore,
ithin the
basement
evel
itselfa
mirrored
partition
eparates
he two
piers
that are both
freestanding
nd
alike,
while
the third
upright,
an
engagedpier,
is left
to
be
seen
pairing
with one of the
freestanding
iers
of the
twin
pair.
At the second
story
evel
(see
Fig.
8c)
only
a
single
element s visible
n
the
room,
while
in
the third
story
chamber
see
Fig. 8d)
one
freestanding
nd
one
engaged
pier
are
apparent.uxtapositions
f
dissimilar
le-
ments hus assure
apparent
isorder
hroughout
he
dwelling.
To realize
he
geometric
rder
n
this
design,
we
must turn
away
romthe concrete
eality
of the
houseto the abstractions
of its
plans.
A
study
of the
plans
reveals
hat
variously
reestand-
ing, engaged,
ndconcealed
piers
within
wallsform
he corners
of
the
central
square
module
of the
plan.
The
piers,
together
with their
horizontal
beams,
are
the realization
f the
"space
lattice" he architecthad mentioned. n time, dwellers n this
house
could
experience,
t least
subconsciously,
he
geometric
orderof its vertical
equence
f
plans
and the architect's
pace
lattice
design.
That
sophisticated
rderexistsas well within the
imaginary
quality
of the
space
n this housewould be more
readily
under-
stood n the Orient han
ntheWest
in
termsof a
cosmological
content hat
informs his
poet's
residence.
Designed
with four
posts
"outlining"
a
simple
core
of
space,
he
dwelling
recalls
"6
ii?-i:
Fig.
13.
House
No.
4
at
Hanayama,
980,
Kobe,
Hyogo
prefecture.
View rom
astat
night
courtesy
.
Shinohara).
the
primalpreparations
ade
n
the ancient
Japanese ast
for
the
descentof
divinity
o
the
earth.
Thus,
there
s an
allusion
to the
spiritual
ithin the vertical ore
of the
house,
within and
around
whichcore
daily
ife continues. eneath
he
living
spaces,
the
basement evel is
distinctly
conceivedas an overall
hori-
zontality;
nd
t is
provided
with
spaces
hat ack he
consistently
rectilinear
r cubic orderof the
surmounting
loors
(see
Fig.
io).
Within its
irregular paces,
only
the
cubical
shaft
of
the
staircase
hat
leads
to the
great
room
above
reflects he sur-
mounting
sense
of order
of
the house. Becauseof the
spatial
contrast chievedbetween he
upper
and basement
evels,
the
latter
may
be considered
o
function
ymbolically
s an
embod-
iment of the
subterranean
orld
of chaos.
In Eastern
eligious
hought
a
bridgemay
be established e-
tween cosmic
order,
urban
order,
and inner humanorder
by
means
of
meditation.24
azuo
Shinohara's
uzukihouse exists
in
touch
with
the subterranean
haos and the more ordered
ambiences f earthandthe heavens.
t
may
be understood s a
place
within the
cosmos,
a
place
in
which remembered sso-
ciations
are
furthered
o that ts dwellers
may
realize he inter-
relationships
etween
heir nner elvesand
he ordered niverse
within
which
they
exist.
The Suzukihouse is much more than a house aswe in the
West
think
of houses.Its character s a
"place"
s in constant
flux
by
virtueof the
many
eventsandassociationshatarebuilt
up
within
time and
within
its
spaces
n the memoriesof the
individuals
ho dwell
there.25
pace
defined
merely
n
physical
termscannot
o stir he
imagination
hat ts character
nd
one's
23.
Nitschke,
"MA.
Japanese
Place,'
"
Ii8,
and
passim.
24.
Ibid.,
126.
25.
Both
Yashuyuki
uzuki
and
Shunto
Tanakawa
1978
and
1974
residences)
re
poets;
KiyoshiOhtsuji 1976
house)
s a
photographer.
It is
noteworthy
hat
of
35
housesbuilt
by
Shinoharao
i980
two-thirds
were
for
artists,
oets,
musicians,
nd
attorneys.
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118
JSAH,
XLIII:2,
MAY 1984
u
Fig.
14.
North House
(1965),
South
House
(1968),
and
House No.
4
(1980)
at
Hanayama,
Kobe. Axonometric
drawing
courtesy
K.
Shi-
nohara).
experience
f
it
may
become
ne.
Shinohara's
rchitectureor
single
families
successfully
creates
contemporary
Japanese
res-
idential
places-special
tmospheres,
achwithin
ts own
en-
closure-by
making
use in
modern
structures
of
the
traditional
Japanese
way
of
"catching
the MA."
With
his
"savage
ma-
chines"
hinohara
as
concentrated
enturies
f
Japan's
rchi-
tectural
ymbolism
n
contemporarywellings
hat seem
so
pithy
as to
embody
both a
ferocious
concreteness
and
a
poetic
abstraction f
sophisticated
meaning
within
the
eternal
ontin-
uum of
time
and
space.
New directions:
assimilating
he
twenties
Since the
completion
of his House on a Curved
Road for
the
poet
Suzuki,
Shinohara's
architecture has become more
boldly
experimental.
His House No.
4
in
Hanayama (Fig. 13),
com-
pleted
in
June
x980
at Kobe in the
prefecture
of
Hyogo,
seems
to readjust he massesexpressedin the final form of the Ohtsuji
residence in
Tokyo
(see
Fig.
4)
to
provide
a
more
dynamic
balance.26
This
design
contrasts in the extreme
with his
more
traditionalNorth
and South houses
(x965
and
x968)
at the
same
Hanayama
site
(Fig.
i4),
indicating
a new direction
in
Shino-
hara's
thinking.27
We
need
only
recall that
through
the
x960s
most of his houses
were wooden and
depended
for their
ap-
pearance
and
iconographic
content
upon
vernacular
Japanese
residential architecture.
During
the
197os
reinforced
concrete
largely
replaced
wood,
and traditionaldetails were
given
up
in
fashioning
spaces
that were
highly
"concentrated,"
as the
ar-
chitect has
said,
spaces
that were imbued
abstractly
with
pos-
sibilities of traditional
meanings.
With House No.
4
at
Hanaya-
ma, Kobe,
two new factors
have come forth.
First,
instead
of
a
sense
of
predominantly
interior
spatial
concentration,
he
has
sought
to relate
the exterior to the interior ambience.
This
is
accomplished
by
employing
a rather
large
roof
terrace that
is
accessible from
the second
story
living
room
by
descending
seven broad
steps.
Second,
and
altogether
unexpectedly,
the
roof
terrace,
the
strip
windows,
and the
pylons
that
support
one
side
of
this
structure-the
opposite
side
is
nestled into the
hilly
site-
all refer
clearly
to the
early
architectureof the Modern
move-
ment in
the
West,
in
particular
to
the work of
Le
Corbusier.
Having
created a new architecture of the
prototypical
Jap-
anese
dwelling,
Shinohara turned to the
West
during
the
late
197os.
He has
joined
his
"savage
machine" with
the
machine
of the
I92os.
He is
exploring
not
only
the
architectural
olutions
but also
the urban
planning
of
that time
as
it
may
relate to
Japanese
concepts
of
an
urbanism
rooted
in
apparent
disorder.
Looking
toward the
future with
quiet
confidence,
he states
that
".
..
my
machine will
not
be
international.
It
will
have a name
and
nationality clearly
indicated."28
Whatever the
problems
he
undertakes,
whatever the
ideas he
may
assimilate
from
else-
where,
whatever the
solutions
he
may
propose,
Kazuo
Shino-
harawill remain an essentiallyJapanesearchitectparexcellence.
26. K.
Shinohara,
"House
in
Hanayama,
No.
4,"
Japan
Architect,
September
1981,
8-17.
27.
The North
and South
houses in
Hanayama,
both
by
Shinohara,
were
published
in
Japan
Architect,
March
1969.
28.
Shinohara's
hanged
views
on
architecture
nd
his
new
concern
with
the
early
Modern
movement n
the
West-not in
the
slightest
o
be
misconstrueds a
"Post-Modernism"-are
vident n
his
"Towards
Architecture,"
ited
n n.
9
above.I
should
ike
to thank
he
architect
for
his
thoughtfulness
n
sending
me an
offprint
f
this
publication
oon
after t
appeared.
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