The rhythm of a hall

The exterior of Sanjūsangen-dō invites the eye to travel along it. Repeated openings set a measure, while timber and small variations keep the façade from becoming a simple pattern.

Its length is part of the experience of approaching the building. A photograph cannot reproduce a whole walk, but it can hold one interval of that rhythm and suggest the next.

I was interested in how architecture can give time a shape. Looking along the hall, attention moves from one opening to another. The building stays still, yet the act of looking becomes a sequence of small steps.