Vinayak Bharne: Perceptions of the Shadowy World
It was in this darkness that a person grew. Analogous
to this was the concept that it was from shadows that
space grew. Thus the traditional Japanese room was not
comprehended through the amount of light that came in,
like the Western reading of a room, but the amount of
light that did not come in. The room did not really
depend on light for its comprehension, because it was
not an architectural entity perceived through the
physicality of its size, shape, or form like the Western
concept of space. In traditional Japan, the room was
merely a transient place, made up of simple autonomous
planes that at most made a cube or a quadrangle, within
which architectural space was then momentarily created
by placing transient furniture for the occasion.3
Thus the quintessential Japanese room was not
a composition of geometry and geometric figures, but of
the depth of dark, dim, and ambiguous shadows and minimal
light playing in the void (Fig. 8). This phenomenon was
enhanced by the fact that in a traditional Japanese room,
the walls are finished with a single neutral color that
would be subjected to subtle changes in its hues--a conscious
device to enhance the presence of shadows and activate the
viewer part by part, until he comprehended that the total
effect of the room was far greater than the sum of its
various parts. This was a concept quite contrary to the
Western understanding of space where everything was stated
in black and white, and space was perceived as the literal
comprehension of its formal and tectonic qualities. The
traditional Japanese room, on the other hand, was at best
a subjectively evoked space, transcending formal definition,
but eliciting a mental image brought forth by the perception
of the moods one felt in it. And it was here that darkness
and shadows played such a significant part.
The very manner in which light as an architectural
element was used in traditional Japanese space differed
significantly from the West. In the Chapel of Notre Dame
du Haut at Ronchamp, for example, Le Corbusier uses light
as a means of accentuating the various spatial realms.
The characteristics of the main spaces are underlined by
small openings cut in the massive wall south faced with
clear and colored glass. The side chapels, in contrast,
are illuminated from above, receiving light that descends
through the openings on the top of towers. The side chapels
are thus differentiated from the main space not only in
terms of form, but also by the nature of their
lighting.4 Light is used to distinguish
elements of the building from each other, like the shell
shaped roof, which is separated from the wall by a narrow
horizontal strip of light. In the classical Japanese room,
there was no such differentiation of spatial hierarchy.
At best there was an ambiguity of spatial definition
(Fig. 1,2). Though the tokonoma, or the "scroll
alcove,"5 was by far the most important
part of the room, it was only understood as a holistic part
of a larger system that was bathed not so much in a
uniformly diffused light, but more so in a subdued
darkness. The scroll, the flowers, and the shelves were
not ornaments, but modes of enhancing shadows--the real
ornaments of the room.
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