Japan: Nation Building Nature

From the publisher:
“Japan: Nation Building Nature is the first book to map out the views of nature that have shaped the widely acclaimed but often misunderstood modern architecture of Japan.
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By connecting the dots between philosophy, design, geopolitics, and an earnest quest for a greener tomorrow, this book explains how Japanese culture can shed new light on our understanding of ecology, and vice-versa.
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This book offers key insights and references for anyone wishing to deepen their knowledge of Japan and its architecture.”

Excerpts from the book:
“Incidentally, the current Covid-19 crisis may be a significant teaching moment in this respect. Over the past decades, the premise of perpetual growth has continually prioritized short-term efficiency over long-term resilience. And while the shock of the pandemic seems to be fuelling this trend in some ways, nudging us further towards automation, surveillance, and centralized control, without monitoring the social consequences, new forms of resilience are emerging.
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Utopian and pragmatic at the same time, the floating stadium effortlessly resolves the conflicts and compromises that have shaped the previous designs, thus exposing the narrow-mindedness of the agencies in charge of producing our contemporary urban environments.”

Purchase from nai010 publishers.