Historical Background
History of Japanese Architecture
Prior to the first century bc, Japanese architecture looked like any other building across the world, consisting of mainly wood construction and thatched roofs with earth floors. Early shrines looked like store rooms or houses. It was not until the seventh century that architecture in Japan started to develop its own distinctive style, especially in terms of temple designs, which were some of the most important buildings within the villages and communities. Japanese architectural history can be identified and differentiated when addressing specific periods in the timeline of Japan’s history. Click the tabs down bellow to learn about significant time periods in Japans Architectural History
The main distinguishing characteristics of the architecture during this period was the use of stone, roof tiles, and Japanese cedar (cryptomeria) as the main building materials, all of which were locally sourced. The Asuka temple is one of Japan’s oldest temples and some consider it the first. The main temple area was walled by a continuous roofed corridor in the already walled compound. The second enclosure contained only one entrance on the South and within it were various structures, such as a pagoda, auditorium and the kondō (main hall).
This period saw newfound importance given to the kondō as a main structure. The kondō was now centralized and flanked by two pagodas, instead of one like the Asuka temple, both of which had less importance. The Yakushi temple is one of the few temples that survived into modernity. The temple is a great example of a new architectural feature of the time, the mokoshi. A mokoshi is a secondary roof placed between the major stories which covered a porch and gave the structures a double roof appearance, a main
element in the forms of temples during this period.
The Nara period’s most important structure is the Tōdai temple. Many of the features from the Hakuho period are still present within the buildings of this period, but a notable feature is the lack of the kondō as a distinctive feature. Similar proportions and elements were still however. The Tōdai temple was built to house the 15 meter tall cast-bronze statue of the Great Buddha. Another important building of the Nara period is the Kofuku temple. This building was conceived as a place of worship and monastic learning but also as a center that provided social services. When the clan leader, which was responsible for the construction of the temple, passed away, an octagonal memorial was constructed. This distinctive addition to the temple signified a move away from the pagoda as a large reliquary or memorial structure.
Led by a search for small, quiet and contemplative spaces, tea rooms and small study rooms (tsuke shoin), were made popular. These spaces contained sliding shoji windows that opened into the garden view. The organizational method for the interior spaces was based on the shoin-zukuri, a style for mansion estates in which the subsidiary structures were connected to a chief central building through corridors. Domestic architecture began to lean more toward the modest and reserved. The gardens are heavily sculpted and curated instead of being left as a natural landscape. Muromachi period gardens were meant to be viewed and not entered, they were treated as a three dimensional painting instead of an occupied space.
The shoin-zukuri style continued to be refined during this period. Large verandas served as the connection between the interiors of the many structures within the complex. The Muromachi style of highly manicured gardens continued into the seventeenth century. Within the interior of the house,a small room with shelving units and an alcove called tokonama, made for hanging scrolls, were used as display areas and showrooms for calligraphy and fine arts. Castle architecture also developed further. The basic layout consisted of a central reinforced tower around which were arranged gardens, parks and fortified buildings. The interior of these spaces created a challenge, as they were generally large and dark. The solution was the utilization of sliding panels (fusuma) and folding screens (byōbu).
The Edo period is what is commonly referenced when discussing “traditional” Japanese architecture, culture and communities. Shoji screens, sliding panels and decorative carvings on such panels and screens were commonplace within residential architecture. The tea room and tea ceremony began to take on more importance. Tea rooms were their own minimalist structures made to create a contemplative and meditative space through the ceremony and aesthetics of drinking tea. These rooms were measured by the size of the tatami mats which lay on the floor, and consisted mainly of the drinking room, typically without much furniture, and the room for preparing the tea. These huts were placed adjacent to meandering paths through gardens and offered well orchestrated views.
Architecture in Japan from the last quarter of the nineteenth century onward have quickly assimilated western forms, styles, and structural technologies. Large scale public buildings started to be built from reinforced brick instead of stone, and steel reinforced concrete allowed for large interior spaces.
Moorish Architecture
Although the Ambassador’s Residence is located in Japan the architects were highly influenced by Moorish Architecture.
Moorish Architecture originated as a variation of Islamic Architecture. It developed as a group of people of the Islamic faith spread from the Middle East to the Maghreb, an area which included parts of today’s North Africa and Spain. These people later became known as the Moors, and the architecture of the Moors was noted for its unique intervention of culture and religion.
In the Gallery on the right shows images representing several important characteristic of Moorish Architecture
History of Site
During the early Edo period, the neighborhood where the embassy now resides was home to many Buddhist temples. Later, many of these temples were forced out by daimyos claiming the land to build their residences in the area. Daimyo Ushiku Yamaguchi Chojiro placed his estate on the land that is now the US Embassy. Where the Ambassador’s Residence currently stands was once the residence of the Chief of the Edo fire department.
The current site of the Ambassador’s Residence wasn’t always located in the Akasaka district of Tokyo. From 1856-1862 the US embassy and ambassadors moved to three different locations in Japan. The first embassy was established in 1856 by Townshed Harris in Shimoda present-day Shizuoka Prefecture. The embassy then moved to the Zenpukuji Temple in the Azabu District of Edo, Japan’s Then-capital in 1859. Then the embassy moved once more to Yokohama in 1862 where it stayed for the next 67 years.
The US didn’t gain the current site until 1925 after the Great Kanto Earthquake. The Great Kanto Earthquake was trailed by a 40-foot high tsunami just minutes after and was marked as the strongest recorded earthquake in Japanese history, measuring 7.9 on the Richter scale. The earthquake and tsunami were followed by a fire that rampaged throughout the city. This natural disaster demolished Prince Hirokuni Ito Estate. Two years later in 1925, the land was collected by the U.S. government from the Japanese government costing $115,000. Four Years later in 1929 construction on the residence begins.
History of Architects
H. Van Buren Magonigle
Antonin Raymond
Harold Van Buren Magonigle was a designer, painter, and writer. He began his career in the offices of Vaux and Radford. In 1928 he was brought on as an architect for the Ambassador’s Residence Project.
Antonin Raymond was a Chzec born American architect. Before working on the Ambassador’s Residence Raymond worked with Frank Lloyd Wright on the imperial hotel project in Tokyo. In 1922 he set up his own architectural firm in Japan. Six years later he was commissioned to work on the Ambassador’s Residence.