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Japanese facades
In Japan architects think a lot about how to build spaces where it is easy to live, they concentrate on making outstanding interiors. In western countries sometimes we just build to impress, we build houses with simetric and beautiful facades, we build houses thinking about how it is going to match the other houses around. But many times, in Europe, I’ve felt disappointed when entering inside a house with a beautiful facade and finding out a that the interior is horrible. On the other side, in Japan I always expect a worse interior than what I thought from seeing just the exterior of the house.
In western architecture plays with sharp lines, juxtaposition of light and shadows and symmetry. Roofs are high, the whole is more important than the parts, and the facade is important, is one of the most important things in a building, it has to be impressive (This comes from the greco-roman culture, think about the Parthenon for example).
On the other side, in the Japanese world, architects play with shadows, attention to details, asymmetry and horizontal. Everything is designed to live on the floor, the roof is not important. Details are more important than the whole. The traditional Japanese house embeds itself in the environment, the demarcation of interior and exterior is not clear.
Japanese house have details and are well finished even in areas that are not see. For example, the walls on the garden side are as important as the facade on the street side. On the other side, back in Spain I remember having seen houses with outstanding facades and then having a huge disappointment when discovering the backyard. In the western work, we like beautiful facades, we like symmetry. In Japan details in the interior are more important, those things that cannot be seen are more important than what you see.
Construction of Japanese houses is centered on satisfying the necessities of those who are going to live in it. I feel that sometimes the exterior is ignored too much in Japan. One of the biggest deceptions of Japan is how boring and monotonous are Japanese streets, buildings and houses in big cities. The facades are boring, they all have similar grayish colors, little windows are common… and sometimes there are house that do not even have windows!
This is my collection of facades I’ve made during the last month walking aroud Tokyo. Some of them are pretty cool, some of them are horrible, but I can feel there is a common pattern, a common style. Can you find the house without windows?
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Comments
XSportSeeker
12 February, 2009
Can’t quite explain, but I kinda like it that way… maybe just because it’s different from what we’re used to, but I feel there’s something more to it.
When I’ve been in Japan , saw thin buildings, ridiculous tight park spacings, but overal, the streets looked more clean, more planned, more uniform… somehow it was more relaxing to walk on the streets there.
Houses and buildings seemed to get my attention more there than if I was on a city I don’t know here in my own country.
lol
12 February, 2009
Why do you repeat yourselft 2 times again the same thing 2 times ?
Why do you repeat yourselft 2 times again the same thing 2 times ?
Tornadoes28
12 February, 2009
Great pics. I like the unique modern looking houses.
Tornadoes28
12 February, 2009
I also notice a lot of rusty old signs or awnings in front of many homes.
mortonsalt
12 February, 2009
i was equally impressed wit the vehicles in front of the houses. looks like the 11th pic down has a lambo covered up and another one has a tricked RX7 in front of it. i guess I’m trying to say these houses seem to be a massive status thing and the people who live in them want everyone to know.
paul
12 February, 2009
some of the exteriors look pretty good.
CrazyCCA
12 February, 2009
I was impressed by the presence of european cars in front of the houses.
Apple Otaku
12 February, 2009
Some of those homes look like they’re made out of popsicle sticks.
oliphant
13 February, 2009
great post! I really like looking Japanese architecture and the interplay of light, space, asymmetry. Its a different outlook to western structures.
johnson's johnson
14 February, 2009
In regard to the cars out front, I think that if you are able to afford to buy a home in Tokyo, etc., that an expensive Jag or Maserati is probably not much of a stretch. Everybody that lives around there probably already knows how much it cost to buy a house there so to imply parking an expensive car out front is like putting a ribbon and bow on your house is ridiculous.
Car implying status though? You think?
Dr. Johnny Skeptic
14 February, 2009
Some of these are beautiful! These would stick out in my neck of the woods, but they are just gorgeous!
anpanman
14 February, 2009
the density and varitey of their buildings can making walking around older neighbourhoods a real treat. i was always impressed with thy typical city houses that had built up “walls of green”, which were stands filled with plants grown to provide a barrier between the encroaching street and the front of the house. the 2l water bottles placed around the buildings to ward off the pissy cats were a little ugly and on a hot day the street still smelled like piss (like any big city i suppose).
Charlie Lesoine
14 February, 2009
There are neighborhoods in Los Angeles and San Francisco where I can imagine all but 2 of the most narrow of these houses fitting in perfectly.
peter harris
14 February, 2009
we all know that large is beauty
and small is not so
the question here I think is
how to make a dr who police box
James
14 February, 2009
Great pics! Have you ever seen this one near Ebisu station? i think it’s brilliant! http://maps.google.com/?ie=UTF8&ll=35.648448,139.709873&spn=0,359.995258&z=18&layer=c&cbll=35.648814,139.709386&panoid=QgRIAFemZtjLayghy05oyQ&cbp=12,32.89395611344207,,0,-21.454276341338993
lon bordin
14 February, 2009
I feel for the Japanese… When are they ever going to get to say, “Get off my lawn!”?
alafista
14 February, 2009
Wow some of those houses looked really great. I wonder if they cost a bomb
devlim.com
15 February, 2009
So many Great car,some house has great design, hope one day i can work at there
Locksley McPherson Jnr
15 February, 2009
Nice photos! Interesting to see different styles of construction on the other side of the world. True, we are obsessed in the way our roof slants or pillars and arches etc.. But yet when we step inside we find the same old box rooms. Whereas I have noticed from other photos of Japanese homes that the attention to detail once inside is astounding.
Jamaipanese
15 February, 2009
why am i only interested in seeing the cars
Joe B
16 February, 2009
Some look exactly like when I lived there thirty years ago.
ray
17 February, 2009
Great pictures. How are you capturing the color so vividly? Especially for the sky? # 6 and 7 I really wanna know your technique. What settings?
jessica
22 February, 2009
i’ve heard that in Okinawa almost all of the buildings are made from concrete and other stong materials that are not always the most aesthetically pleasing to guard the interiors from harsh weather.
it would be a pain to have to keep rebuilding pretty facades if they were made from material that wasn’t very strong but just looked nice wouldn’t it?
^-^
zarpancho
23 February, 2009
Where are the windows??
M
27 February, 2009
Too cool for school!