Natalia Torija Nieto

Architecture and design writer trained in modern art, design, and material culture at Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, New York. She is currently working on a book on the architectural work of George Nakashima.

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'Shofuso and Modernism' Revisits a Major Mid-Century East-West Cultural Exchange

In June 1954, an article published in House & Home magazine read, “The Japanese had some of our best ideas—300 years ago.” The piece highlighted three main attributes of Kyoto’s Katsura Imperial Villa, built in the 1620s: the open post-and-beam plan, the use of verandas for climate control, and its modularity based on tatami mats and shoji screens.