Abstract
This study's aim is to clarify the paradigmatic characteristics of the exterior space of contemporary architecture in Japan. Firstly refined are two different levels of exterior space; ARRANGED EXTERIOR SPACE and ARTICULATED EXTERIOR SPACE. The former is the remaining space which is left by arranging buildings on a site, the latter is included space of buildings which is articulated by compositional elements. Each space is combination of these two different levels of exterior space. Secondly found are 17compositional types. Finally comparing the every type, three fundamental rhetorics are clarified; hierarchical connection of spaces, combination of public and private characters, open spaces. Another complex rhetorics are formed by the combination of these three fundamentals.
