What Is “Ma” in Japanese Architecture? Architect Interview

An architect explains “ma” not as empty space, but as a changing relationship between people, nature, time and action.

Interview and text: Beautiful Homes of Japan Editorial Team · Photography: BHJ Sample Visuals

Ma appears frequently in discussions of Japanese architecture, but it can easily become a vague compliment. Does any empty room qualify? Looking at drawings and a model, we asked fictional sample architect Naoto Aoki to explain the idea in practical terms.

Architect explaining ma with a house model and floor plan — A model helps reveal movement and relationships between places rather than rooms in isolation. Sample visual.

Not emptiness, but time and distance between things

BHJ: How would you explain ma in one sentence?

Aoki: It is less a space than a relationship: column to column, person to person, interior to garden, sound to silence. When that distance changes, action and feeling change too. It cannot be decided by dimensions alone; time and use are part of it.

BHJ: Is ma easier to create in a large house?

Aoki: Not necessarily. A small home can establish several distances through a long view, ceiling height, changing light and movable partitions. The important thing is not to make every place equally bright, equally wide and fixed to one use.

View from a timber interior through an engawa to a garden — An engawa resists a single definition as inside or outside; weather and activity change its character.

Shoji, engawa and sliding doors receive change

BHJ: What matters when traditional elements enter a contemporary home?

Aoki: Avoid attaching the form without its purpose. Shoji are not decoration; they distribute light and adjust views. An engawa is a passage, a seat and a place to tend the garden. A sliding door changes the relationship between rooms without adding area. We understand these roles and update dimensions and performance for life today.

BHJ: Is an undefined place wasteful?

Aoki: It may become the most useful place when life changes. A play area becomes a workspace; a guest room supports care. Its flexibility is not visible in a short-term efficiency calculation.

“Designing ma is not making nothing. It is preparing relationships that can change.”
Naoto Aoki, fictional sample architect

Shoji, veranda and garden forming layers in a Japanese timber home — Light, air and sight are adjusted through several layers rather than blocked at once.

Three ways to make ma in a contemporary home

Create a destination for the eye: A garden, sky or another seat beyond a door can add depth without adding floor area.
Allow different light levels: Contrast between bright and sheltered places gently separates activity from rest.
Keep boundaries movable: Sliding doors, curtains and furniture help a home respond to family and work changes.

Ma is not a concept to finish by memorising one definition. In a real home, its meaning changes with the person, time and activity. When reading a plan, imagine not only how many rooms it contains but what can happen between them.

This is a fictional editorial sample. Names and quotations are invented; photographs are generated sample visuals.