Representational Space in the Prince Asaka Residence

Tipene, L

Representational Space in the Prince Asaka Residence

Tipene, L

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Publisher:: IDEA Journal
Publication Type:: Journal Article
Citation:: IDEA Journal, 2017, (2017: DARK SPACE: the interior), pp. 164 - 181
Issue Date:: 2017-11-17

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Field	Value	Language
dc.contributor.author	Tipene, L https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0928-3839	en_US
dc.date.available	2017-05-22	en_US
dc.date.issued	2017-11-17	en_US
dc.identifier.citation	IDEA Journal, 2017, (2017: DARK SPACE: the interior), pp. 164 - 181	en_US
dc.identifier.issn	1445-5412	en_US
dc.identifier.uri	http://hdl.handle.net/10453/123061
dc.description.abstract	Jun'ichirô Tanizaki's In Praise of Shadows (1933) describes a theory of aesthetics based on shadows. He suggests that contrary to Western ideas of highly visible space, ambiguity and darkness are distinct characteristics of Japanese interiors. Kazuo Nakajima describes this condition as the blending of social practices and interior elements in indeterminate spaces of the vernacular Japanese home, and suggests the decline of such interiors has threatened the psychological stability of Japan since Western engagement, from the Meiji restoration of 1868. Almost as affirmation of Nakajima's fears, the same year Tanizaki's essay was originally published in Japan, the Art Deco Residence of Prince Akaka was completed in Minato-ku, Tokyo. Now a house museum, this assemblage of interiors is credited room-by-room to either the French interior designer Henri Rapin or the Japanese Construction Bureau of the Imperial Household, confirming for Nakajima a division between Western and Japanese concepts of space. This paper questions Nakajima's dualist reading of the Residence's interiors by unpacking the complexities of Western engagement in the Japanese interior since the Meiji restoration until the 1930s. Additionally, this paper examines parallel concepts of interior space that directly influenced the Residences conception, from the 1925 Exposition Internationale des Arts Décoratifs et Industriels Modernes in Paris and the 1920s Culture Life movement in Japan. From these historic and contextual examinations, this paper demonstrates a fundamental shift from the concept of space in the Japanese interior described by Tanizaki and Nakajima. It suggests that Western engagement displaced how value was attributed in the interior, from things that were unseen to things that were seen.	en_US
dc.publisher	IDEA Journal	en_US
dc.relation.ispartof	IDEA Journal	en_US
dc.title	Representational Space in the Prince Asaka Residence	en_US
dc.type	Journal Article
utslib.citation.volume	2017: DARK SPACE: the interior	en_US
utslib.location.activity	New Zealand	en_US
utslib.for	1201 Architecture	en_US
utslib.for	1203 Design Practice and Management	en_US
pubs.embargo.period	Not known	en_US
pubs.organisational-group	/University of Technology Sydney
pubs.organisational-group	/University of Technology Sydney/Faculty of Design, Architecture and Building
pubs.organisational-group	/University of Technology Sydney/Faculty of Design, Architecture and Building/School of Architecture
utslib.copyright.status	closed_access
pubs.consider-herdc	true	en_US
pubs.issue	2017: DARK SPACE: the interior	en_US
pubs.publication-status	Published online	en_US

Abstract:

Jun'ichirô Tanizaki's In Praise of Shadows (1933) describes a theory of aesthetics based on shadows. He suggests that contrary to Western ideas of highly visible space, ambiguity and darkness are distinct characteristics of Japanese interiors. Kazuo Nakajima describes this condition as the blending of social practices and interior elements in indeterminate spaces of the vernacular Japanese home, and suggests the decline of such interiors has threatened the psychological stability of Japan since Western engagement, from the Meiji restoration of 1868. Almost as affirmation of Nakajima's fears, the same year Tanizaki's essay was originally published in Japan, the Art Deco Residence of Prince Akaka was completed in Minato-ku, Tokyo. Now a house museum, this assemblage of interiors is credited room-by-room to either the French interior designer Henri Rapin or the Japanese Construction Bureau of the Imperial Household, confirming for Nakajima a division between Western and Japanese concepts of space. This paper questions Nakajima's dualist reading of the Residence's interiors by unpacking the complexities of Western engagement in the Japanese interior since the Meiji restoration until the 1930s. Additionally, this paper examines parallel concepts of interior space that directly influenced the Residences conception, from the 1925 Exposition Internationale des Arts Décoratifs et Industriels Modernes in Paris and the 1920s Culture Life movement in Japan. From these historic and contextual examinations, this paper demonstrates a fundamental shift from the concept of space in the Japanese interior described by Tanizaki and Nakajima. It suggests that Western engagement displaced how value was attributed in the interior, from things that were unseen to things that were seen.

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http://hdl.handle.net/10453/123061