“Pacing Space”: the photographs

Originally published at www.zacharynewton.com on May 27, 2015.

© Zachary Tyler Newton // Interior side entry court. Two entry points commence two processional sequences to the terrace level.

This is the second of two posts about my current exhibition: Pacing Space. The first showed the exhibition itself, this one focuses on the photographs I included in it.

This past November I had the good fortune to travel to Japan, where in preparation for the exhibition Pacing Space, I met with Professor Waro Kishi, who is a gifted architect. We spoke about some of the unique characteristics of Japanese domestic architecture, and how these can be expressed in traditional and contemporary forms alike.

Of particular interest was the use of threshold within the sequence of progression toward the dwelling’s core zones. Traditionally, within Japanese architecture there is a strict hierarchy of space, with each new threshold serving as a filter for who may or may not cross it. In this way, strangers, workers, acquaintances, and close friends and family are granted different types of access in a way that is far more structured than what one experiences in the West. It was this idea: that there is a transitional space — or an architectural filter based on relationship — which was the foundation of our exhibition.

Professor Kishi generously arranged for me to photograph one of his recent projects, House in Yamanoi, which provides a rich example of this architectural filtering, with its multiple entry points and various processional routes to different parts of the dwelling. While shooting, I also became very interested in how adeptly the project linked itself with its surroundings via skilled framing devices.

These highly considered frames often both focus one’s attention outside the home, and draw the gaze further within, to zones of greater intimacy, depending on vantage point. At their best, they do both within the same view. Thus the line of the gaze becomes another path which is directed and given different privileges, based on one’s location within the spatial progression.

© Zachary Tyler Newton // Outdoor terrace kitchen with outward views of the surrounding city and inward views of the dwelling core.

© Zachary Tyler Newton // Terrace sitting area, with views down into the main courtyard and the small garden outside the teahouse.

© Zachary Tyler Newton // Low exterior view frame, which provides glimpses into an interior circulation zone, but conceals identities and destinations.

© Zachary Tyler Newton // View across the main courtyard from the daily use garage toward the vintage sports car collection.

© Zachary Tyler Newton // Dual framed view looking outside and looking toward the dwelling core.

© Zachary Tyler Newton // Framed view from the exterior terrace kitchen inward, to the interior kitchen.

© Zachary Tyler Newton // Framed view of the sky, punctuated by dwelling core eaves, from side entry corridor.

© Zachary Tyler Newton // Framed views of trees in terrace garden screening neighboring dwellings.

© Zachary Tyler Newton // Layered and screened views from the teahouse, across the teahouse garden, and into the master bedroom.

© Zachary Tyler Newton // The long side entry sequence at terrace level, framing dwelling core and sky.

© Zachary Tyler Newton // Side entry sequence at ground level, with wall and stairs framing sky and hinting at the more privileged zone of the terrace.

© Zachary Tyler Newton // Gaps in exterior wall for circulation and for glimpses of the exterior.