Why do architects love Japan?

I am an American architect in Japan. Similar to the classic movie ‘An American Werewolf in London’, my journey in Japan has been interesting and adventurous, if only once life-threatening (another story involving breaking my Japanese friends’ private, high-performance airplane in a dangerous maneuver over the sea in 2016).

With 37 trips to Japan over 19 years, and the 38th trip being a one-way ticket in early 2015, I have experienced much of what Japan has to offer.?I have enjoyed a number of private home stays, visits to numerous temples, shrines, castles, gardens and construction sites—I was even fortunate enough to design a private family ski villa/pottery studio home in the mountains of Nagano nearly 20 years ago, while still living in America.

?One of the questions I often get here is “What first brought you to Japan?” or “Why are you interested in Japan?”?Since I am not the only foreign architect found living and working in the architecture field in Japan, I asked a few foreign architects I know here the same question and, as you might expect, their answers were connected to architecture.

?To be Frank

?If there is one thing foreign architects, especially those who do not live here, most often say that attracted them to Japan, it is the ‘traditional Japanese design aesthetic’—or elements of traditional Japanese architecture found in old wooden homes, temples and landscapes—and the connection to nature found in these designs.?I thought, if there is one person that may have attracted some designers to visit or even live in Japan—it must be Frank Lloyd Wright.

Many people are surprised to learn that during his career, Frank Lloyd Wright had the largest collection of Japanese art, outside of Japan.?He also made more money selling Japanese art than he did from architecture! I am not sure what that says about him, or the business of architecture.

I always felt there was something special about Wright’s designs—something unique and natural. The organized geometry of form and the warmth of the interiors—the framed views and attention to fine details, often biophilic in pattern and repeated and reflected in various ways. But it wasn’t until I learned about his Imperial Hotel in Tokyo, and how it had (mostly) survived the September 1, 1923 Great Kanto earthquake, that I began to understand, at least in part, one of his major influences—Japan. He credited Japanese art as one of his primary influences, but I think it went beyond art.

Richard Moriwaki, AIA, founder of RJM Consulting, visited the Imperial Hotel when he was just 13-years old. Richard recently described it like this, “It was an Indiana Jones-like experience.” ?In part perhaps due to the building form and the Oya stone that it was faced with. This igneous stone was quarried in nearby Tochigi Prefecture and has a warm texture and is easily carved.

Balazs Bognar, AIA, Partner, Kengo Kuma & Associates, says he was not directly influenced by Wright’s work, but feels nonetheless influenced by him because his partner and mentor, Kengo Kuma, was deeply influenced by Wright. I asked him how? “Specifically, the translation of Japanese lines and essence into his own [Kuma-san’s] work. That is already a kind of continuum, a cycle, because as we know, young Wright saw the pavilion at the 1893 World’s Columbia Exposition in Chicago, a structure that was patterned after Byodo-in in Uji city” (near Kyoto).

Others were less impressed by Wright and his work.

Martin van der Linden, founder, van der Architects said “I never understood how this architect [Wright] who built in wood and then wanted to make it look like concrete or built in concrete to make it look like Aztec Disney is considered a modern architect.” ?He continued, “His office design was paternalistic Taylorist, his urban design Fordist. The fact of his legacy as a modern architect, may be by historians to off-set the non-European dominance of modern architecture.”

It’s all been done before

?When I first saw the images below, I remember feeling a sense of ‘I told you so!’ And then I simply felt good about my decision to focus my design interests on Japan and the Japanese historical design elements, which again, are deeply rooted in a connection to nature.

Below is the floor plan of Taiyu-in-byo, a temple in Nikko, Japan (not far outside Tokyo), compared with Wright’s Unity Temple plan immediately below it. [Source: Frank Lloyd Wright and Japan: The Role of Traditional Japanese Art and Architecture in the Work of Frank Lloyd Wright, Kevin Nute, Van Nostrand Reinhold; First Edition, 1994].

Look familiar? I am not saying Frank stole the building plan from here, but maybe the Barenaked Ladies (a famous 90’s Canadian band) were right when they said, “It’s all be done before.”

It’s Japan Calling

?Growing up on the border between northern Minnesota and Wisconsin Wright’s legacy was well known. And my parents seemed enamored by architectural and natural places such as The House on the Rock, Cave of the Mounds, and Al Capone’s Hideout, so I never lacked in wonder and curiosity about what lies within. Growing up there, I was exposed to Wright’s work as an adolescent, but I didn’t have a clue then that I might become an architect.

As a young working musician, I did notice that whenever famous musicians were interviewed in magazines they were almost always asked who their primary influences were or are. This remains a popular question today by most journalists. And I felt the same way about Wright’s work—I just wanted to know what or who his primary influences were? ?So it was this persistent thought that kept pushing me towards Japan.

Thanks Frank!

There it is. Not all architects blame Frank for their love of Japan. But for me, he is at least partly to blame—or should I say, “Thanks Frank!”

What do you think? Do you love Japan? Why? Please let me know in the comments below.

James Scott Brew is an architect, musician and student of story with NIKKEN SEKKEI in Tokyo, Japan where he spends his days turning design challenges into story and logic models that will resonate with colleagues and customers.