VISUALIZATION OF TRADITIONAL AESTHETIC PRINCIPLES IN MODERN ARCHITECTURE OF JAPAN

Abstract

The article analyzes the problem of the correlation of traditions and innovations in modern architecture in Japan. The problem of preserving architectural identity has become especially relevant in the context of globalization. The uniqueness of modern Japanese architecture consists in the effective explication of traditional aesthetic principles in visual art, whose development is inevitably determined by the socio-historical context. The traditional aesthetic principles which were formed in the Middle Ages and have preserved their significance and influence on the modern socio-cultural space of the Land of the Rising Sun are considered. Among them are the principles of mono-no avare, yugen, wabi, sabi. These principles reflect the traditional Japanese worldview and peculiarities of thinking, since they go back to the traditional religious and philosophical teachings that have spread in Japan. Their visualization by means of architectural techniques is especially significant because it allows us to maintain socio-cultural continuity and the connection of times. They are the elements of the modern aesthetic paradigm on the basis of which architecture develops, they determine the formation of codes of architectural space. The most important is the aesthetics of wabi-sabi, which has combined two principles. It defines moral qualities as well as their visualization in material culture, particularly in architecture. It underlies the simplicity and incompleteness of forms close to emptiness, proximity to nature, appeal to the inner essence of things that are inconspicuous externally, the value of damages reflecting the course of time and events in the past. Japanese minimalism originates in the aesthetics of wabi-sabi. Taken together, these aesthetic principles form the quintessence of the Japanese worldview, which is notable by contemplation and positioning of nature and man as a unity. Visualization of this aesthetics in architecture has proved to be achievable through the use of natural materials (wood, bamboo, rice paper) and planning of residential space. New trends have been developed in modern Japanese architecture, including minimalism and metabolism. Despite the influence of Western architectural patterns, representatives of the trends managed to preserve architectural identity by forming new architectural styles. This turned out to be feasible due to the flexible balancing between traditions and innovations, and their effective synthesis. The main architectural techniques that are the conductors of tradition in modern architecture are considered: (a) positioning of architecture as a continuation of nature, which is the reason for special shaping; (b) embodiment of traditional aesthetic principles through elements of architectural space – emptiness–gap–shadow; (c) combination of traditional and modern materials. The article presents a semiotic analysis of several architectural objects: the Museum of Modern Art, Hiroshima, architect Kisho Kurokawa; Global Loop, EXPO 2005, Aichi, architect Kiyonori Kikutake; Church of the Light, Ibaraki, architect Tadao Ando; the Water Temple, Awaji, architect Tadao Ando. The analysis demonstrates some spatial codes that reveal the deep iconic and symbolic wholeness of architectural objects, reflecting the amalgamation of traditional and modern consciousness of the Japanese.