In between: learning from the Japanese concept of ‘MA’
With the support of:
How can we rethink space by setting aside our preconceptions about it? Since the Renaissance, Western spatial design has been shaped by linear perspective: a predetermined system in which depth is calculated and the viewer’s position is fixed. Space is presented as a ‘closed’ experience. In contrast, Japanese spatial thinking offers a dynamic and relational understanding of space, in which the viewer plays an active role in perceiving depth – which arises through interaction, movement and time.
Japanese culture is rooted in a deep reverence for nature and embraces the idea of the ‘in-between’: between human and nature, inside and outside, culture and context. This promotes a spatial experience that is constantly changing and open to participation. The concept of ‘MA’, introduced to Western audiences by Arata Isozaki in his 1978 exhibition MA: space – time in Japan, reflects this temporal and relational approach to space. In the studio ‘Learning from Japan: spatial lexicon’, we take these ideas as our starting point and explore possibilities in this intercultural dialogue by reading, interpreting, sketching, drawing, writing… In this way, we develop a ‘spatial lexicon’: this opens up new possibilities for design approaches that are both locally grounded and globally resonant.
Beeld workshop studio met Mio Tsuneyama & Fuminori Nousaku in De Koer, Gent, 2025
Karla Schätzle
Interpretatietekening van de Villa Katsura
Interpretatieve schetsen voor studenten MA1 op bezoek in Louvre Lens, van SANAA architecten.