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Upcoming Exhibition on Japanese Window Design

"We regard windows not only as a part of architecture, but as being related intimately to people's lives and physical actions"

By Rain Noe - February 3, 2020

in Interior/Exhibition Design

When it comes to user experience, the opaque cladding of a house offers binary results: It either keeps the weather out or it doesn't.

However, the portals that pierce the cladding can be said to properly involve UI and UX. They admit light to places where you need or want it. Their placement provides crucial and/or aesthetically-pleasing views of the surroundings. Opening and closing them alters airflow and temperature, and they must be easy to manipulate while robust enough that they maintain a good seal. They must be repairable, replaceable and retrofittable in case of accident or renovation.

Windowology at Japan House London -Yoshiharu Tsukamoto Laboratory, Tokyo Institute of Technology. Window Workology. 2014

Perhaps more so than in the West, windows hold special significance in Japan due to its traditional forms of architecture. "Unlike houses made of bricks and mortar," writes Japan House, a cultural outpost in London established by the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affaris, "Japanese architecture has traditionally made use of pillars and beams to create structures which allow for flexible, moveable spaces in which windows and openings can be created at will by the sliding of a screen.

Windowology at Japan House London - Takumi Ota Photography Co., Ltd. 2019

"In a single day, the space within a Japanese building may be dramatically altered; an opening may be created to reveal hidden gardens, or spaces may be separated to create new rooms. This makes the concept of windows in Japanese architecture fundamentally different from that of other cultural styles."

Windowology at Japan House London - Takumi Ota Photography Co., Ltd. 2019

To showcase this, Japan House is launching Windowology: New Architectural Views from Japan, an exhibition dedicated to the subject.

Windowology at Japan House London - Takumi Oita Photography Co. Ltd 2019

Windowology at Japan House London - Takumi Ota Photography Co., Ltd. 2019

"We regard windows not only as a part of architecture, but as being related intimately to people's lives and physical actions; and have taken the approach of deciphering the significance of windows from various different perspectives. This Japan House touring exhibition will provide an excellent opportunity to introduce windowology research originated in Japan." -- Architectural historian and critic Igarashi Tarõ, Window Research Institute Director

Windowology at Japan House London - Still from the film 'Transition of Kikugetsutei', 2019. Produced by the Norihito Nakatani Seminar, Waseda University. Directed by Kenji-Seo

Windowology at Japan House London - Photo Takeshi Hirabayashi. Installation view at Aichi Triennale 2019. 'You would have gone there to see them by then', 2019

Windowology at Japan House London - Takumi Ota Photography Co., Ltd. 2019

Windowology at Japan House London - Photo Tadasu Yamamoto. Installation view at Open Space 2016, Media Conscious NTT InterCommunication Center ICC Tokyo, 2016