Review

Author(s): Udo Kultermann

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 BOOK REVIEWS 315

zation is not sufficient for an understanding of these houses; portance of planned communities, such as Radburn, and the
additional tools are needed. Schwartz's emphasis is on forms role of increasing suburbanization as it transformed the New
and details as they are applied to freestanding rural and subur- Jersey landscape in the years following the two world wars.
ban residences. Urban residential architecture is briefly ac- No site plans are included, however, to aid the reader's under-
knowledged by mention of the row house. And the row house standing. While noteworthy architect-designed houses form
is the only residential type in which plan is acknowledged. No only a minuscule part of New Jersey's recent residential archi-
plans are illustrated anywhere in the text. While the impor- tecture, several examples are illustrated and mentioned in the
tance of brick is stated for the colonial houses, and the use of broader text. This is a curious inclusion, since the role of the
wood is mentioned in the Gothic Revival and Stick Style dis- architect is so pointedly ignored throughout other portions of
cussions, much more emphasis could be given to material as it the text.
determines form and establishes the character of residential As Schwartz states, New Jersey Houses is not intended as a
buildings. There is little attempt to explain these houses either guidebook, but it can serve as an architectural gazetteer.
as a result of conditions peculiar to New Jersey or as part of a Appended to the photograph-and-text sections are capsule de-
broader national context, except insofar as certain stylistic de- scriptions of towns of interest. Perhaps the photos will indeed
terminations may be applied nationally. Vernacular architec- arouse readers' interest sufficiently so they will go to some
ture is alluded to in the section on "Settlement Patterns" and of these towns and see for themselves, but this book has pro-
in the discussion of Greek Revival, but in her emphasis on vided only the most general kind of information on what they
style, Schwartz ignores the role of the vernacular in shaping will see. Neither the stylistic discussions nor the historical
the vast majority of residences. Indeed, she sidesteps the issue analyses are sufficiently detailed or integrated to help the gen-
of whether or not many of her examples may be seen as ver- eral reader-seemingly the intended audience-to understand
nacular manifestations of a particular style. these houses and how they reflect the state's and the nation's
Faced with the 20th century, Schwartz tries to explain the historical development. This laudable notion was the author's
conflict between traditionalists and progressives, between self- stated goal.
conscious historicism and modernism. Here again the general MARJORIE PEARSON
discussion would benefit by more specific references to the LandmarksPreservationCommission,
illustrated examples. Schwartz rightly acknowledges the im- City of New York

JAPANESE ARCHITECTURE

MANFRED SPEIDEL, editor, JapanischeArchitektur. observer's point of view. The present situation is characterized
GeschichteundGegenwart,Stuttgart:VerlagGerdHatje, 1983, by the fact that a one-sided Western view has been replaced by
157 pp., 279 illus. DM 39.80. a dialog which takes the publications of contemporary Japa-
nese architects and Japanese scholars into consideration.
Japanesearchitecturehas intriguedWesternobserverssince Manfred Speidel's Japanische Architektur, Geschichte und
the secondhalf of the 19th century,and the earlypublications Gegenwartis a catalog of an exhibition of the same title in the
by ChristopherDresser(Japan:ItsArchitecture, London,1882), Stadtmuseum in Diisseldorf. It covers several aspects ofJapa-
EdwardS. Morse (Japanese HomesandTheirSurroundings, Sa- nese architecture from both the past and the present. It con-
lem, Mass., 1886),andF. Baltzer(DasJapanische Haus,Berlin, tains contributions by both Japanese and European scholars
1903) are proof that there was a genuineinterestwhich even and architects and is especially important for the inclusion of
contributed to the renewal of Western architecture.The Bruno Taut's historical texts, "Das architektonische Welt-
AmericanarthistorianClay Lancaster'sresearchwas a lifelong wunder Japans," "Das neue Japan-Was seine Architektur
endeavorto understandthe orientalcontributionsto American sein sollte," "Ikamono und Inchiki," and "Getemono oder
architecture.The genius of FrankLloyd Wrightcreativelyin- Haikara?" never before published in the German language.
cluded Japaneseelements in his buildings in America and Bruno Taut lived and worked in Japan between 1933 and
Japan.A continuousinterestin Japancan be documentedin 1936, and his sensitivity to Japanese thinking, which (like
booksby BrunoTautandWalterGropius,who declaredJapan Frank Lloyd Wright) he possessed even before he went to
a model for Westernarchitecture. Japan, can be seen in the incorporation of Asian elements into
More recentpublicationsdealingwithJapanesearchitecture his architectural designs. The illustrations of Taut's articles
are ArthurDrexler's The Architecture of Japan (New York, include rare photos of his Japanese works such as the Villa
1955), Robin Boyd's New Directionsin JapaneseArchitecture Hyuga in Atama of 1934, in collaboration with Tetsuro
(New York, 1968),Paolo Riani'sContemporary JapaneseArchi- Yoshida, and the Villa Okura in Tokyo of 1934, in collabora-
tecture(Florence, 1969), Egon Tempel's Neue Japanische tion with Gonkuro Kume. It will remain difficult to distin-
Architektur(Stuttgart,1969),andmy own NewJapaneseArchi- guish between the contributions of Yoshida and Kume on one
tecture(TiibingenandNew York, 1960,2nd rev. ed. 1967)and side and Taut on the other; but, in the context of these archi-
Kenzo Tange:Architecture andUrbanDesign(Ziirichand New tectural Bruno Taut helped establish a Japanese
masterpieces,
York, 1970, 2nd ed. 1978). identity that influenced not only the collaborating Japanese
The surprisingfact is thatJapanesearchitectureseen from architects but also the situation of architecture in Japan in gen-
the Westernperspectiveis always different,accordingto the eral, which was at that time going through its first phase of

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316 JSAH, XLV:3, SEPTEMBER 1986

nationalrenaissance.The importanceof Taut'sinfluencehas, were the architects Ende and Boeckmann from Germany and
for much too long, been overshadowedby the impact of Joshua Conder from England. Conder also had an important
FrankLloyd Wrightand AntoninRaymond, the supervising influence as a teacher at the Technical College in Tokyo,
architectof Wright'sImperialHotel in Tokyo. founded in 1877. Among the first Japanese architects who
The first part of the book is organizedaroundthe various built important structures adapting the foreign style of archi-
aspectsofJapanesearchitecture,from its earliestbeginningsto tecture were Kingo Tatsuno and Tokuma Takayama. In rela-
the presenttime. The first essay, "DasjapanischeWohnhaus tion to this architecturalphase in Japan, the article by K. Abe,
und die Natur," by the editor, puts the traditionalJapanese "Early Western Architecture inJapan" (JSAH, 13 [1954], 13-
house and its meaning within the context of the Japanese per- 18), could have been added to the bibliography of the book.
ception of nature. In a subsequent article, Willi Flindt and The architecture of the 1920s and 1930s, the subject of'
Manfred Speidel analyze the structure of the Japanese room, the subsequent article by the editor, widens the horizon to
concentrating on four examples: the teahouse, the living include such Japanese architects as Mamoru Yamada, Bunzo
room, the pilgrimage temple, and the No stage. In all of these Yamaguchi, Kikuji Ishimoto, and Isoya Yoshida, who, to
rather functionally different spaces one consistent element, the some extent, had contacts with Europe and studied with Eu-
open framework of supporting forms and wall forms, consti- ropean architects. Missing in this chapter is the work of
tutes a continuous system in which interior and exterior are Tetsuro Yoshida, whose pioneering buildings and books con-
united and which is dominated by the meaningful energies of tributed much to relations between East and West. In the
an intermediate space: "Typical in all four examples is the 1930s, a regional version of "modern architecture" evolved in
separation of the event surface from the exterior by an in- Japan; in spite of Bruno Taut's critical view, it was neverthe-
between area which cannot be entered, manifesting as empty less one of the necessary steps on the way to the development
plane, garden, water, or abyss which cannot be spanned" of an independent Japanese identity. Some of Taut's articles,
(p. 21). In the following essay, "Zimmermannsverbindungen which are included in this section of the book, reflect the
im traditionellen japanischen Holzbau," the editor again dis- Japanese situation from the point of view of a foreign architect
cusses structural elements in the typical Japanese house and in who played a major role in the further development of Japa-
other building types; and Tsutomo Shigemura continues the nese architecture, which, in the 1930s, became increasingly
theme in yet another essay entitled "Klima, Lebensweise und involved in the nationalistic expressions of dictatorial govern-
Bauen," in which he deals with regional differences in Japa- ment policies, a system from which Taut had intended to
nese architecture. escape when he left Germany in 1933.
The second part of the book, written by Manfred Speidel, is Another essay by Manfred Speidel deals with the period
devoted exclusively to an analysis of the city of Tokyo and after World War II and the important renewal of Japanese
deals with the specific form of the city, the transportation architecture in works by Kunio Mayekawa, Junzo Sakakura,
buildings and markets, high-density areas, neighborhoods and Kenji Hirose, and Kazuo Shinohara, which became the basis
the city as a living environment, the articulation of leisure for the important and internationally recognized architecture
activities in the amusement parks, pilgrimage centers, and, of Kenzo Tange and the Metabolists. Speidel compares the
finally, the image of the city. One of the illustrations shows a importation of Western monumental architectural forms into
woodcut of the sunrise in Edo of c. 1840, astonishingly resem- Japan with the earlier importation of Buddhist architecture, in
bling Bruno Taut's own, much later, urban visions of a city of both cases resulting in a new monumentality: "Similar to the
the future which he published around 1920 in his utopian monumental style created by the introduction of Buddhism
books. It seems that Taut had little knowledge of the Japanese and Buddhist architects in the 7th century, which went be-
urban tradition and of this specific urban view, but remark- yond the Chinese models and proved to be more permanent
ably his visions developed along similar patterns, again docu- than they, an internationally significant architecture also de-
menting the inner affinity of this German architect's architec- veloped from the experiments with Western eclecticism and
tural and urbanistic concepts with those of Japan. Other the principles of Le Corbusier (his Museum of Western Art
illustrations in this chapter include Kurokawa's Nagakin Cap- was executed by Maekawa, Sakakura, and Yoshizaka in 1959)
sule Tower in Tokyo, which is seen in the tradition of the culminating in the Ueno Festival Hall by Kunio Maekawa of
tatami system of the Japanese house of the past. 1961 and the Olympic Hall by Kenzo Tange of 1964" (pp. 79-
The third part of the book concerns the tradition ofJapanese 80). While Speidel accurately chooses the right examples in
architecture from 1868 to after World War II, and again it this comparison, especially Maekawa's Festival Hall in Tokyo,
demonstrates the continuity even in those events in which the and convincingly puts the importance of recent architectural
traditional forms were purposefully destroyed. Michiko Meid results in Japan into its proper perspective, he somewhat un-
writes about the process of the introduction of European ar- dervalues the inherent traditional Japanese elements, which are
chitecture in Japan during the first years of the Meiji Revolu- intimately correlated with the innovative tendencies of the
tion. Even though there had been some contact between Japan leading architects.
and Europe in the 16th century, it was not until 1854 that In logical sequence, the third part of the book contains such
foreign architectural styles were introduced in Japan. Even important essays as "Funktion und Raum" and "Funktion,
more unprecedented was the construction of factories, Struktur und Symbol" by Kenzo Tange, and "Ersetzbarkeit,"
churches, office buildings, and houses by foreign and Japanese "Form und System -Katachi und Kata," and "Menschlicher
architects who only remotely attempted to use the Japanese Raum im Sky-House" by Kiyonori Kikutake, with short
architecturalvocabularies. Dominating this transitional period interpretative remarks by Manfred Speidel in between. Three

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 BOOK REVIEWS 317

more pioneering texts by Kisho Kurokawa ("Metabolis- limitations of time and financial resources. The result is an
mus," "Kapselerklaerung," and "Rikyu-Grau-Die Unbe- excellent introduction into contemporary Japanese architec-
stimmtheit des japanischen Raumes") and the fundamental ture, a subject which should be studied in even more detail.
article "Gruppenform" by Fumihiko Maki follow, thus com- Manfred Speidel, Professor at the Technische Hochschule in
pleting the basic philosophy of the Metabolists. With the ex- Aachen, is a scholar in the field of Japanese architecture and
ception of Masato Otaka, all members of the Metabolist group has published studies on the anthropological aspects of Japa-
are represented in the collection of essays with important nese architecture, for example, his article "Anthropological
texts, along with some theoretical writings by Takamasa Notes on Architecture, Japanese Places of Pilgrimage" (Archi-
Yoshizaka, an architect of the older generation, who is tecture+ Urbanism,12, [1975]). The perspective of his investi-
not connected with the thinking patterns of the Metabolists. gation in this volume transcends the earlier prevalent formalis-
The third part of the book concludes with statements by tic interpretations. His is a search for an integrated view in
Kasuo Shinohara ("Architektur und Maschine"), Arata which landscape and urban form, architecture and its meaning
Isozaki ("Formalismus"), and Tadao Ando ("Meine are co-ordinated. As in other recent publications on contem-
Architektur"), providing convincing expressions of three of porary Japanese architecture, such as the book by the Ameri-
the major architects and architectural theoreticians of the can architect Michael Franklin Ross (Beyond Metabolism, The
younger generation. New JapaneseArchitecture,New York, 1978) and the articles by
The fourth and last part of the book presents a selection of Richard Pommer ("The New Architectural Suprematists,"
ten architects who, in the opinion of the editor, represent the Artforum, October 1976) and Hajime Yatsuka ("Architecture
contemporary scene in Japan, each with a short statement and in the Urban Desert: A Critical Introduction to Japanese Ar-
some illustrations of his works. These architects, Eiji Ebihara, chitecture After Modernism," Oppositions,23 [1981]), as well
Osamu Ishiyama, Kuniaki Itoh, Kan Izue, Monta Mozuna, as the most recent book by the Hungarian architect Botond
Riichiro Ogata, KazunariSakamoto, Yozuro Tominaga, Riken Bognar (ContemporaryJapanese Architecture,Its Development
Yamamoto, and Team Zoo, can stand on their own merits and Challenge, New York, 1985), the subject matter is seen
and indeed represent a good part of contemporary Japanese with a new approach. Most of these publications are based on
architecture. But by no means is this a complete representa- the pioneering article by Gunther Nitschke, "MA, The Japa-
tion. There are several other architects who could have been nese Sense of Place," ArchitecturalDesign, 3, 1966. The emer-
added, some with greater justification than those included- gence of a refreshingly new, realistic, and exciting dimension
to mention only a few, Takamatsu Azuma, Kazumasa of Japanese architecture in its relationship to the past by
Yamashita, and Itsuko Hasegawa, architects who are out- Manfred Speidel and several young authors reflects the widen-
standing examples of independent and fascinating contribu- ing horizon of an international architecture of meaningful
tions to the contemporary architectural scene in Japan. Itsuko complexity in a specific regional tradition.
Hasegawa is one of the very few female architects in Japan and UDO KULTERMANN
would have been especially important in widening the horizon
of the selection. WashingtonUniversity, St. Louis
The editor of the book, which encompasses a variety of
contributions by others, has done an excellent job within the

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