Responding to Chaos: Tradition, Technology, Society and Order in Japanese Design

A celebration of a unique culture and its experience, Responding to Chaos offers a timely examination of Japanese design at the start of a century. The country's economic boom of the 1980s produced a surge of interest in land and building, and consequently in design in all its forms. From restaurant interiors to products, from private housing to recreational spaces, design received an unprecedented degree of attention. However the bursting in the early 1990s of this so-called 'bubble' economy has prompted a re-examination of design and its role in urban society. The new environment for design in Japan is less self-conscious and extravagant, more introspective and sensitive to a broader range of issues. This book offers an intimate and readable account of seventeen key individuals through a series of dialogues with the designers themselves. Some of these figures, such as Tadao Ando or Shigaru Uchida are internationally famous, some like Kazuyo Sejima and Shigeru Ban are just starting to receive wider recognition, others are at present little known outside their own profession. Selected both for the clarity of their concepts as well as for the quality of their designs, each is driven by a creative vision and speaks passionately about it. Covering more than ninety individual projects, Responding to Chaos is a compendium of ideas and concepts, completed works and projects that span a range from clocks to computer centres, crematoria to cities in the sky. These are organized around four distinct approaches to design in Japan which cut across professional boundaries - Tradition, Technology, Society and Order. It is a compelling read, not just for professionals, but for anyone who is interested in contemporary design, in art, history, culture, technology, and what these mean in a modern urban society undergoing rapid change. David Chipperfield, Shigeru Uchida, Kan Izue, Yoshiji Takehara, Toru Murakami, Toru Mitani, Shoei Yoh, Motoko Ishii, Waro Kishi, Kazuyo Sejima, Toshiyuki Kita, Shigeru Ban, Shin Takmatsu, Tadao Ando,

Table of Contents:
Foreword. Acknowledgements. Introduction. Tradition. Symbolic Sense Towards Space. Aesthetics that Improve with Age. Snapshots of a Residential Tradition. Defending the Culture Low Ground. Technology. A Modernist Listening to the Earth. Architecture that Responds to the Forces of Nature. Turning on Japan's Sky Lights. Answering the Question of Modernism. Society. Adjusting the Boundaries of Architecture. Soul Provider. Paper Architecture. Quoting the Sacred in Modern Kyoto. Order Letting Nature Speak. Rotation in Harmony with Nature. Within Fluctuation One Finds Order. Continuous Space in Urban Landscape. Stripping Away any Inherent Meaning. In Conclusion. About the Author. Photographic Credits. Index.

Review :
'This is a thoughtfully written exploration of a unique culture and its current response to many aspects of design - architecture, landscape and product - the component parts of a 21st century, mainly urban environment.' Landscape Design 'This is the real value of Buck's book, in that it gives the English-language audience access to the work and thoughts of a number of fascinating designers who, despite their significance in Japan, seldom attract the attention of the international design press.' - Japan - People, Power and Opinion 'This is the real value of Buck's book, in that it gives the English-language audience access to the work and thoughts of a number of fascinating designers who, despite their significance in Japan, seldom attract the attention of the international design press.'- Japan - People, Power and Opinion