oa Architecture of Sensory Experience in Contemporary Japan. Restoration of National Traditions

The article provides an attempt to trace a typical tendency of Japanese architects to restore such important characteristic of the national culture as sensory experience in the contemporary architecture; this experience lays in the foundation of cultural traditions and shapes a unique spirit of a certain work of art. This characteristic, unobvious from the European perspective, perfectly reveals the very essence of Japanese culture. Throughout the history of Japanese culture, sensory experience, even tactile sensations, has been defining both traditional rites and ceremonies, and adopted knowledge and skills. For the contemporary Japanese architects, such return of sensory experience to architecture is a chance to keep cultural traditions and to oppose them to the global urban changes, creating the architecture, the artistic experience and space organization of which allow people to get personal experience of its direct perception.