Layers: everyday elements in modern Japanese life by Phoebe Dakin

Layers illustrates the often multi-faceted relationship that Japanese people have had with their built and natural surroundings. The images from Japan Glass Book look at the castings on glass of natural foliage found in the windows of mass-produced, post-war housing; those from Japan Man-made Book examine the attempts by architects and civil engineers to control or even suppress nature.

The exhibition is a result of Phoebe’s participation on the Daiwa Scholarship in Japan from 2002 until 2004, during which she learnt Japanese and studied traditional building construction.

“All Japan is layered: the folded kimono, the screen that breaks up a room, the gardens framed by the mountains behind them, the intricacies of politeness and humility in the language itself. Whilst in Japan, I watched how the Japanese treat and react to their built and natural environment and time and again I saw these layers in a finely poised balance. This exhibition shows two of these layers.”
– Phoebe Dakin

Phoebe Dakin is an architect and a former Daiwa Scholar. She was awarded an AA Scholarship for Diploma Studies and she has a BArch from the Mackintosh School of Architecture, Glasgow. During her twenty-month Daiwa Scholarship, Phoebe studied Japanese, and undertook placements at Toyo Ito Architects and at a carpentry college specialising in traditional Japanese techniques, Tokyo Kenchiku. Phoebe has exhibited her work and participated in various exhibitions in Japan, including two exhibitions at the Spiral Gallery, Tokyo. She is currently working for Patel Taylor Architects in London.