Matter in the Floating World: Conversations with Leading Japanese Architects & Designers

by Blaine Brownell

It can be argued that Japan contains a higher number of internationally significant architects and designers relative to its geographic size than anywhere else in the world. Japanese designers regularly implement radical experiments in new materials and building systems that successfully address imminent energy and resource challenges. These technological achievements are combined with an acute awareness of the ephemerality of existence, creating a rich dialogue between the concrete and the abstract.

Genres: Architecture, Design, Nonfiction

256 pages, Paperback

First published March 9, 2011

Reviews

[Tito Quiling, Jr. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Minimalism is the most common *aesthetic* that people are aware of when it comes to dealing with the modern architecture of Japan. However, the more traditional views and ways of constructing consciousness and physically interacting with architectural spaces refer to what is called "Wabi sabi" (note that this aesthetic is also used across different forms of Japanese arts).

The term refers to a concept in Japanese architecture that propels how there is beauty in transience and imperfection--in many ways and permutation such as incompleteness and impermanence. It is through this mentality that Japanese architects and designers create spaces that adhere to one's living conditions, attributing the influences of nature by avoiding too many changes within the landscape. It anchors on the idea that in order for us to know our place in this world, one must be aware of how they shape the place according to their use and as much as possible, how objects and movement come together in an intrinsic manner--all to retain the beauty of architectural spaces as the years go on.

[Alhamdamar Mudafiq · Rating 3 out of 5]

It feels like very exhausting to read conversations for a long, long and long reads just for finding the point. I think it's best for you (writer) to rewrite your recorded conversation in your own words. If you think you need to use a quote, simply quote the thoughtful phrase.