Living in Japan, Alex Kerr (German Edition)

Carefully maintained gardens, carefully thought-out room concepts, the characteristic sliding walls and warm natural building materials in combination with the most modern materials:

Japanese houses are refuges of peace, built in the spirit of eastern minimalism, of reduction to the essentials. This richly illustrated volume shows traditional architecture side by side with ultra-modern residential buildings that reinterpret traditional building forms and techniques in astonishing and imaginative ways.

Traditional Japanese architecture demonstrates such a certainty of proportions and fine detail that it can hardly be improved. Nevertheless, contemporary Japanese designers and architects continue to come up with astonishing new interpretations of traditional building forms and designs that are of high aesthetic value for the residents and the viewer.

Whether it is an immaculately preserved traditional house or a sleek modern apartment:

Characteristic of the most successful Japanese living spaces is the preference for cleverly tailored rooms, the reduction to the essentials and a preference for warm materials such as wood, brick and bamboo, without being afraid of concrete, steel and the most modern building materials. From a thatched-roof farmhouse, now inhabited by a Zen priest, to Tadao Ando's experimental 4×4 house and Shigeru Ban's conceptual "Shutter House" to a beautiful homage to bamboo, this elegant and beautifully photographed architectural guide shows the many facets of architecture contemporary Japanese living. The volume is supplemented by an address list if you would like to view the objects presented, and a helpful glossary with key terms such as tatami, shoji or noren.

Review
“The photographs alone can captivate the eye for hours, but pull yourself away: the text is in no way inferior.” ― Living & Homes

About the author
Alex Kerr is a calligrapher, art collector and restores old houses. He has lived in Japan and Thailand since 1964. As a writer he became known with Lost Japan (1996), Dogs and Demons (2001) and Another Kyoto (2016).

Kathy Arlyn Sokol is a writer, interviewer and award-winning storyteller. She is the author of, among other things, Rasta Time, based on her exclusive interview with Bob Marley, and Another Kyoto about the secrets of the ancient city, which she co-authored with Alex Kerr. She currently lives in Udaipur (Rajasthan, India).

Angelika Taschen studied art history and German in Heidelberg, where she received her doctorate in 1986. She has worked for TASCHEN since 1987 and has published numerous titles on the topics of art, architecture, photography, design, travel and lifestyle.

The Swiss photographer Reto Guntli lives in Zurich and travels around the world on behalf of renowned travel magazines. He has published numerous books, including Inside Asia, Living in Japan, Living in Bali, Great Escapes Asia and Great Escapes Europe with TASCHEN.