Isozaki

Arata Isozaki was forced with a difficult challenge consisting of how to work out a form the exterior of which would relate to the architecture of Wawel Castle, while the interior would became a suitable background to the display of Japanese art. Arata Isozaki decided that none of the cultural references was to be exhibited in an exaggerated manner. His wish was that the designs should exceed cultural boundaries and "just as the Jasienski collection went beyond the limits of Japanese art - so also does this building go beyond the limits of the Japanese spirit and let its roots grow into the Polish soil. Thus, the site (topos) itself became one of the sources of inspiration behind the shape of the building. Several undulating lines takes from the nearby river created the geometry of the roof construction lines - wrote Isozoki in the Manggha Center catalogue. The angled curves of the waves constituted at the same time o distant echo of Japanese tradition in o reference to the famous woodengraving from the series 39 Views of the Maunt Fuji by Hokusai, presented in the Jasienski collection and featuring o group off fishermen on a boat carried by the huge, overpowering sea wave. The "wave" motif became the body and fabric of the project and at the same time, its main form possessing o double reference - to Japanese motifs on the level of iconography; and to the local topographic context on the level of signs defined as an 'index' (the river embankment co-defines the shape of the view of the building), and simultaneously, as a mimesis of the river meandering of the foot Wawel Hill. In the functional composition of the building one can clearly read a kind of scenario which directs visitors inside and submits them to the action of consecutive, changing stage settings - composing the itinerary or entry scene. This route has its beginning main body and just as in classical Greek tragedy. Krysztof Ingarden Domus 804