The Architecture of Europe vs. Asia
What does the architecture say about the differences in culture?
I remember being ten-years-old and my history teacher showed us around our city’s Cathedral on a school trip. As we walked in, we all gazed up at the ceiling. We were all dazed and transfixed by the height and the repeating arches of the vaulted ceiling that formed complex, intertwining patterns throughout the building. My history teacher then said that they made the ceiling so intricate and stunning so that people would look up- literally to God. To me, it wasn’t just the dizzying height that seemed to make you feel so much smaller, but the rigidity in the cold, stone columns and strictly placed pews that made the building feel very formal. How imposing the building was was by design.
This past year of not being able to enter buildings like the Cathedral has made me long to travel and see new places. Especially far away ones. The funny thing is, in an alternative universe where Covid-19 never happened, I still probably wouldn’t have gone anywhere far- but its the knowing that I could have gone which makes me wonder.
The question I pondered on was: does the architectural differences between Europe and Asia speak to the culture? What does it say about differences in culture between the two continents? Of course, the further you travel away from home, the less alike cultures and places are to what you know. But what is it that drove these separate cultures to create completely different buildings of worship and dwelling?
I was watching George Clark’s National Trust Unlocked on Channel 4 where he went to Hidcote Manor Garden in Gloucestershire, England (the gardens were amazing by the way). Clark was exploring how the landscape designer Lawrence Johnston was inspired by previous designers. The interesting takeaway I found was how designers bring influences from their country of origin, and slowly new ideas are filtered to new places over time (or at least in the pre-internet era!). It’s almost as if each element and step can be retraced to what influenced the designer.
Influences from immediate surroundings are key (whether that be a city, country or continent). But its clear that influences on the individual designer or architect are just as important.
Now, let’s look at the architecture of Europe vs. Asia…
First of all, Europe is dominated with several different styles of architecture, each looking incredibly different…but they’re all made from stone. You can go to Rome or Greece and so easily imagine what the buildings were like two or three thousand years ago because they built it to last. And so much of it is still standing. Even Baroque architecture, being very elegant and decorative, is still so imposing.
But if you take a look at Japan, instantly an image of those traditional Japanese temples tucked away in a mountainous forest, with beautifully curled eaves pops to mind. Wood is the material of choice, and stone is used minimally- just for foundations where needed. Imposing is not a thought that comes to mind- in fact the opposite- you get a feeling of tranquility and nature from that image.
How a building feels is on purpose. Japanese architecture isn’t supposed to feel like English architecture because they serve different purposes for the people.
What does that difference say about the differences in culture in East and West? I think there is so much to say about the way of life in both countries and how that spilled over into the architecture- after all, buildings aren’t just a practical form of shelter but facilitate living, fitting around our daily lives.
Although this is just one take on what the difference in architecture say about the differences in culture of Japan versus Europe, here’s a quote from the bestselling book, Ikigai (Garcia and Miralles, 2016):
‘Japanese architecture, on the other hand, doesn’t try to be imposing or perfect, because it is built in the spirit of wabi-sabi. The traditions of making structures out of wood presupposes their impermanence and the need for future generations to rebuild them. Japanese culture accepts the fleeting nature of the human being and everything we create.
The Grand Shrine of Ise, for example, has been rebuilt every twenty years for centuries. The most important thing is not to keep the building standing for generations, but to preserve customs and traditions- things that can withstand the passage of time better than structures made by human hands.’
Here, the elusive concept of wabi-sabi is used as the underlying crux of what Japanese culture stands for. It’s hard to define the indefinable, but essentially it’s about finding beauty in the imperfect and impermanence of things. With the wooden materials you get natural imperfections and you have to make do with the resources you have, and accept that it will weather over time. Because of the nature of these hand-crafted buildings, nothing will be exact or last forever- it’s imperfect and all the better for it.
Wabi-sabi has become an unspoken but intrinsic part of Japanese culture- and influences not just architecture, but day-to-day life. I believe that these elusive differences in the culture between two places can be seen by just comparing buildings. And that’s amazing.
