This is a paperbound reprint of the English edition of the work published in 2005 (Electa Architecture). Special permission is required to enter the Katsura Villa at Kyoto, a 17th-century palace that is rigorously protected as a national treasure of Japanese architecture. As stated in the front matter: "The delicate, pristine fascination of this complex is owing in part to the fact that no visitors are allowed and so...the curious can only catch a fleeting glimpse of it and for the rest must rely on their imagination." This volume comprises three sections: an essay on the villa's history (by Japanese scholar Arata Isozaki); photographs of the complex by Yoshiharu Matumura); and essays on Japanese architecture and interpretations of the villa, by Bruno Taut, Walter Gropius, and others. The volume measures 10x11". Annotation ©2012 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)
A detailed history of Katsura, the seventeenth-century Imperial Palace in Kyoto, Japan, a pivotal work of Japanese architecture, often described as the 'quintessence of Japanese taste'. First revealed to the modern architectural world by Bruno Taut, the great German architect, in the early twentieth-century, Katsura stunned and then excited the architectural community of the West. Le Corbusier and Walter Gropius, pillars of the Modernist establishment, were fascinated by Katsura's 'modernity'. This book documents the palace in detail, combining newly commissioned photographs, detailed drawings, archival material, and historical analysis.
