Abstract:
The shaping of the space, the design principles, the different
compositional arrangements, the organization and matching of the natural
elements with the artificial ones in Japanese garden versus Western formal
garden, point out several interesting contrasting aspects between the two
types of the gardens. If in the West, the interaction between the man and the
environment is considered to be abstract, a relation of the type I-Object, in
the East, it is conceived as a concrete, immediate relation, based on the
interaction I-You. While the Western man fights with the nature, trying to
dominate it, the Eastern man adapts himself to nature and adjusts to it. These
two fundamentally different attitudes towards nature and environment may
explain the way in which the space of the garden has been shaped and
organised over time in Japan and Western countries, respectively.By
tradition, the Western designers have been concerned with the elements of
space enclosing –as a form of construction. The Eastern designers, on the
other hand, have focused their attention on the quality of the enclosed spaces
and on the intellectual and emotional influences of these spaces upon those
who have perceived them. The Eastern people understood long time ago that
the existence of significant spaces was influenced by the presence of the
surrounding landscape, whose dimensions, shape and characteristics might
determine the quality of the space. Making a comparison between the
European desin system and the Oriental one, it is obvious that the mind of the
Western people, by tradition, is concerned especially with the object or
construction as it appears in the space, while the Eastern civilizations have
considered the construction as a means of definig or making a space or a
complex of significant places more distinctive. In the Western formal gardens
the organization of the space was done depending strictly on the central
building (the palace), with which it was organically connected, making a
unique composition. On the other hand, the Japanese people have learned to
design the space of their gardens – conffering it such a strong personal
character –meaning to give satisfaction only through the presence of the
person or the persons for which it was designed. In the Japanese art, the
space has played a dominant role and has been considered a universal
medium where life develops by permanent transformation, the place and time
being just relative conditions.
