Architectural Basso Ostinato: Mediation Processes Between Tradition and Modernization in the Architecture of Single-Family Houses in Japan – An Attempt at Analysis

This article focuses on the study of contemporary single-family residential architecture in Japan. Its objective is to evaluate the validity of Arata Isozaki’s thesis that Japanese architecture should be interpreted as a continuous process of mediation between tradition and modernization. To conduct this study, a set of thirty-three characteristics of traditional Japanese architecture was developed, categorised into material, formal-functional, and symbolic attributes. Using this framework, an analysis was conducted on 15 selected examples of prominent contemporary single-family house designs constructed between 1975 and 2005. Fourteen of these examples were selected from a comprehensive catalogue of significant Japanese architectural projects from 1985 to 2005, curated by the Japanese architectural gallery Gallery MA in 2005, and supplemented with one project by Arata Isozaki (the Yano House, 1975).

The analysis revealed that all fifteen projects exhibit, to varying extents, a continuation of traditional Japanese architectural models. This tendency is most pronounced in symbolic attributes, somewhat less so in formal-functional attributes, and least evident in material attributes. These findings indicate that traditional characteristics are most rapidly diminishing in the material category, more gradually in formal-functional aspects, and are most persistent in the symbolic domain.