Unit 1 Interior and Exterior Interface

1 Introduction2 interface

1.1 Read the text title and hypothesize what the text is about. Write down your hypothesis.

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2. What do you know concerning this issue? List your ideas in the table left column “I know”.

I know that…	I have learnt that…

2. If you know answers to these questions write them down in the space given after each question.

1	What do Egyptian hieroglyphs focus upon?
2	When does the physical division of space in a timber-framed Japanese house occur?
3	Why are building materials such as brick or stone avoided in Japan?
4	In what way privacy is preserved?
5	What are three ma­jor elements found in the intermediate zone?
6	What devices help to unite man and nature?
7	What is difference between the Japanese, Western and Chinese concepts of beauty?

2. Circle in the list the words and expressions you know. Write down their translation in the table and calculate the percentage of your lexical competence.

1	harsh climate			latticework
2	to offer shelter			in contrast
3	interface			a hedge
4	movable partitions			vague
5	a sliding door			to pose a problem
6	wooden shutters			a distant scenery
7	a buffer space			to entertain visitors
8	abundance			a dynamic tension

Building Construction

If we look at ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs used to depict a house and entrance, we will see that the hieroglyphs focus upon the walls. Perhaps this reflects the way in which buildings were constructed there - by building up from the foundation. This emphasis on walls, which was to influence the evolution of Western architecture, presumably developed from the need to provide a comfortable interior sheltered from the harsh climate.

If we look at the Japanese writing system, based on characters borrowed from the Chinese, we will see that the characters for house and other buildings all contain the topmost element, the roof. This reflects the Japanese process of housing construc­tion - erecting a wood outer frame and covering it with a roof before making the inner walls. This emphasis on the roof may have developed as a result of the requirement that houses offer shelter from the rain while permitting cross ventilation in the hot and humid summer of Japan. In this way we can find a major conceptual difference between Western and Japanese attitudes toward architecture.

Egyptian Hieroglyphs Chinese Characters

House Entrance House and Other Buildings

The physical division of space in a timber-framed Japanese house characteristically occurs after the roof is raised, unlike the traditional Western method of building in stone, where the walls separating each room are built first and the roof put in place afterward, creating in the end a whole of separate spatial units. The interface between interior and exterior is also different. In masonry construction, a solid wall separates inside and out and is structurally important, so that few openings are permitted.

Wood frame construction in Japan, on the other hand, requires no enclosure between the supporting posts and, with the use of movable partitions, it is possible at any time to open interior and exterior spaces to each other. This style of wood construc­tion allows a step-like hierarchy of spaces. Again, with the thick walls of masonry construction, one room is much like another as far as separation goes, but with paper-covered sliding doors, the degree of separation increases with the number of partition­ing agents. In the deepest part of the Japanese house, that is, the middle, is the plastered wall, along which are arranged the sleep­ing rooms. Beyond these are more open and functionally free spaces, divided into any number of rooms by sliding doors, and surrounding these is a wide corridor bounded at the outside by wooden shutters which offer protection from the rain and cold. The eaves extend well beyond these doors, creating a buffer space appropriate to Japan's rainy climate.

A Culture of Wood and Paper

Japanese architecture, like any other architecture, is deeply in­fluenced by the environment. To cope with the warm and humid climate of Japan, materials with a low thermal capacity, such as wood, are best, and to cope with the frequency of earthquakes, materials such as brick or stone are avoided. Fortunately, Japan is blessed with good raw materials, particularly timber, well suited to the climate and ideal for an earthquake-prone country. The abundance and variety of wood has, as a result, instilled in the Japanese a keen appreciation of wood - its luster, fragrance, and texture.

W ood, paper, and other native materials are copiously used in the home. The shoji sliding doors made of soft, translucent paper and delicate wood latticework, the heavier fusuma sliding doors covered with paper of subtle or bold designs, the bamboo and reed screens, the handsome wood pillar in the alcove, the lovely paper lampshades with wood bases, and, of course, the bath made of aromatic cedar all attest to the Japanese love of wood and paper.