Philosophy of emptiness in Japanese and European architecture

The article analyzes the concept of emptiness in Japanese and European architecture. The value of emptiness for Japanese culture is traced from ancient beliefs, given details of how the empty space was understood in Shintoism. Then the concept of emptiness in Buddhism and Zen Buddhism is considered and the impact of these trends on Japanese culture and architecture. The author also compares the arrangement of urban space in Japan and in the West, researches the concept «center», and therefore some examples of postmodernist teachings are proposed. The attention is paid to the role of emptiness in the Western philosophy; a brief description of the philosophy of nothingness in the conceptions of European thinkers is given. Especially, the author dwells on such direction in modern architecture as minimalism and he considers the role of emptiness in this trend.