Space for breathing
It is almost nine months since we began to stay home due to Covid-19. Our daily life has changed dramatically. Many people including myself feel that we are not breathing enough fresh air. Then, customers started to call us about the ways to improve their gardens. It is natural that people are now more aware […]
Applying Japanese Spatial Concepts to Contemporary Architecture
Buildable Philosophies How can you use Japanese spatial concepts in your home? Your garden? Your office? Will doing so make you more mindful? These concepts may seem abstract, but they are buildable concepts. As you can see in the Katsura Imperial Villa and the Itsukushima Shrine, these concepts are not imaginary. They are present in […]
Creative & Healthy Ways to Use Your Home to Work at Home
Do you work at home and feel stressed and enprisoned? Your home should help you. I’d like to share some tips on how you could use it in creative ways to stay well while working at home. I learned these tips over the years from two resources. One is my research on teleworkers and their […]
Noguchi’s Body-Space Devices & Our Environment in this Crisis
If you are forced to stay at home in this COVID-19 crisis, the architecture of your home might seem like the enclosure that stops you from moving. The “Body-Space Devices” exhibition at the Noguchi Museum is a good reminder that it should not be. The exhibition (May 2019- May 2020) shows Noguchi’s works that provoke […]
The Itsukushima Shrine and the Many Meanings of Hashi
Hashi in motion A secondary concept of Ma is hashi. Generally, hashi means “edge.” The origin of this pronunciation of hashi comes from the Japanese word hashike, meaning a boat, or a barge. Therefore, saying the word hashi unconsciously carries an image of a boat moving between two borders. In this example, the boundary exists in the […]
