SACRED AND PROFANE : BAD OR NOT ??

Sacred and profane – we are all too familiar with this distinction. So familiar that we assume the act of definition of sacred religious space is an absolute one, by which space contained inside becomes sacred and that left outside profane, a distinction clear as black and white. And that sacred space is recognisable and clearly inviolable because the sanctity of prayer can never be compromised. This is a universal ideal. The mosque embodies this ideal.

But can sanctity be experienced equally by every person?
Sanctity is a construct. Meaning is not intrinsic to form. It is contingent on the cognitive comprehension of the user. The mosque can be experienced as sacrosanct, transcendental space, as a manifestation of the divine spirit or as simply as a building, an artifact of the city. The building is essentially as sacred as we make it. The Prophet himself claimed the world as a mosque, in that a house can function as a mosque, if it is symbolically accepted by the community using it. By a simple act of signification, space within is sanctified, and the house is recognised as a mosque. For that community, the space is now inviolable in a state of ritual impurity, but for another it remains just a house. The supposed black and white dulls into grey.



This is not to suggest that sacred space is indistinguishable from profane in an unfamiliar environment. People assign symbolic meanings to form and space and these associations are consolidated or rejected over time, with those that endure becoming more widely acceptable. So the dappled clerestory light in the sanctuary, the flamboyant calligraphic compositions, the awe-inspiring courtyards and lofty volumes of the Friday Mosques or the complex geometric ornamental patterns on wall or ceiling have come to represent Islamic religious space and persist in the repertoire of elements used in mosque architecture. Even a glimpse of the minaret or a suggestion of an arch or dome suffices to establish a mosque today. But whilst the quest for demarcating sanctity tends to essentialise certain qualities of architecture, these qualities cannot be understood as constant and universally accepted. They are manifest differently across time and space. Though certain significations are explicit, accessible to all, there are often those implicit and intelligible only to specific individuals or communities. They constitute a complex of forms well-established and those lesser known specific to cultural and regional differences that may render them unrecognisable to a visitor.





When you visit buildings by other architects, what do you look for?
Haha! First, I enjoy them very much. Second, I steal everything. Stealing is maybe too hard a word. There’s an Italian word, you say “rubarro,” which means a nice robber, without a mask.

EMPTY FORM = POWER

Over the past hundred years Japan has succeeded faster than any other country in Asia in raising its economic influence to western levels. And in the process Japan has gone through a cultural and social change which has been profounder than that of any other industrialized country. The development of Japan as an industrial and naval power was initiated with the accession to power of Meiji in the year 1867. The island state, which was previously cut off from the world, rapidly opened itself up to the rest of the of world and curiosity about western culture spread rapidly. Japan's population doubled to 50 million within 45 years. Institutional architecture adapted itself to western styles, in other words first to Neoclassicism and then to Modernism. However, the real architectural change only came after the second World War. Up to that time traditional Japanese architecture had been characterised in particular by wooden construction. These houses had an average life span of 30 years. In those cities which had been completely flattened by the war there was finally an opportunity to establish long-lasting architecture in the style of the American metropolis. There was experimentation like never before. The year 1959 saw the emergence of the Metabolists, whose focus was the city of the mass society of the future. Their flexible major structures stood for the liveliness of Japanese urban development, and concrete and steel became the ultimate building materials. Kenzo Tange, Arata Isozaki and others earned world fame for the new Japanese architecture.



However the younger generation, including Kengo Kuma, who was born in 1954, has taken a completely different direction. By using natural materials, traditional methods of manufacturing and very restrained design they are paying tribute to their cultural roots and driving forward a new concept of modern Japanese architecture.
This withdrawal from Monumentalism was accompanied by the recession which began in the early nineties, and whose after-effects are still being felt today. It was also the period when Kengo Kuma decided to work in the countryside, outside of the city. In contrast to China or Korea there is very great respect in Japan for traditional craftsmanship. Kuma creates the kind of sophisticated and economical architecture can be created with building materials such as wood and stone. His aim is to bring traditional architecture back into the consciousness of the people, and to re-interpret it for the tenty-first century. According to Kuma the problem of architecture in the European style is its formalism. In the case of Classicism, structure and its proportions are the main focus of interest, and Modernism, too, occupies itself in particular with the beauty of form. Kuma's designs, however, are particularly adaptable as a result of their formal modesty. He considers the typical features of the landscape and the environment the decisive starting point of his work. Architecture has to adapt humbly to its surroundings and become part of them.



As a design feature Kuma uses gaps which enable constant visual contact between the house's occupants or visitors and the outside world and nature. Crevices and gaps of varying sizes pass through his designs like a leitmotiv. An impressive example from the year 2005 is the 'Lotus House'. The travertine façade with its chessboard-like pattern of openings is wrapped around the window front of the house almost like a curtain, creating a delicate interplay of light and shadow. In addition the honest use of materials becomes apparent. The natural stone does not cover the underlying construction and instead forms a major element of the design.

Therefore from the beginning the empty form it's can be everything so everything that you needs that mean form is not full but it ready to fill in by using any some kind of theory or some principle form the designer. Anyway from the quote I am what I am not. that kinda thing like a empty form because of this word so very abstract there is can be anything , any meaning so, actually it very very hard to understand for me or generally people that not study in architecture program but in nowadays architect do a lot of empty form. that is the things effect me not understand.

MANIFESTO

KEEP WALKING

The architecture, that is kind a adventure style, so it could be say like a primary job of the world. That make we ( architect ) walk in between the Art and Science, between old memories and originality, between the brave to modernity and the respect of culture. Therefore we cannot choose but except living dangerously. We working with every materials not until concrete wood or metal but I mean to compound about history, geography, mathematic, science, business, social, weather and technology so that the things does architect working with in daily life.
Architect in my perception is also a very good career because of the reason that everything are discovered in this small world so, at least that not have any land on the world is not draw on the map, so that might be not discover something new but, while in term of design that still adventure that find something new to present out to the world so, suitable for physical discovering the ancestor were done but, in the present day we just discover about heart and spirit of ourselves. The design is the same as the traveling which we concern to search something to learning from it and, prepare about new thing but, if we fear to discover it the trip of travel will be end but, If we love to adventure, not escape, have brave, make an effort so that make we begin to the trip again and, we will find something new or find something that was no people discovered. Therefore I suggest you to keep walking although the way that you walk are dangerous so, keep walking to the destination.