A place for ma: investigating the essence of Japanese architecture

Abstract

Japanese architecture has always been a curiosity, ever since the style of 'japonism' was popularised in the World Expositions of the latter 19th Century. Architects such as Walter Gropius, Bruno Taut, and Frank Lloyd Wright, all praised its simple beauty and supposed 'flowing space' as an example for Modern architecture. As the phenomenon of contemporary Japanese architecture and contemporary Japanese architects is becoming more well known to the West, there is an increasing interest in the factors influencing its disparate styles and how these mange to coexist in cities seemingly devoid of historic context. However, contemporary Japanese architects assert that their work is building on cultural tradition -if not in form, then in spirit. Terms like ma have been bandied about in allusion to this, gaining vague recognition in Western circles, But talk of intangible metaphysical qualities is hard to conceive for the logical Western mind, so that often such terms are dismissed as notions peculiar to the 'mysterious Orient'. This study aims to investigate ma, the essential understanding behind Japanese architecture. Although it doesn't promise to make the concept appear any more logical, it will perhaps expand the consciousness: allowing readers to make up their own minds as to what contribution architecture makes to the human environment.