Alison and Peter Smithson: Intersecções com o Japão

Abstract

In the founding text of the New Brutalism, Alison and Peter Smithson explicitly declare a sense of kinship between their thinking and traditional Japanese culture and architecture. Curiously underplayed in the studies dedicated to their work up to today, this relationship with both historical and contemporary Japan is a recurring theme in the career of the British couple and, as such, worthy of further inquiry and consideration. The survey of the means of contact with Japan available to these architects - the publications, the second-hand references inscribed in the work of the Modern Movement heroes, the study trips, and the encounters with the post-war generation of Japanese architects - allows for educated speculation on the intersections between the Smithsons and Japan. Starting from the relationship between architectural form and a way of life as a general principle, the main nodal points identified in this web of affinities are: the intellectual appraisal of materials for their intrinsic characteristics and a preference for the direct display of structural elements; the search for urban and architectural solutions open to growth and adaptation; the importance attributed to the relationship of Man and his milieu, particularly with nature; an interest in the concept of pure space and the devices necessary to its accomplishment; and an appreciation for the art of inhabitation, relating to the gestures of appropriation and ritualization that arise from domestic and collective life. The dual role played by Alison and Peter Smithson as both inheritors of Modernist values and pioneer agents of Post-Modern critique makes the study of their work and how it relates to Japan a precious contribution to the understanding of the wider history and theory of architecture in the twentieth century.