In the Studio Learning from Japan, we are engaged in learning from traditional Japanese spatial concepts, in what they represent, in what they mean, and in how we can use these as carriers for our own architectural projects. Japanese culture is intricately interwoven with and deeply rooted in a tremendous awe for nature. All concepts and beings are retrieved from this attitude. It engages in a kind of in-between relationship, in-between man and nature, in-between nature and culture, in-between man and man, in-between inside and outside, … what does this in-between mean?
How can we rethink space, by thinking out of the box, by setting aside our preconceived image of space? Japanese spatial thinking offers a dynamic alternative where the viewer plays an active role in perceiving depth, which emerges through interaction, movement, and time. This approach fosters a constantly shifting spatial experience, open to participation. Arata Isozaki’s 1978 exhibition MA: Espace – Temps au Japon introduced these concepts to a Western audience. MA suggests a different kind of understanding—relational, temporal, and cultural.
We will depart from detecting potentialities in this intercultural dialogue, by reading, interpreting, sketching, drawing, researching, … and this within the framework of reconversion an anonymous generic in Ghent, turning it into an engaging place for young people.
LEARNING FROM JAPAN.
ENTANGLING SPACES FOR SUSTAINABLE RECONVERSION
Studio Structural Contingencies
Katsura Villa, interior Ishigami, Home for the Elderly, Tochoku, Japan (photo: Caroline Voet)
Description of the studio:
1) WHY
The studio LEARNING FROM JAPAN operates in the Structural Contingencies Research Group, which re-introduces architectural culture and its historical layers as a creative generative power in reconversion projects. It proposes a re-reading of built structures and spaces, materials, details and craftmanship through a design attitude that embraces their vulnerability and an attitude of care. Where space is relational and responsive, the human condition is one of connectedness (Gilligan), opening up to the possibility of connecting ethics to aesthetics.
The Structural Contingencies Studios have a mission:
Since the time of men every act of building is transformation: from a circular manipulation of raw materials to intelligent reconversions of the built fabric. Through the emphasis on the technological and material side of sustainability, we are losing the cultural dimension within the design of these processes. Buildings are wrapped and sealed off from their environment, where the only contact with sunlight is through glass and screens, while air is controlled through mechanical ventilation systems. The building industry is more and more removed from any possible dialogue with one’s surroundings, nor with daylight, water or wind, nor through respectful and cyclical contact with the earth’s resources. Through experiment and creativity in design, we aim to re-think these notions and create a resilient attitude for the future.
2) HOW
To trace the possibilities for a new aesthetic of sustainability in architecture the studio ‘25-‘26 focusses on LEARNING FROM JAPAN.
- We will dissect the emblematic Katsura Villa and the notion of the space/time concept MA, using its many interpretations through conceptual words. Through dissecting these historical examples, we scan possible design approaches towards new material ontologies and a rethinking of human space towards a Third Ecology. The aim is to understand architecture in a homogenous relationship to nature, to its climatic conditions, to scarcity, to frugality as common sense. Traditional Japanese architecture is a modular system of columns and beams on a distinct grid / off-grid to create fluid spaces in harmony with its natural surroundings. Through iterative drawings and models, the studio researches the systematics in the powerful interconnection of places, in-between spaces and ambiguity in boundaries.
- The Japanese concept of space revolves around spatial layering and the dynamic of movement space. We will introduce a different use of perspective, with its multiple vanishing point to induce the idea of movement. This reproduces a spatial condition through the fragmentation of the image into smaller elements and how they correspond to a plane of the image.
During this Master dissertation, we will wander off to Japan in every possible manner, to find tools to create a new space in the city of Ghent. Part of our wanderings will take us to a place in a European country, where Japan, as our mental space, will offer tools to rethink the relation between landscape and the city by engaging with history/memory/spatial thinking in a creative way.
Parallel we will investigate the work of a new generation of architects working in Japan today. As we interpret traditional Japanese spatial concepts, so do they reinterpret their own past. Japan today faces many urgent problems, such as rapid population decline and emptying provinces, the proliferation of vacant houses across the nation, a largely stagnant economy and the global climate crisis. The current wave of young practices is developing a range of critical, ecological and social practices that creatively make do with limited resources, with found materials, with existing spaces, within an engaging attitude. Turning for inspiration to systems and structures traditionally cultivated in Japan, ancient wisdoms and craftsmanship are being reevaluated and reclaimed.
Increasingly, architecture in Japan is one of transformation and reprogramming, rather than of new construction.[1] The new generation could be called the “renovation generation”.
3) CONTEXT + PROGRAMME
From the research every student will define his/her own design approach, tools and methodologies, by testing them in a design proposal for a reconversion project in Ghent. We study and work in Ghent. Working in the city of Ghent offers the opportunity to get to the site well, by being able to go there over and over again. Ghent is home to many young people, amongst them many students.
We will provide a shelter, a community space, a free haven, where they can meet and be together, where they can feel safe, where they can act or just be …
We will also organize guest lectures, own lectures, to open up the scope of thinking, on all aspects mentioned above.
4) RESEARCH
How can we understand our research in the past as a new layer for future developments? How do we rewrite its architectonic language to address the challenges society poses today?
What are your co-ordinates as a designing architect? A ruin, a city and a landscape.
The studio outcome will be an architectural strategy and a worked-out proposal for a building that acts as a catalyst resuming its role as a public space in the city of Ghent.
Research of rethinking architectural space through a new way of thinking will be crucial in this process.
Expected output:
The required output is twofold:
- The Japan trajectory (SEM 1)
A visual output of your research of spatial concepts resulting from the analysis of the Katsura Villa and the spatial-time concept of ma, extrapolated to contemporary Japanese architecture. A3 book with material and photographs, own drawings and text. Delivered by March 2026. Group work. - The project trajectory (SEM 2)
Concrete reconversion project in Ghent
– Selection of site SEM 1 (group work).
– Building proposal: A4 book explaining a conceptual narrative + a concrete design proposal, plans/sections/3D, models from 1:1000 to 1:10 details. February – June 2026. Individual work.
Study trip (+timing)
to be decided, early November
The studio trip will take place in W7 of semester I (possibly also weekend before).
Reference for the image:
Arata Isozaki MA Espace-Temps du Japon, 1978, Paris, image of cover exhibition
[1] New directions in Japanese architecture, p. 24