Veronika Spierenburg’s architectural journey to Japan

Interested in architecture and construction detailing, Swiss photographer Veronika Spierenburg moved for three months to Japan. She travelled from south to north depicting the richness of textures, artifacts, traditional as well as modern architecture. In her book Oya-ishi – Oya Stone buildings of famous architects such as Kenzo Tange, Togo Murano, Tadao Ando, Kazuo Shinohara and Kisho Kurokawa are presented in the book along with folk architecture and natural landscapes.

“The longer I was on the road, the more the qualities and materials of this country burned into my photography,” Spierenburg explains. “I deliberately reduced the preparations for this trip to Japan to the essentials, to be able to throw an unbiased view of the country. With great attention I moved by train, boat, car and by foot between cities and villages as well as on bigger and smaller islands.” “The basic requirement of Japanese architecture is on one hand in balance with nature and on the other hand for protection against natural disasters. Material and structure protect the house from rain and wind and prevent the spread of fire. What seems aesthetically pleasing to the Western eye has a functional significance for the Japanese.”

Veronika Spierenburg was born in Schlieren (Zurich) in 1981. She studied arts at the Central Saint Martins in London and photography at the Gerrit Rietveld Academy in Amsterdam. A central aspect of her work is the point where bodies and architecture, movement and space meet, and she explores these connections with various media and performances. She is interested by the design principles of Brutalism and Functionalism, that lead to experiments about dissolving architecture’s supposedly rigid structures.