Intersession
Architecture and Design
Audie Santos
1/15/13
Jan. 15th, 2013
The House of Sugimoto
In today's documentary, we take a look at the traditional Japanese culture. The Sugimoto House was made in 1743 and is located in the heart of Kyoto. The house was burned in the Great Fire of 1870. Fortunately, the specifications for the house were noted down and it was rebuilt similar to the old way. The Sugimoto House is still inhabited by people.
The house consists of 15 rooms, each with it's own function for the family's activities. The designs for the rooms are very simple, with not much furniture. It consisted of a shop, family living quarters, and employee living quarters. The more family oriented parts of the building are farther away from the street. There is no furniture in the house to define what a room is for. There are also no windows to peer inside the depths of the buildings. There are slits in the wall's called "insect windows" to peer outside. There are no corridors. The rooms are side by side, each varying in length and width. There are complex codes to tell which room is which. The are only sliding "doors" in the house..The building is elevated so that it can resist earthquakes and floods. The structure has no nails so that it is easier to take apart in case of a fire. It is easier to take apart a building on fire than to douse it with water. The building may be stable and easy to handle in a fire, but it is still susceptible to sound.
The building blends together with the nature around it to encourage meditation for those with strong values of Japanese tradition. People come in to learn the Tea Ceremony as part of cultural heritage. When one enters the house, they must take off their shoes as a sign of respect and tradition. There is only one room in the complex where there the western influence of architecture is seen.
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| In this picture you can see the long passage way lined with sliding doors of the Sugimoto House. http://www.ovguide.com/tv_episode/architectures-season-5-episode-2-the-house-of-sugimoto-616441 |
I really like how you explained the concepts of the house like, the easy to take apart, but maybe you should have answered "why did the house not have doors?" or "What else does the house have that is completely different from western culture?"
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