Azby Brown

The Genius of Japanese Carpentry tells the story of the 1200-year-old Yakushiji monastery in Nara and the dedicated modern-day craftsmen who are working to restore what has been lost to the depredations of time, fire and warfare. Although the full monastery reconstruction will not be completed until 2030, one of the primary temples, the Picture Hall, has been wholly restored employing the same woodworking technology used to create the original building. This new edition of an architectural classic is by Azby Brown—one of the world's leading experts on Japanese architecture. It contains a new preface and many new text materials and photographs—most of them now available in color for the first time. Azby Brown chronicles the painstaking restoration of the temple through extensive interviews with the carpenters and woodworkers along with original drawings based on the plans of master carpenter Tsunekazu Nishioka. An inspiring testament to the dedication of these craftsmen and their philosophy of carpentry work as a form of personal fulfillment, The Genius of Japanese Carpentry offers detailed documentation of this singular project and a moving reminder of the unique cultural continuity found in Japan.

Secrets of an Ancient Craft

The Genius of Japanese Carpentry

Building small can be a sign of higher ambitions, and those who take the time to peruse these pages will undoubtedly grow to appreciate that creating a small home can be an amazingly positive and creative act, one which can enhance life in surprising ways.The Very Small Home presents stunning design advances in Japan. Eighteen recent houses, from ultramodern to Japanese rustic, are explored in depth. Particular emphasis is given to what the author call the Big Idea-the overarching concept that does the most to make the house feel more spacious than it actually is. Among the Big Ideas introduced here are ingenious sources of natural light, well-thought-out atriums, snug but functional kitchens, unobtrusive partitions, and free-flowing circulation paths.An introduction by the author puts the house designs in the context of lifestyle trends, and highlights their shared characteristics. For each project, the intentions of the designers and occupants are examined. The result is a very human sensibility that runs through the book. A glimpse of the dreams and aspirations that these unique homes represent and that belies their apparent modesty.The second half of the book is devoted to illustrating the special features in the homes, from clever storage and kitchen designs, to ingenious skylights and nooks. As with his earlier Small Spaces, Azby Brown has given home owners, designers, and architects a fascinating new collection of thought-provoking ideas.

Japanese Ideas for Living Well in Limited Space

The Very Small Home

Looks at Japanese designs for compact housing, suggests a variety of storage options, and describes design strategies for making small spaces seem larger.

Stylish Ideas for Making More of Less in the Home

Small Spaces

"Brown's book Just Enough is a compelling account of how Edo Japan confronted similar environmental problems and created solutions that connected farms and cities, people and nature." —Huffington Post The world has changed immeasurably over the last thirty years, with more, bigger, better being the common mantra. But in the midst of this constantly evolving world, there is a growing community of people who are looking at our history, searching for answers to issues that are faced everywhere, such as energy, water, materials, food and population crisis. In Just Enough, author Azby Brown turned to the history of Japan, where he finds a number of lessons on living in a sustainable society that translate beyond place and time. This book of stories depicts vanished ways of life from the point of view of a contemporary observer and presents a compelling argument around how to forge a society that is conservation-minded, waste-free, well-housed, well-fed and economically robust. Included at the end of each section are lessons in which Brown elaborates on what Edo Period life has to offer us in the global battle to reverse environmental degradation. Covering topics on everything from transportation, interconnected systems, and waste reduction to the need for spiritual centers in the home, there is something here for everyone looking to make changes in their life. Just Enough is a much-needed beacon in our evolving world, giving us hope in our efforts to achieve sustainability now.

Lessons in Living Green From Traditional Japan

Just Enough

How the mindset of traditional Japanese society can guide our own efforts to lead a green lifestyle today. If we want to live sustainably, how should we feel about nature? About waste? About our forests and rivers? About food? Just Enough is a book of stories and sketches that give valuable insight into what it is like to live in a sustainable society by describing life in Japan some two hundred years ago, during the late Edo period, when cities and villages faced many of the same environmental challenges we do today and met them beautifully and inventively.

Lessons from Japan for Sustainable Living, Architecture, and Design

The Genius of Japanese Carpentry tells the story of the 1200-year-old Yakushiji monastery in Nara, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and the dedicated modern-day craftsmen who are working to restore what has been lost to the depredations of time, fire and warfare. Although the monastery's reconstruction will not be fully completed until 2030, one of the primary temples, the Picture Hall, has been wholly restored employing the same materials, tools and techniques originally used in its creation over a millennium ago. Featuring intricate, puzzle-like joinery and the integration of timber pieces to orient them in the same direction as when it was a growing tree, this book skillfully documents the stunning craftsmanship of the ancient Japanese, which is still alive today. First published more than thirty years ago, this book has become a classic. Author Azby Brown, one of the world's leading experts on Japanese architecture, chronicles the painstaking restoration of the Yakushiji monastery through: Extensive interviews with carpenters and woodworkers Original drawings based on the plans of master carpenter Tsunekazu Nishioka Detailed photographs and diagrams showing the woodworking techniques, tools and materials used This revised edition of the book contains a new foreword by Mira Locher, one of the world's leading experts on vernacular and modern Japanese architecture. An inspiring testament to the dedication of these craftsmen and their philosophy of carpentry work as a form of personal fulfillment, The Genius of Japanese Carpentry offers detailed documentation of the restoration of this historic building and a moving reminder of the unique cultural continuity found in Japan.

Secrets of an Ancient Woodworking Craft

The Secrets of a Craft

Dorothy Britton

Frederick Katayama

This revised edition of the guide to contemporary Japanese life seeks toapture the contrasts that characterize the people and the country.

A Living Portrait

Japan

Joseph Cali

The Japanese home has always attracted Western architects and designers. With a panache that often borders on the outrageous, modern homes in Japan blend such traditional elements as shoji screens and tatami-matted rooms with what appears, at first glance, to be the thoroughly contemporary elements of the Western home. And yet a closer scrutiny reveals impressively subtle touches. Carefully crafted wooden surfaces throughout the home gleam with a delicate Japanese sense of color and rhythm. The kitchen and living areas are outfitted with modern appliances or furniture, yet the subtle variations in the wall placement and space usage suggest that a different sensibility is at work here. Azby Brown, in his third book on the architecture of Japan, delves into the intricacies of the modern Japanese home by first reaching back some thousand years to its roots to follow its development to the present day. He then steams ahead to explore the state-of-the art Japanese home, with its recycled materials, extruded 30-foot-long woodlike stairway handrails, and dozens of other unique touches. In page after page of this lushly illustrated, full-color volume, Brown presents his take on Japan's ultra-chic, high-tech yet serene home designs. The Japanese Dream House is one of the first English-language books to appear on the subject and is sure to prove an indispensable idea book for architects, designers, and homeowners for years to come.

How Technology and Tradition are Shaping New Home Design

The Japanese Dream House

The Genius of Japanese Carpentry tells the story of the 1200-year-old Yakushiji monastery in Nara and the dedicated modern-day craftsmen who are working to restore what has been lost to the depredations of time, fire and warfare. Although the full monastery reconstruction will not be completed until 2030, one of the main temples, the Picture Hall, has been completely restored employing the same woodworking technology used to create the original building. This new edition of an architectural classic is by Azby Brown—one of the world's leading experts on Japanese architecture. It contains a new preface and many new text materials and photographs—most of them now available in color for the first time. Azby Brown chronicles the painstaking restoration of the temple through extensive interviews with the carpenters and woodworkers along with original drawings based on the plans of master carpenter Tsunekazu Nishioka. An inspiring testament to the dedication of these craftsmen and their philosophy of carpentry work as a form of personal fulfillment, The Genius of Japanese Carpentry offers detailed documentation of this singular project and a moving reminder of the unique cultural continuity found in Japan.

Aims to provide imaginative and practical solutions to the problems of limited interior space. Illustrated with photographs and plans of actual living areas in contemporary homes, this book offers help to those with growing families, shrinking resources and limited room to expand. Small Spaces is about living comfortably and using space wisely, and where better to find ideas on that subject than Japan, one of the world's most urban and densely populated countries? Tokyo resident Azby Brown, a distinguished architect and designer, has assembled dozens of creative

Over a thousand years ago in Nara, Japan, anonymous carpenters erected a number of temples and pagodas for a newly founded Buddhist monastery known as Yakushiji. Not only is one of those pagodas still standing today, but also surviving are the dedication to quality and the technical skill of its builders as seen in the work of modern-day craftsmen. The Genius of Japanese Carpentry focuses on such practicing carpenters, who combine in their work the timeless past and the living present. What precisely is a Buddhist temple, what a temple carpenter, and what relationship do they have to Japanese woodworkers and carpenters in general? S. Azby Brown raises and answers these questions before taking up the subject that lies at the heart of the book: the construction of the Picture Hall, one of the temples lying within a sub-compound of the Yakushiji monastery. Founded in the eighth century and subject over time to the depredations of fire and warfare, the Yakushiji is now in the midst of a complete renovation that will, by the year 2030, restore its original appearance. As one part of this project, the construction of the Picture Hall has now been completed, employing the methods, the architectural style, and to a large extent the technology of its Japanese historical predecessors. From the day work commenced on the Picture Hall to the day it was finished, the author was at the site, camera in hand, recording its step-by-step erection: the selection of wood, the fabrication of parts, the detailing, the joint-making, the laying of the foundations, the pillars and beams going into place, installment of rafters and struts, the laying of the roof and roof-tiles, and, finally, the holding of the festive ridge-beam ceremony. In addition to documentary photographs, the book is remarkable for the author's drawings, based on the plans of the master carpenter himself. The combination of photos and drawings so clarifies the process of erection that the ambitious reader might imagine, for one heady moment, that he or she might undertake the building of just such a temple if only provided with the proper tools. While far from the truth, this illusion is eloquent testimony to the lucidity of the author's presentation. While it is thus the construction process itself that forms the center of the book, another important element, the human element, is never slighted. The carpenters themselves are continuously present, patiently going about their work, concentrating on the job at hand. It is perhaps from their example, as much as from the description of the stages of construction, that the modern reader will derive inspiration, discovering a common bond of sympathy that bridges both time and cultural boundaries.

Azby Brown

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