Elements of Japanese Architecture

In preparation to our 2017 Architectural Tour to Japan, we’ve conducted a series of seminars so far to give travellers and other interested audience an insight into various aspects critical to understanding Japan and its uniqueness.

The last of our seminars on Japan, is on Elements on Architecture, conducted by Samar Ramachandra, architect. He will also be rounding up the previous seminars conducted on architecture of Japan:

Japaneseness in Architecture, and
Evolution of Japan’s Architecture.

This is a wonderful opportunity for architects, architectural students, and architecture enthusiasts to get a perspective and a context to the architecture of Japan.

Art & Culture of Japan

Welcome to a whirlwind tour of images, ideas and mini-talks on the art and culture of Japan.

A host of speakers, now on their way to get onto the Reboot’s architectural tour to Japan present you their collection of facts and fascinating images of the Japanese way of life.

Art, food, craft and theatre are presented so we share the enthusiasm in anticipation of our forthcoming visit. Insight into the values that lie behind these facets of the Japanese way, help us understand why everything they do acquires a richness in depth and detail.

Subtle, unspoken, spiritually abundant and steeped in nature is the story of the Japanese culture we all would like to know better.

Come, let’s discover it through mini seminars organised by archxplore on the following topics:

Wabi sabi, Tea Ceremony, Ikebana, Geisha, Ukiyo-e: Chetna Ramachandra
Manga: Sami Uddin
Anime: Archana Maria
Calligraphy: Arunima Shankar
Karate: Naseer Ahmed
Sumo: Ashwin Singh Thakur
Ceramics: Mumtaz Nawal Soofi
Noh theatre, Kabuki, and Bunraku: Hasitha Reddy
Literature: Vedasri Siddamsetty
Haiku and Food: Asghar Ali Khan
Cinema: Gopala Krishna

Architecture of Japan

Reclusive, meditative, aggressive, subtle.. the Japanese way of building has always been a subject of enquiry, filled with awe and admiration.

How does this country keep tradition and technology together?
How does the architecture achieve the acknowledgement of various generations of architects, various schools?
How does a country give birth to new ideas and ideologies even as its proponents acknowledge almost always a return to the past?
How does a country where no native architectural origins exist, stand out today as a definitive architectural style?
How is excellence taken to maddening details ?
How does the paradox of neon sign boards, animation, ugly electrical cables, thousands of aluminium and glass boxes and claustrophobic capsules coexist with the ascetic quality of modern and ancient architecture?

Before we step into the country with reboot, archxplore would like to stop for a moment and observe this phenomenon called Japanese architecture.

The seminar on Japanese architecture is being presented by Chetna and Samar Ramachandra.

Japan: Origins and Evolution

“Study the past if you would define the future.”
― Confucius

It is in human nature to dwell on our identity. We like to know who we are, and feel secure or separated from the context that defines us. The context is geographical, historical, economical. It is an inseparable truth that this affects us consciously and also many a times deeply.

The study of a nation’s history is indeed the study of the individual and the societal evolution. The origins of the race, the influences over the transitions of time make the study relevant to the characteristics that they carry today. Japan and its people have a unique story. The almost homogeneous cultural identity has withstood the test of time, and has evolved generations that gave the world a wealth in architecture, arts, philosophy and technology.

As we prepare for our journey to this country, we would not be able to appreciate or even understand the facets of Zen Buddhism, the various arts and crafts, the architecture, the landscape, the people unless we start with a study of the origins and the evolution of the land.

We look at the tomorrow that dawns on this world and we seek to understand the essence of who we are today. The understanding of the journey of Japan and its people is, we believe, an important step in this direction.