Tessa Pagnon

The Japanese house: the evolution of a concept between tradition and modernity

With its connections to culture, linguistics and sociology, Japanese spatiality is substantiated through traditional houses. Despite a construction method imposed by the feudal state, Japanese civilisation has successfully appropriated the spatiality of the traditional house, injecting its own philosophy. How has this codified, traditional architecture created concepts of life in housing? And how have these concepts evolved in contemporary Japan? Despite the evolution of the concrete structure that is the contemporary Japanese house, some notions of tradition endure, proving that Japanese spatiality can adapt to its time and current issues.

Teachers

Aleksey Sevastyanov

Keywords

Heritage

“Les thèmes génériques de la spatialité Japonaise ont en effet une portée universelle.. Ils valent dans tout milieu humain, dans toute l’écoumène ; (…) ce ne sont pas des formes à imiter, mais des principes à faire vivre.”

Berque Augustin – “Le sens de l’espace au Japon : vivre, penser, bâtir”, Paris, France, Éd. Arguments, 2004, Introduction p. VII