Rumiko Handa

Against Arbitrariness: Architectural Signification in the Age of Globalization

Abstract The theory of arbitrary signification, predominant during the last half century, considers architectures intrinsic properties as having little to do with its meaning. Consequently, architectures significance is not based on itself but assigned externally. In the age of globalization, such an assignment is often ineffective. This paper will: (1) examine the post-W.W.II debates between the theories of arbitrary and natural signification; (2) relate these theories to more philosophical, historicist vs normative positions; (3) discuss the implications concerning conservation of culture, legitimacy of interpretation, and fake authenticity in construction; (4) and examine some architectural works that have brought forth natural signification in conventional forms.

Sen no Rikyū and the Japanese Way of Tea: Ethics and Aesthetics of the Everyday

ABSTRACT Sen no Rikyū (1522–1591) was a tea master who consecutively served Japans two warlords in the turbulent feudal era. Rikyū synthesized wabi tea into ethics and aesthetics by applying it to every aspect of the ceremony, from the tea setting to the physical environment, and from the manner of making and drinking tea to the way of interacting with the environment. By producing artifacts and environments that clearly showcased the incomplete, imperfect, and impermanent nature of their physical aspects, Rikyū succeeded in guiding tea participants to the ontological contemplation of their own imperfect and transient existence. Henri Lefebvre (1901–1991) and Jürgen Habermas (1929–) both find a deterioration of human values in modernized societies and seek a reconciliation in the study of the everyday. Rikyūs ethics and aesthetics offer instruction on how to find the meaning of our existence in a simple act of sustenance.

Research Methods for Architecture

Renewed interest in integrating research into design is apparent when we look at books published on the topic in recent years. The go-to textbook for more than a decade, Linda Groat and David Wang’...

Coelum Britannicum: Inigo Jones and Symbolic Geometry

Inigo Jones’s conclusion that Stonehenge was a Roman circular temple in Tuscan order dedicated to Coelum, the god of the heavens, appeared in a posthumous publication (1655) by John Webb, and drew extensively from mythology, history, and astrology. Jones’s interpretation was an important part of his grand vision Coelum Britannicum, which drew a macro- and microcosm parallels between the heavens and Britain. For Jones, this symbolism presented a specific geometrical scheme and therefore turned immediately into an architectural form. It appeared in other designs by the architect and arguably in works by others under his influence. This paper will discuss the role of mathematics in architecture, as stated by Robert Recorde and John Dee among others, Jones’s written statements in this regards, other works by Jones, and court paintings by Peter Paul Rubens and Anthony Van Dyck.