Generally
speaking, Japan’s weather is mild in winter, hot and humid in summer. In
addition, Japan is situated in a volcanic zone, where earthquakes is
inevitable. Thus, wood has been the main component to Japanese architecture.
However, as the influence of western architecture, there are changing in the
way they design the buildings, expanding in usage of concrete and steel. Let’s
have a further look into its history and transformation due to time changing
and trend.
Traditional Architecture
At early
stage, dwelling were built directly over an earth floor with a wood foundation
and a thatched straw roof. Built in the earth ground explains why the floor may
have hollow and it is called “pit dwelling”. Then at Jomon period, because of
expanding in population and increasing in rice farming, the houses were built
on stilts to avoid mice, especially for granaries. The rich of Japanese
architecture is reflected by shrines and temples. These were influence by the
arrival of Buddhism from China in the 6th century. During time, they were
increasing design to suit local tastes. However, natural disasters and they
lost overtime, only few are existing under strict reservation. It would be a
pity if tatami room is not mentioned when talking about Japanese homes. It is
named tatami room because of its unique interior design with tatami mats as
flooring. Once upon a time, it is served as study rooms for wealthy only because
it costs an arm and a leg. The tatami mat is suitable with Japan’s unique
climate and help regulate interior humidity, this leads to common use of every
home.
Modern Architecture
Growth of
big cities and Western influence, the contemporary architecture appear with
appearances of skyscrapers and creative buildings. They could be a combine between
traditional materials and concrete, steel.The nature of small cities with high
population leads to a result of side by side buildings.
Fore further information check out these great links:
- http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e2111.html
- http://www.jnto.go.jp/eng/indepth/cultural/experience/a.html
- http://www.busyboo.com/tag/japanese-architecture/
Tatami
rooms:
- http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e2007.html
- http://www.apartmenttherapy.com/quick-history-tatami-matsretro-154420
No comments:
Post a Comment