Japanese architects embracing tradition

TOKYO A new generation of Japanese architects is scoring success by reinterpreting the past.

Unlike their predecessors, who modernized Japan with Western-style edifices, they talk of fluidly defining space with screens, innovatively blending with nature, taking advantage of earthy materials and incorporating natural light, all trademarks of Japanese design.

And their sensibility that speaks to a human-oriented yet innovative everyday life is proving a hit abroad, said Erez Golani Solomon, professor of architecture at Waseda University in Tokyo.

Food and architecture, said Solomon, stressing how the two are Japans most potent brands. They are powerful Japans strongest cultural identity.

Kengo Kuma, one of the star architects, finds he is in demand not only in Japan and in the West but also in China.

Among the major China projects for Kuma are the recent Xinjin Zhi Museum, whose sloping angles and repeated tile motifs are characteristically Kuma, and the still ongoing Yunnan Sales Center, a sprawling complex of shops, housing and a theater, where a wooden lattice decorates the main structure overlooking a pond.

He also designs private homes for affluent Chinese who admire Zen philosophy and want to incorporate that stark aesthetic into their daily lives, he said.

Japanese architecture offers warmth and kindness as it is adept in the use of natural light and artisanal craftsmanship, such as bamboo and paper. It is working together like music, to create a comfortable and luxurious spot even in a cramped space, the basic principle of a Japanese tea house, Kuma said.

Its part of our genetic makeup, Kuma told The Associated Press, sitting in his Tokyo studio and pointing with disgust at the vaulting skyscrapers visible from his window.

People all over the world are sick and tired of modern monuments, he said. The desire for the human and the gentle is a backlash to the globalization that brought all these monster skyscrapers.

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Japanese architects embracing tradition