Japanese Creativity: Contemplations on Japanese Architecture

In Japanese Creativity, Japanese architect Yuichiro Edagawa sets out to try to determine the roots of a particularly Japanese architectural style by analyzing a wide variety of exemplary buildings from the sixth century to the present. Developing his theory out of close observation and practical knowledge and constantly shifting between historical and more recent examples, Edagawa isolates what he considers to be the distinctive characteristics of Japanese architectural creativity and composition: intimacy with nature, importance of materials, bipolarity and diversity, asymmetry, devotion to small space and an appreciation for organic form. He finds these qualities across Japanese design, and from these extrapolates a theory of Japanese architectural creation. With Japanese Creativity, Edagawa provides a personal yet comprehensive survey of Japanese creativity and the architectural process, offering an insight into contemporary Japanese culture and identity, both deeply traditional and modern at the same time.

Yuichiro Edagawa graduated from the University of Tokyo, Department of Architecture in 1974. He entered Mitsubishi Estate Design Division and worked for Mitsubishi as an architect, a chief architect, a principal and an executive architect for 35 years. Edagawa has designed many high-rise buildings and major projects, including Sankei Breeze Tower which was co-designed with German architect Christoph Ingenhoven. Granted Ph.D. Eng. in the field of architecture from the University of Tokyo in 2017.

Kengo Kuma is a Japanese architect and professor at the Graduate School of Architecture at the University of Tokyo. Frequently compared to contemporaries Shigeru Ban and Kazuyo Sejima, Kuma is also noted for his prolific writings. His seminal text Anti-Object: The Dissolution and Disintegration of Architecture calls for an architecture of relations, respecting its surroundings instead of dominating them. Kuma’s projects maintain a keen interest in the manipulation of light with nature through materiality.