Towards a Nude Architecture traces the onsen — Japan's naturally occurring hot springs — through centuries of spiritual practice, architectural invention, and cultural identity, drawing on over a decade of the author's travels across the country.
About This Book
Japan sits atop one of the world's most volcanically active geographies, producing nearly 30,000 hot springs of varying temperatures, mineral compositions, and colours. These onsen are not simply amenities — their history threads through ancient religion, feudal conflict, medicine, and contemporary pop culture, making them inseparable from Japanese national identity. Yuval Zohar approaches this subject through an architectural lens, assembling photographs, drawings, collages, and diagrams into a visual argument for the onsen as a distinct and endangered typology of public space. With privatisation accelerating and visitor numbers declining, the book makes a timely case for preservation.
Key Features
- 208 pages of photographs, architectural drawings, collages, and diagrams spanning centuries of onsen culture
- Author: Yuval Zohar
- Published by Nai010 Publishers
What You'll Discover
- The spiritual and religious origins of communal bathing in Japan, and how those roots shaped the architecture built around it
- How the structural typologies of onsen buildings evolved in response to geography, climate, and cultural convention
- The relationship between architecture, the natural landscape, and the unclothed human body as a distinct design problem
- The contemporary pressures — privatisation, declining patronage, and global disruption — threatening onsen as a form of public space
About the Author
Yuval Zohar is the author of Towards a Nude Architecture, a project developed over more than a decade of travel and research across Japan. The book represents Zohar's sustained inquiry into the intersection of architecture, nature, and bodily experience within the onsen tradition.
Specifications
- Format: Hardcover
- Pages: 208
- Dimensions: 6.25 x 9.5 in
- Language: English
- ISBN: 9789462088801
- Publisher: Nai010 Publishers
- Publication Date: [Details available upon request]
Perfect For: Architects and designers with an interest in vernacular and cultural typologies, researchers in Japanese spatial culture, and anyone thinking seriously about the design of public bathing and communal space.