Crossed views. Notes on Nordic architecture and architects travelling between Japan and Europe

Abstract

The research starts from the idea that traditional Japanese architecture has played an important role in the development of modern architecture in Europe, especially in the case of domestic architecture. The objective is to summarize this fact, widely studied in the United States due to the work of Frank Lloyd Wright. However, this fact has only been partially analysed about Europe, especially during the second half of the 20th century and in relation to the Nordic countries. How did Nordic architects find inspiration in the East? What drew them to your tectonic culture? How did they apply the Japanese aesthetic to their own designs? While sometimes only formal elements were used, without much more depth, in other cases, the principles of Orientalism, Sukiya architecture or the Villa Katsura as a reference, enriched domestic architecture designs. Such is the case of Jørn Utzon, Halldor Gunnløgsson, Arne Korsmo or Sverre Fehn, among others; who were the leaders of a current of modern Eastern syncretism, which owes its origins to the vision of the Central European pioneers who visited Japan, to the influence of Erik Gunnar Asplund and, above all, to the legacy of Tetsuro Yoshida.