Center for the Japanese Culture / Álvaro Bohórquez Rivero + Maribel Moreno Cantillo

Center for the Japanese Culture / Álvaro Bohórquez Rivero + Maribel Moreno Cantillo - Interior PhotographyCenter for the Japanese Culture / Álvaro Bohórquez Rivero + Maribel Moreno Cantillo - Interior Photography, FacadeCenter for the Japanese Culture / Álvaro Bohórquez Rivero + Maribel Moreno Cantillo - Exterior Photography, FacadeCenter for the Japanese Culture / Álvaro Bohórquez Rivero + Maribel Moreno Cantillo - Interior Photography, Living RoomCenter for the Japanese Culture / Álvaro Bohórquez Rivero + Maribel Moreno Cantillo - More Images+ 33

  • Area Area of this architecture project Area:  1050
  • Year Completion year of this architecture project Year:  2018
  • Manufacturers Brands with products used in this architecture project
    Manufacturers:  AutoDesk, Adobe Systems Incorporated, Argos, Exiplast, Mitsubishi Electric, Toto, Trimble Navigation, Ventanar
  • Developer: Universidad de los Andes, Embajada del Japón
  • Management And Auditing: Payc
  • Structural Calculation: CNI Ingenieros.
  • Interior Design: Monastral. SAS
  • Lighting Design: MTS Consultoría
  • Electric Design: Serticol.SA
  • Hidraulic Design: IHC Ingenieros. SAS
  • Foundation And Structure: Madoc SAS
  • Construction: Páez Casas Ingenieros. SAS
  • City: Bogotá
  • Country: Colombia
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Center for the Japanese Culture / Álvaro Bohórquez Rivero + Maribel Moreno Cantillo - Exterior Photography, Facade
© Enrique Guzman

Text description provided by the architects. Japanese culture (a collectivist society), gives absolute priority to the collective over the individual, and for this, it has a language of basic behaviour patterns that helps to understand social relations between groups or between groups and individuals, fundamentally based on respect. This code is summarized in the dichotomy, or the concept, "uchi-soto".

Center for the Japanese Culture / Álvaro Bohórquez Rivero + Maribel Moreno Cantillo - Interior Photography, Beam
© Enrique Guzman
Center for the Japanese Culture / Álvaro Bohórquez Rivero + Maribel Moreno Cantillo - Image 20 of 38
Floor Plan First Floor
Center for the Japanese Culture / Álvaro Bohórquez Rivero + Maribel Moreno Cantillo - Interior Photography, Kitchen
© Enrique Guzman

The uchi, which could be interpreted literally as "inside", represents the closest social circle, which includes layers from the family, close friends, the company etc, thus understanding the family as the embryo of the Japanese social code and the primary element of the uchi.

The soto, which could be literally interpreted as "outside", represents those groups or individuals that are not within the close circle, but with whom there is or could be a relationship or link.

Center for the Japanese Culture / Álvaro Bohórquez Rivero + Maribel Moreno Cantillo - Interior Photography, Facade
© Enrique Guzman
Center for the Japanese Culture / Álvaro Bohórquez Rivero + Maribel Moreno Cantillo - Image 28 of 38
Axo 02
Center for the Japanese Culture / Álvaro Bohórquez Rivero + Maribel Moreno Cantillo - Interior Photography
© Enrique Guzman

Thus, the uchi-soto is not a negation or a border, but on the contrary, it constitutes a link and at the same time a communication code.

Two concepts or patterns emerge in parallel from the uchi-soto dichotomy, known as the tatemae-honne, where the tatemae (literally the facade) represents what must be projected outwards, for which there are clear restrictions, and the honne, represents those relationship patterns whose freedom is exercised only within the uchi group.

Center for the Japanese Culture / Álvaro Bohórquez Rivero + Maribel Moreno Cantillo - Interior Photography, Living Room, Table, Chair
© Enrique Guzman
Center for the Japanese Culture / Álvaro Bohórquez Rivero + Maribel Moreno Cantillo - Image 23 of 38
Section A
Center for the Japanese Culture / Álvaro Bohórquez Rivero + Maribel Moreno Cantillo - Interior Photography, Living Room
Cortesía de Gerencia del Campus

The architecture of the Center for the Japanese Culture is governed by these concepts, on the one hand, the uchi-soto is manifested in a succession of spaces with different attributes and categories that go from the most public - the square, to the most private - the garden, controlling the degree of enclosure, transparency and connection with the exterior, producing its own spatiality for the family (miuchi), and another for the individual (wathasi).

Center for the Japanese Culture / Álvaro Bohórquez Rivero + Maribel Moreno Cantillo - Interior Photography, Windows, Chair
© Enrique Guzman

On the other hand, the tatemae-honne, is produced by projecting outwards a condition of solidity and transparency typical of Japanese culture, represented by a large solid black block that is delicately pooled on glass and whose texture of charred wood evokes techniques of Japanese ancestral constructions, which contrasts with the interior where a warm atmosphere is experienced from the handling of light to the treatment of materials.

Center for the Japanese Culture / Álvaro Bohórquez Rivero + Maribel Moreno Cantillo - Exterior Photography, Facade
© Enrique Guzman
Center for the Japanese Culture / Álvaro Bohórquez Rivero + Maribel Moreno Cantillo - Image 27 of 38
Axo 01
Center for the Japanese Culture / Álvaro Bohórquez Rivero + Maribel Moreno Cantillo - Exterior Photography
© Enrique Guzman

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Project location

Address:Cra. 1 18ª-12, Campus Universidad de los Andes, Bogotá Colombia

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Location to be used only as a reference. It could indicate city/country but not exact address.
About this office
Cite: "Center for the Japanese Culture / Álvaro Bohórquez Rivero + Maribel Moreno Cantillo" [Centro del Japón / Álvaro Bohórquez Rivero + Maribel Moreno Cantillo] 31 Jul 2021. ArchDaily. Accessed . <https://www.archdaily.com/945803/center-for-the-japanese-culture-alvaro-bohorquez-rivero-plus-maribel-moreno-cantillo> ISSN 0719-8884

© Enrique Guzman

波哥大日本文化中心 / Álvaro Bohórquez Rivero + Maribel Moreno Cantillo

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