Japanism in Marion Mahony Griffin and Walter Burley Griffin. From Ukiyo-e graphical concepts to an alternative design strategy

Abstract

The significance of nature as a reference from which Marion Mahony Griffin and Walter Burley Griffin try to generate an alternative architecture, comes from the deep convictions of both in the human being as one whose direct relationship with the environment in which they live produces a unity indissoluble. Heirs of the American transcendentalism thought, the interest of both for the oriental culture, and in particular for the Japanese representation system Ukiyo-e, serves to develop project strategies that condense concepts of this artistic discipline, reflecting the essential characteristics of nature not only graphically but also as constructed reality. The projects for the residential communities of Rock Crest / Rock Glen and Castlecrag, in the United States and Australia, are conceived from the ideas contained in the Japanese drawing style. The ephemeral nature of the individual in relation to the place where he lives, implies a subordination of the latter to the natural laws that define it, from the urban scale and its implantation in place, to the construction and internal organization of each one of the households.