Katsura Villa : space and form /

Ishimoto's 200 photographs, all in sumptuous color, make this latest volume on Japan's time-honored classic, the best ever; they probe, penetrate, and inspire. Isozaki's essay, ``Katsura Villa: The Ambiguity of Its Space,'' is a loose accompaniment and predictably a postmodern reading. He stresses Katsura's complexity and contradiction against the modernist reading of Bruno Taut (who ``discovered'' Katsura for the Japanese in 1930s), Sutemi Horiguchi (who championed it as a modernist in 1950s), and, above all, Kenzo Tange, his teacher (whose landmark essay in 1960 also accompanied Ishimoto's photographs in Katsura). Isozaki considers these views one-sided in their emphasis on the International Style paradigm. In his turn, Isozaki searches for opacity rather than transparency (his terms), and focuses on irregularities and surprises, decorative richness, and literary iconography-none a matter of dispute. But the essay, astute in places but generally opaque and superficial, seems hastily written. And the proposition is hardly new; Akira Naito's Katsura: A Princely Retreat (1977), now ten years old and still unsurpassed, interpreted Katsura's aesthetic as Mannerist. The translation is awkward; Sato's notes are adequate; plans lack scales. Generally recommended for college-level architectural and Japanese collections.-T.K. Kitao, Swarthmore College

Japanese photographer Ishimoto's first look at the Katsura Villa in 1960 followed a modernist aesthetic that was closely allied to the text of architect Kenzo Tange. Now the same photographer and yet another prominent Japanese architect, Arata Isozaki, give yet another view of the historic structure, presenting a more ambiguous consideration of the building as a modernist icon. Isozaki reviews the work of three other architectural critics before setting forth his own position on the villa's significance and meaning. Following this discussion are a stunning series of color and black-and-white photographs and plans covering the origin and development of the seventeenth-century home, which represents the meeting of two distinct styles as well as a major influence on the architectural philosophy of our own century. Plans, notes, and chronology appended; no index. JB. 728.8'2 Katsura Rikyu (Kyoto, Japan) / Architecture Japan Edo period, 1600-1868 / Classicism in architecture Japan / Kyoto (Japan) Buildings, structures, etc. [CIP] 86-17686

With its cool functionalism, the Katsura palaceonce a pleasure dome for 17th century Japanese imperial princesbecame a beacon for modernist architects, who found in its Mondrian-like patterns of beams support for their theories. Yet the authors, themselves prominent architects, maintain that this villa complex can be understood only on its own terms. The feeling of limitless, transparent space, the play of light that softens as it flows through inner rooms and reflects off sliding screens, ebony and rosewood, are captured in Ishimoto's full-page color photographs. Text and pictures explore the flying-geese formation of the main buildings, subtleties of teahouses and stepping stones, a moonlit garden. Isozaki and Sato trace the mix of design styles that evolved as successive generations of builders and craftsmen left their mark on the villa. A beautiful book. (July 6) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved

Katsura, the imperial vacation palace built in the 17th century, is a classic of Japanese architecture much celebrated by modernist architects. In this volume, the Katsura site is presented as a successful blending of opposing styles and design elements to produce a masterpiece of visual and spatial complexity. Architect Isozaki's 25-page essay summarizes three well-known commentaries on the site by modernist architects, then as contrast presents his own more postmodern view. In the present volume, the photographs are comprehensive and of excellent quality, with helpful notes by architect Osamu Sato and structural drawings of the palace and pavillions. Recommended for specialists and informed laypersons. Kathryn W. Finkelstein, M.L.S. , Cincinnati (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.