Tectonics is defined as the science or art of construction, both in relation to use and artistic design. It refers not just to the activity of making the materially requisite construction that answers certain needs but rather to the activity that raises this construction as an art form. It is concerned with the modeling of material to bring the material into presence - from the physical into the meta-physical world (Maulden, 1986). Since tectonics is primarily concerned with the making of architecture in a modern world, its value is seen as being a partial strategy for an architecture rooted in time and place therefore beginning to bring poetry in construction. Tectonics, however, has the capacity to create depth-ness of context resulting in the implicit story being told by the tectonic expression. The implicit message would allow for varying personal interpretation, the acquisition of meaning or symbolism over time, as well as the possibility of that meaning changing with time. Tectonic expression is therefore concerned with the relation between the idea of construction and the construction itself.

This goes to show that architectonics is the basis for careful consideration of materials and as such, inevitably leads to a design outcome with more significance. Since the exploration of materiality is part of such an important process, it comes as no surprise as to why certain architects use tectonics for the materialisation of their design strategies. Japanese architecture