Haiku in Architecture

This post comes after a long gap. Many things on my mind to write about but the festivities and a general sluggishness that comes after a flurry of activities took over me. 

A day spent in office all alone gave much needed rejuvenation to start bubbling with creative ideas. I’ve been reading haiku poems a lot. One day of blissful ‘me-time’ and I decided to try my hand at haiku.

Here’s what I penned.

Rustling Peepal leaves 

Cool courtyard under my feet

Childhood summer

&

Nestled in green mountains 

White walls

Buddha in every detail

Hahahahaha! There you go! What did you think I’d write about? Slice an architect anywhere and you’ll get an architect. Anyway! apart from my failed attempts at poetry what struck me most about haiku was simplicity. It was minimal yet expressed so much. The more I read the more I was inspired by the deep meaning simple words conveyed. I wondered what architects thought about haiku. Did it inspire them to write architectural haiku or simply inspired them to design a haiku-building?

I did some browsing and here's one architectural haiku’s that I liked. It was accompanied by this picture.  

Courtsey - www.wordpress.com

Fiercely stalwart face

smacked against incessant blue

holds the earth to sky

I read many more but one haiku struck a cord somewhere and then I saw the picture of this entrance and somehow they connected. 

-Photo copyright Barrag‡n Foundation 

Components align

Within the mind’s eye before

Single line is drawn

(haiku courtsey - http://hawkinsarch.com)

It's interesting to know that for a 17-syllable poem there are many rules to follow like number of syllables per line or seasonal references. One rule that gives a punch to haiku is ‘kireji.’ Kireji is a cutting-word, a comma, a period or anything that makes the reader pause. It connects two sentences in such a way that when one reads these sentences there's a feeling of finding something exquisite. This surprise element is the crux of haiku. In the following example a semicolon does the trick. 

I stop to listen;
the cricket
has done the same.
         Arizona Zipper (2. pg 327)

I like the concept of a pause. It always works for me. That ‘me-time’ connects dots in my mind and I’m ready to take on life. In architecture, this pause is the surprise element that enhances the way we experience a building. Sometimes, it's a void that connects or a wall that breaks a space visually to heighten our experience of that space. This break is necessary to enjoy different elements in architecture. And then sometimes we know what to to expect but the break enhances the joy of finding it.

Look at this picture. The stark concrete wall with a cutout creates a beautiful pause. Imagine this view without that wall. What do you think?

'House in Monterrey', in Monterrey, Mexico designed by Tadao Ando

Kireji in haiku binds two juxtaposed ideas to create drama. That feeling of aha! comes from the perfect positioning of the cutting-word. Like in this restoration work of a Spanish church, architect David Closes has given that surprise element right on the façade. The old church has got a new lease of life by reinventing the building as an auditorium and multifunctional cultural space. The modern element on old facade connects the two identities of the building wanting you to see how it looks from inside.

Dilapidated Sant Francesc Church Reinvented by David Closes, Santpedor, Spain.

Haiku is about finding joy in everyday otherwise mundane things. The structure of haiku manipulates reader's attention to that joy. Architectural elements used cleverly does just the same for people.
Here's an example. 'Gable house' designed by FORM/Kouishi Kimura Architects in Japan. Here the architects have suspended a wall from the terrace just outside the living room window. It lines up with the boundary wall and shields the house from the street noise. At the same time an open terrace above allows light to filter through. The beauty of this design is the light which will change throughout the day, giving this room a dynamic quality every season, every hour of the day.

Living Room Window Looking out.
- Photos by Takumi Ota

Outside the Window. Suspended Wall on the Left and
the boundary Wall on the Right

Cross Section of the House

Can you think of a cutting word, a comma that gives you a feeling of aha! in your life? Currently this haiku describes my blissful state.

Opening its eyes
      closing its eyes
             a cat in the sun
                  - Arizona Zipper

Bilbliography

http://allpoetry.com/column/7517881-More-on-Haiku-Kireji-or--Cutting-Words----a-column---by-jthserra

http://www.yellowtrace.com.au/2012/07/09/dilapidated-sant-francesc-church-reinvented-by-david-closes-santpedor-spain/

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2359261/Architecture-The-worlds-spectacularly-designed-houses-prove-impossible-comes-architecture.html

http://amiliacca.wordpress.com/category/19th-century/