nic the intern presents white out - hakuei house
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By ro / lu in white out Published: Friday, 06 February 09 - 07:38 AM (GMT -06:00) Last Updated: Monday, 23 March 09 - 08:26 PM (GMT -06:00) |
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white out's an ongoing series of posts drawn from a presentation that our winter intern nicolas allinder gave about his research into recent modern residential japanese architecture.
the japanese must love compartments. last fall i ate a great bento box at tanaka's, a japanese restaurant in manhattan. my friend, who invited me there, loves the place. i think i know why; he eats every component of his meal one food group at a time. no mixing. no mingling. whenever i see great japanese architecture like the hakuei residence, the only description i can think of is "compartments". but this falls well short of describing what makes a place like hakuei residence so complex.
akaria sakamoto architect & associates work is stunningly beautiful. matt's recent post about moriyama house made me think of this little treasure from the past, 1996 when the macarena infected the world. which i stumbled upon recently. sakamoto's use of boxes embellishes the theater that takes place at in the home. though the boxes remain still, they almost seem alive personified engulfing each other, slipping into another for comfort and protection, or standing independently. it almost feels like adolf loos' villa muller disassembled with minimalist japanese aesthetic.
my initial thought was, bento box… really? that's all i've got this week? but the more i think of it or maybe the further i fall into delusion, the bento box seems like a place to start. each compartment acts as a theater for an event to unfold in, or a stage for another tasty shrimp tempura.
the beauty of architecture is that you can tear down a wall, enhancing a space with new experiences. mixing and mingling. this is what the description compartments doesn't quite get. this sort of minimalist japanese architecture utilizes the compartment but knows when to break down barriers and how to create a stunning and dynamic space.
hakuei residence's perfectly constructed compartments create a vibrant and poetic place.
i highly recommend looking into akira sakamoto architect & associates other consistently excellent works; all of it is very ephemeral and yet very present.
and as matt says, please enjoy the time as it passes.
posted by nicolas allinder - the intern
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