Thinking·November 15, 2023·7 min read
The Japanese Concept of Ma in Western Architecture
By Yuki Tanaka
Ma is often translated as "negative space" — but this translation misses the point. Ma is not the absence of something; it is the presence of a pause, a breath, an interval that gives meaning to what surrounds it.
Ma is often translated as "negative space" — but this translation misses the point. Ma is not the absence of something; it is the presence of a pause, a breath, an interval that gives meaning to what surrounds it.
In designing Kōan Tower, the concept of ma guided our approach to the atrium. Rather than filling the ground level with program, we carved out a compressed entry sequence that suddenly releases into a triple-height void. The compression is the pause; the release is its meaning.
