Advisor: Prof. Mohammad al-Asad

Abstract:
This thesis investigates Japanese architecture in the period extending between 1945 and 1996. It aims, through reviewing its historical development, at exploring the special character of Japanese architecture as distinct from international architectural trends.

To give a clear picture of the development of Japanese architecture during the period of study, the thesis starts with a brief review of three subjects the historical and cultural background of Japan, the traditional architecture of Japan, and the architectural development of Japan during the first period of communication between Japan and the western world, i.e. between the years 1853 and 1945 when western models of architecture were imitated in Japan. The thesis divides Japanese architectural development between 1945 and 1996 into two phases. The first phase includes architectural development between 1945 and mid-70s. This phase witnessed the emergence of the first distinct architectural trends in Japan, which tried to give a special character to Japanese architecture. These trends include both structuralism and metabolism, which created the idea of changeability taken from traditional Japanese architecture, but also utilized the latest industrial and technological potentials. This phase also includes the emergence of both contextualism, which relates architecture with its context, and "symbolism and mannerism" which combines various architectural elements