The Inheritance Of The Image Of Traditional Soanfu Teahouse In Japanese Modern Architecture

With the continuous emerging of new technique, material and notions, it becomes especially important to inherit the tradition. It is an eternal theme to seek for a revival of tradition in modern world. This article takes the image of the traditional soanfu teahouse in Japanese modern architecture as an example to discuss the possibilities to inherit the image of traditional architecture in modern architecture.At first, this article analyzes the concept of image, as well as its basic characters and the way it originates. It points out that image is an integration of mental picture and its meaning. It is a processed presentation, which comes from people's perception of objects, with certain meaning, in the originators or appreciators' minds. Image is visual, nonobjective, blurry, self-sufficient and different in the case of different people. The reason why the mental picture can indicate the meaning is based on the structural similarity or conventional symbolization.This article divides the physical image into three aspects as material, architectural element with its character, and configuration. The meaning is also divided into three levels as mental experience, aesthetic sensibility, and philosophy concept. From the top down, these aspects form a chain. This article points out that any one of those aspects can be used as an entry point to the image inheritance of tradition in modern architecture. It can be concluded into two ways. The first one takes the aspects of physical image as an entry point, achieves the meaning directly through the quotation of the traditional physical image or the association to it. The other one begins directly with any aspects of the meaning, achieves it in ways which are very different to the traditional methods. This is the very basic model put forward in this article for the inheritance of the traditional image.After that, this article takes Japanese traditional soanfu teahouse as an example, and analyzes it in every aspects mentioned above. In the aspect of philosophy concept, traditional soanfu teahouse is mainly influenced by Zen Buddhism. In the aspect of aesthetic sensibility, it reveals the beauty of nature, obscurity, simplicity, elegance andpeace. In the aspect of mental experience, it inspired the feeling of being comforted, touched, and the feeling of mystery and loneliness.Then, based on the basic model and corresponding analysis, this article discourses upon the varieties of ways the image of traditional soanfu teahouse inherited in Japanese modern architecture.