The Art of KōDō (Case Study)
Client: Japan Society
Location: Brooklyn, New York
Service: Walk-thRough Experience
Japan Society “connects American and Japanese people, cultures, and societies through a global lens.” In an imagined campaign to expand their reach, I designed a walk-through exhibit that educates the public on the classic art of KōDō.
The Japanese art of appreciating incense is one of three classical arts:
1. KōDō - The way of fragrance
2. KADō - Making flowers alive
3. CHADō - The way of tea
Comprised entirely of a series of 40-foot long recycled shipping containers, the exhibit could be re-assembled in any available parking lot in the NYC area.
To take advantage of what is essentially a blank “landscape,” the idea to install the shipping containers vertically to create towers became the foundation of the exhibit.
Each tower replicates an incense chamber and represents one country of the traditional Rikkiko Gomi classification structure using sora-daki grade incense. The exhibition would start and end in a small room, to experience the tradition of Monkō.
Floor Plan
Front Elevation
To offset the industrial nature of the metal shipping containers, switchable fritted glass replaces the walls of the interstitial bridges between the towers and a white oak wood floor unifies the spaces throughout.
When walking across the glass bridges, the glass gets triggered to switch, so that educational text is projected onto the surface. This light, airy, experience contrasts with the compressed yet expansive view up into the towers, which are incrementally lit and open to the sky above, à la James Turrell, international light sculptor.
