On Kahn and Ito - The metaphysics of Architecure

Kahn//Ito – The metaphysics of architecture

Kahn and Ito both have  metaphysical approach to the issue of spaces and architecture.  The overall idea they are presenting is that architecture is a composition of almost chaotic beauty. The issue of creating space is not according to tenets passed down by history.

A space must be based on its context. This context is what informs Ito that the space known as the ‘tent’ is formed because of its context, the cherry blossom tree. It is also this context that is seen when Kahn states that the nature of space reflects what it, the creation, wants to be.

Both writers’ logics move in a step-by-step fashion. For Ito this is a series of events, one forming the other. Kahn has a explanation that more resembles an evolution of a single thing. However both writers are saying the same thing ‘Space grows out of its context’

Toyo Ito's eastern upbringing gives him a different outlook on life from many westerners as a result many of my colleagues had difficulty in truly understanding what Ito had to say.

Both writers view architecture in a metaphorical sense. Perhaps intangibility is possibly been the ‘beauty’ which builders of times gone by have sought after.