Sukiya-zukuri

Katsura Imperial Villa, Kyoto, an early example of *sukiya* style. Note that the right-hand building is older than the left-hand one, and more similar to the older shoin style.

Sukiya-zukuri (数寄屋造り) is one type of Japanese residential architectural style. Suki (ateji: 数寄 or 数奇) means refined, well cultivated taste and delight in elegant pursuits,^[1] and refers to enjoyment of the exquisitely performed tea ceremony.

The word originally meant a small structure for the Japanese tea ceremony (known as a chashitsu) and was associated with ikebana and other Japanese traditional arts. It has come to indicate a style of designing public facilities and private homes based on tea house aesthetics.^[2]

Historically and by tradition, sukiya-zukuri is characterised by a use of natural materials, especially wood. In contemporary architecture, its formal and spatial concepts are kept alive in modern materials such as steel, glass and concrete.^[3]

^ Kenkyusha's New Japanese English Dictionary, Fourth Edition 1974, p.1674
^ Kodansha Encyclopedia of Japan, First Edition 1983,vol. 7, p.265
^ Itoh (1972), p224

[1] Kenkyusha's New Japanese English Dictionary, Fourth Edition 1974, p.1674

[2] Kodansha Encyclopedia of Japan, First Edition 1983,vol. 7, p.265

[3] Itoh (1972), p224

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